Cries from the Quiet World: HIM "Dark Light"

viernes, 14 de febrero de 2020

HIM "Dark Light"

HIM (sometimes stylized as H.I.M.) was a Finnish gothic rock band from Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1991 by vocalist Ville Valo and bassist Mikko "Mige" Paananen under the name His Infernal Majesty, the band broke up in 1993, before being reformed in 1995 by Valo and guitarist Mikko "Linde" Lindström.

HIM is one of the most commercially successful Finnish bands of all time, with sales of over ten million records. The band have released eight studio albums, five compilations, three video releases, and two box sets, along with one live and one remix album. HIM has also received numerous accolades, including eight Emma Awards.

Dark Light is the fifth studio album by Finnish gothic rock band HIM. Released on 26 September 2005, HIM began recording the album in March 2005 at the Paramour Estate is Los Angeles, California, with producer Tim Palmer, who had also mixed the band's previous album Love Metal. Dark Light also served as HIM's first worldwide release with Sire Records, with whom the band had signed with in September 2004. In Finland, however, the album was released under the band's own label Heartagram. Musically, Dark Light featured a more "polished" and "accessible" sound than previous albums, and was written as a cross between Black Sabbath and U2, also influenced by the work of composer Angelo Badalamenti.

Dark Light received mostly positive reviews from critics, with many praising the writing and the band's performance, while some criticism was given to the second half of the album. Dark Light charted in fifteen countries, reaching number one in Finland, later going platinum, as well as gold in Germany, the UK and the US, making HIM the first Finnish artists to receive a gold record in the United States. Three singles were also released, with "Wings of a Butterfly" peaking at number one in Finland, and "Killing Loneliness" at number two. "Wings of a Butterfly" later received the award for "Song of the Year" at the 2005 Emma Awards, and was awarded at the 2007 BMI Pop Awards as well. During the album's world tour, HIM made their live debut in various countries, including Japan and Australia.

In August 2003, HIM separated from BMG, after fulfilling their contractual obligations to the label. In September 2004, HIM announced that they had signed a new recording contract with Sire Records, who would handle the band's future releases in Europe, the United States, Japan and Australia. In their native Finland, however, HIM's recordings would be released through the band's own Heartagram label. In March 2005, HIM relocated to Los Angeles, California, to start work on their fifth studio album at The Paramour Estate, with producer Tim Palmer, who had previously mixed the band's fourth album Love Metal. After two days of rehearsals, the band began recording drums, which were done in two days. This was followed by the bass, and then guitars and keyboards. The band were faced with multiple distractions during the recording process, including dogs around the estate, as well as a Playboy video shoot. Because of this, the studio equipment was moved upstairs for Ville Valo to record his vocals, while the other members of the band flew to Las Vegas with professional skateboarder and friend of the band Bam Margera.

In May 2005, HIM recruited Andy Wallace to mix the album; however, he was fired only a week later. According to Valo, Wallace lost the "melancholia" in his mixes, explaining: "It sounded fucking good, but it sounded like radio-friendly American rock [...] and we're not that." Thus, producer Tim Palmer was tasked with mixing the album at Electric Lady Studios in New York, after which the album was mastered by Stephen Marcussen at Sterling Sound. Originally planned as In the Nightside of Eden, the album's title was changed to Dark Light, because the band felt that the latter would be a more memorable title, seeing as how this would be HIM's first album to be officially released in Japan, Australia and North America. The title Dark Light was inspired by a book of the same name by Mette Newth, and was also thought up as a play on words; Ville Valo's last name translates to "light", and "dark light" in Finnish would be "pimeä valo", which in turn would mean that Ville Valo was "mad". Dark Light also continues the band's tradition of "contradictions in [album] titles". The cover art of Dark Light was designed by Matt Taylor and Sonny Gerasimowicz.

According to Valo, the band entered the studio with the idea of creating a cross between Black Sabbath's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Achtung Baby by U2, and Dark Light has been described as more "polished" and "accessible" than HIM's previous albums. The first half of the record was written long before entering the studio, while the second half was composed a month and a half prior, after Valo threw away much of the original material, because "it was too slow". According to Valo, the band's approach on Dark Light was to make the songs sound more "cinematic, epic, and close to the listeners", inspired by the works of composer Angelo Badalamenti. Valo also mentioned This Mortal Coil as an influence on the album's "spooky, eerie" sound. Lyrically, Dark Light deals mostly with themes of "girls and boys and the politics of the heart".

"Vampire Heart" opens with a riff reminiscent of the theme to the 1978 film Halloween, while "Rip Out the Wings of a Butterfly" was described by Valo as a "link between 'She Sells Sanctuary' by The Cult and 'Billie Jean' by Michael Jackson". The lyrics were inspired by a legend of immortal souls possessing the wings of a butterfly, and talks about: "Whether you are willing enough to destroy something beautiful to gain yourself some power." According to Valo, the song was chosen as the first single from Dark Light, because it was "the perfect song to describe what's going to happen on the entire album", containing all the signature elements of the band's sound as well. "Killing Loneliness" was partly inspired by professional skateboarder Brandon Novak and his heroin addiction, and talks about the various ways people "kill their loneliness, and with what", while "Behind the Crimson Door" features Valo humming a poem by Finnish author Timo K. Mukka. Valo described "The Face of God" as "Achtung-era U2, with Queens of the Stone Age meeting the Satanic Bee Gees", and "In the Nightside of Eden" as the "prog rock" song of the album, which also makes mention of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The band's cover of "Poison Heart" by the Ramones features claps by Sire Records' co-founder Seymour Stein and A&R executive Michael Goldstone.

Track listing

All tracks written by Ville Valo, except where noted.