Finnish superstars return from the wilderness with the hits and one new song.
How we’ve missed Ville Valo. Always a rockstar of class, charm and cool, he’s a frontman who makes this game look like something a certain type of person – skinny, pale, dark, constantly smoking – simply falls into.
His rib-tickling appearance in K!’s Ultimate Rockstar Test last week reminded us how good he is at his job (particularly when he talked about smashing guitars in the recording studio because rock and roll made him do it), but the bigger realisation was what a waste it was to have such a rose-between-the-teeth rock dandy sitting idle. Thank god then, for this collection. It’s not the full blown return of HIM (MIA since last year), but as prep for their new album, tentatively due next year, it’s a winner.
The new song , Strange World, is vintage HIM – full of big shined-up Sabbath riffs and Ville’s nicotine-coated croon. The classics, meanwhile –Your Sweet 666, Wings Of A Butterfly, Buried Alive By Love – are still shining examples of perfectly balanced darkness, romance and heavy, rock ‘n’ roll thrust, shot through the same charm that keeps Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy sounding so exciting.By the sounds of things, when HIM return properly next year we are in for a treat. In the meantime, this is the perfect way to remind yourself just how good they already are. Now hurry up and release the album, Finnish blokes.
