 | Tracklist:
1. In Venere Veritas
2. Scared to Death
3. Heartkiller
4. Dying Song
5. Disarm Me (With Your Loneliness)
6. Love, the Hardest Way
7. Katherine Wheel
8. In the Arms of Rain
9. Ode to Solitude
10. Shatter Me With Hope
11. Acoustic Funeral (For Love in Limbo)
12. Like St. Valentine
13. The Foreboding Sense of Impending Happiness
Release Date: 2010 | |
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On 2 Lists
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| Summary: While they were attacked for sounding a little ''American'' on Dark Light, they made their best album yet: Venus Doom. But staying true to the metal roots, shrinks the number of people who listen to yahoo radio and download lame top 100 compilations. |
0 of 3 thought this review was well written
I am a big HIM fan, i can say i lost a big amount of time listening over and over again to the same songs, so i had great expectations from Screamworks , especially after listening to Venus Doom on repeat.
Let me start with a brief description of Venus : it had only 9 tracks , but they were long, full of hooks and changing riffs and most important they each brought a desperate atmosphere throughout the record.
Well, Screamworks is nowhere close, while listening to Doom i would imagine,for example, Dante going to hell , each song being a circle , never knowing what to expect next. The only thing i can imagine while listening Screamworks is being on a dancefloor with an afro hair and some pale eye liner, dancing to Katherine Wheel - i need an explanation of the chorus and title , anyone - or In The Arms Of Rain. I would review it track by track but i would have to repeat my words 10 times at least.
When i saw that each track is 3 minutes long i started hoping it's a printing mistake but i was wrong, they keep each track to a safe catchy riff - catchy as in mainstream-like - and following the same pattern,this way it can't go wrong. That's why Heartkiller - the first single - can be replaced with at least other 7 songs. However, there are some highlights too; tracks like Like St. Valentine, Scared To Death, Katherine Wheel or Love, The Hardest Way share more catchy vocals and riffs - can't say they are different in sound.
Ville screams more on this record, which it doesn't sound bad at all, but i hope he won't keep it with screaming if he hears from people that it's cool.
But, that's enough with what's to love on the record, there are other things which i need to mention for the negative side. Linde's solos were cut since they went by the book to create 3 minute songs, with no exceptions. The guy was given no room for epic,yet interesting, solos, instead going for gay 80's disco keyboards (on Love,The Hardest Way and In The Arms Of Rain especially) and even new wave (i heard Depeche Mode was an inspiration for the album , but there is a long way from DM to Finnish metal for God's sake) on the last track whose name can't be pronounced by Earth's inhabitants.
From the so-called review above, it may seem HIM's new album is rubbish but in fact it's not. It''s quite good, all the songs are okay, they are standard HIM tracks, but that's the problem, you do not want to hear that from a band's 7th album. You'd expect more, or at least something better or as good and as intriguing as anything found on Venus Doom. There are tracks which worth the spin but overall, you feel like you have played an hour long track with 2 breakdowns -one with a slower riff and a new wave bad LSD trip - or the same track on repeat, your choice.
All in all, take your time to download - everyone knows you won't buy the record - Like St. Valentine(also with a frantic video on Youtube), Love,The Hardest Way, Katherine Wheel, Shatter Me With Hope, Heartkiller(with a simple , boring video with spinning stuffed animals, portraying the simplicity of the album probably) and the last track(find an alien dictionary to have the peculiar name explained) to hear how far can Ville go when sober.
Feel free to drop any comment , bad or good . Thanks.
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