Track Listing

1. Salt In Our Wounds
2. Heartache Every Moment
3. Lose You Tonight
4. In Joy And Sorrow
5. Pretending
6. Close To The Flame
7. Please Don't Let It Go
8. Beautiful
9. Don't Close Your Heart
10. Love You Like I Do

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21771 in Music
• Released on: 2002-02-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Customer Reviews

Has it brought deep shadows or brilliant highlights
Many a HIM fan may tell you that this is not the bands best work. After purchasing this album sometime ago now, I still have a mixed view of it. When I first heard it I , like many other, was used to hearing a mixture of love and death with distorted yet tamed guitars and melodic riffs, that gave this scandinavian fivesome a gothic rock edge.

This album overall has a more mellow if not mature approach, stepping away from the 'death' and satanic references which caused some constoversy with the media ('Your Sweet 666' for example, a powerful yet beautiful song that has absolutley nothing to do with the devil!). However many believed this new album wasn't 'rock' enough and even described parts of it as pop rock. This may have partly been due to the bands record label who commercialised them in away that even made the band unhappy, (this is maybe why their latest offering 'Love Metal' goes back to their roots a little more).

However, when I listen to this album I do not see any 'pop' references. Individual songs like 'Pretending' still shows off the bands fast paced rock riffs. Similaly, 'Love you like I do' and 'In Joy and Sorrow' still show off Valo's sentimental yet meloncholic lyrics.

'Razorblade Romance' matured from their first album 'Greatest lovesongs vol 666', whether it was noticable or not, and this album has done the same. It may have stepped away from their roots slightly, but their fans have still stuck by them. This album has not been done justice after being overly compared with the success of thier last albums, and due to peoples expectations being too high.

So do not be decieved by what people say, this is a fantastic album. It shows a side to HIM that everyone can enjoy. 'Don't close your heart' may be a little too soft compared with the other work of the dark and mysterious god that is Ville Valo, but this album certainly brings some briliant highlights along the way...

A more than adequate follow-up.
HIM's reputation for quality romantic goth metal has been challenged on the strength of the recent single 'Pretending', but I personally think this is one of the stronger tracks. It's clear that Ville Valo has matured on this LP, and standout tracks include the mellow 'Salt in our wounds', the intricate weaving of 'Love you like I do', and the very powerful 'Heartache every moment'. It's definitely an LP worth buying, but if you're new to HIM, try 'Razorblade romance' first - just to appreciate how much better this one is.

HIM's forgotten album.
I got into HIM with their album "Love metal" and have since bought all of their other releases except this one. I was at first not interested in buying this CD because: there are few if any songs from this on any best of compilations, the band do not seem to play any of the songs from this album live and after reading an article about the history of HIM in a music magazine i read that this was a disappointing release which was given 5 out of 10. I asumed that this album was simply not upto HIM's high standards and therefore i decided to avoid this album and stick with the band's more recent and most popular offerings. However, when i saw it on Amazon for £1.50 in the used and new section i thought i might as well give it a go even just to complete my HIM collection.
I was surprised at the quality of this CD. The songs are all strong and there are no fillers as such. Although all the songs are easily identifiable as HIM this record sounds considerably different to albums they have put out in the past. Whilst all the songs are easy both to listen to and to enjoy it is much less pop influenced than some of the band's more recent albums but it is still clearly HIM and contains songs about love, death and darkness. It is not easy to categorise as Goth or Emo or Metal. Quite simply, it sounds like HIM with Ville Valo's melodic vocals and a selection of rock/metal guitars, drums and keyboards.
Standout tracks include the fast "Heartache every moment" as well as "Please don't let it go" and "Pretending" however this album has more to offer than just these fast paced songs with slower ballads such as "Beautiful."
All in all i was very pleased with my purchase for £1.50. It doesn't have standout singles that are going to be hits but if you can get it cheap it is certainly worth the listening time even if it does take a few goes to really get in to it. This album does not deserve the review i read in a magazine that claimed it was disappointing. Whilst, i would agree that it is not the best HIM album ever, and that new fans should start elsewhere, i would say that it is a must buy for diehard HIM fans and should not be forgiven. If you are new to the band try either "love metal" or "razorblade romance." If you are not then give this a go.
Enjoy!