His Infernal Magesty Oozes Gothic Romance With "Dark Light"
Written: Jan 03 '06 (Updated Feb 14 '06)
Product Rating:
Pros: Interesting follow-up to Razorblade Romance, some awesome tracks.
Cons: Sounds extremely generic after the first couple of listens.
The Bottom Line: If you are a fan of H.I.M. you’ll want to check this out, otherwise stick with their older releases to get a true taste of His Infernal Magesty ...
H.I.M. has enjoyed a moderate amount of success in the United States over the past few years, most of that is due to appearances and mentions on MTV’s Viva La Bam, a strong and dedicated fan base and the teen girls that flock to Hot Topic. Much like Cradle of Filth and Type O Negative, there is more to H.I.M. than meets the eye; under the sugary sweet pop ballads that get played on alternative radio, there is a beast lurking. After falling in love with several tracks on Razorblade Romance I was more than a little curious to see which direction the group would go in with their subsequent releases. Dark Light wasn’t exactly what I expected or hoped from the group but it wasn’t the least bit disappointing. I was hoping for something with a darker harder feel to it but as a whole it’s something that is aurally pleasing. For those who have never indulged in what the group has to offer, it’s hard to peg the exact genre of the music. It gets classified as goth most of the time but to me it falls outside the realm of the true gothic sound. Now before you get your panties in a bunch about that statement, let me explain. Unlike previous H.I.M. releases, this one is a little lighter and soft core; it’s got some dark elements to it but it’s no where nearly as gothic as their older stuff.
Tracks
Vampire Heart
Rip Out The Wings of A Butterfly
Under The Rose
Killing Loneliness
Dark Light
Behind The Crimson Door
The Face of God
Drunk on Shadows
Play Dead
In The Nightside of Eden
The CD kicks off with one of the strongest tracks, Vampire Heart. This is one of the few songs that really clings to the older sound that helped them get over with the U.S. audience. Valo’s vocals are passionate, gripping and powerful but they aren’t as sinful as they could be. He has a tremendous vocal range but you wouldn’t be able to tell it from this release. If this is the first time you are listening to the group you might think, “Well, it’s cool ...” but if you have listened to their other stuff you’ll know that it could have been better. Even so, several of the tracks have made it on the radio; “Rip Out The Wings of A Butterfly” and “Vampire Heart” being the two most requested. The title track, “Dark Light” has that “I’ve heard this somewhere else” feel to it; the lyrics are incredible but the presentation really drags it down; it should have had this powerful edge to the chorus to really get the song over. Even so, if I were handing out points for lyrics, this one would get more than a few. This is the kind of track that you don’t immediately like but after a while it grows on you.
Shivers run through the spine of hope
As she cries the poisoned tears of a life denied
In the raven black night .. holding hands with dark light”
“Behind The Crimson Door” shows that the group is capable of writing epic metal type lyrics. With catchy lines like “covered the carcass of time” and “the scent of blame” it’s no wonder that radio stations across America are scared to death when pale faced goth queens call up asking for this track. Sadly, the music that they went with for the song starts to sound generic after you have listened to the rest of the CD. I really hate to say that because H.I.M. is one of my favorite groups but it’s the truth. I have nothing against a group when they try to upgrade their overall sound or try something new but when the entire effort sounds the same, it gets real old real quick. One song that does break out of the mold is “Play Dead” it has more of an epic feel to it with stronger keyboards in the intro and more of a guitar presence, it’s a true keeper.
A moth into a butterfly
And a lie into the sweetest truth
I’m so afraid of life I try to call your name
But I’m silenced by the fear of dying in your heart ...
“In The Nightside of Eden” could have been one of their best songs to date but instead of going with a simple production and putting Valo’s vocals on the straight and narrow they opted to enhance and distort it in a few sections. All you have to do is listen to the chorus and see the power that he has - then you’ll realize what an atrocity the rest of the song is. Yeah, that sounds harsh to say but I am saying it as a fan that is standing on neutral ground. This is a prime example of my feelings for the entire CD - it could have been a hell of a lot better. Maybe it was a different production team, desire to break away from their last release or wanting to appeal to a different age group - whatever it is that prompted them to break from their past success, they need to rethink and regroup before they go back into the studio again.
OK, now that I have painted a really bleak picture of this release I do have to say that songs like “Under The Rose” and “Killing Loneliness” have a high replay value thanks to a nice combination of lyrics and music. “Under The Rose” is the song that most clings to their signature sound and goth ‘love you forever’ feel - it’s a little faster than what you might expect from them and oddly enough is one of the songs that has been getting a lot of air play on satellite radio stations. The guitar work in the latter part breaks the cookie cutter mold that is almost ever-present on the CD but at the end of the day it’s the combo of music, vocals and lyrics that make this song stick in my head for hours on end. “Killing Loneliness” I made the mistake of reading the lyrics before I got to the song when I first listened to this; I was really hoping that it would have a darker feel to it but it lacks Valo’s sullen sound. Even so, once you start listening to it you’ll have a hard time hitting the fast track button to advance to the next song. For me, the lyrics are what sucked me into falling in love with this one.
“Memories sharp as daggers
Pierce into the flesh of today
The suicide of love took away all that matters
And buried the remains in an unmarked grave
In your heart ... with the venomous kiss that you gave me”
The Bottom Line
Fans of the group will want to listen to this at least once to see if it’s something that they are going to be able to get into ... for me it seemed like a half hearted effort. Like they recorded rough drafts of the songs and never went back and added the polish to them. There are some tracks that I really did fall in love with but overall, it’s below what I know they are capable of. If you are thinking about buying this with the hopes that it will have the power and passion of Razorblade Romance, you may be a little disappointed. The lyrics are slapped together without any titles [but in chronological order] so you have to sit there and look for the title in the lyrics. There’s no perks to the standard CD however if you purchase the import you get three videos in addition to two bonus tracks not released on the U.S. version.
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