May 12 2008 11:47 am,
HIM
‘Digital Versatile Doom – Live At The Orpheum Theatre’
(Sire/Warner Bros)
It’s easy to see why people unfamiliar with the music of HIM have a chuckle at the band’s expense. Songs about vampire hearts and the number 666 are hardly the favourite subjects of the serious indie crowd. Watch this Finnish quartet up close though and it’s impossible not to be drawn into their nether world. Surging riffs underpin the band’s electrifying melodic streak and fuel an uplifting, absorbing battle between fantasy and reality. This time last year Ville Valo’s alcohol problems may have been compromising HIM’s impact, but the newly sober frontman is back to his moody best and this dynamic recording from
Johnny K
