HIM
Demo 1995

What would you say if I reviewed HIM? Well, I think there would be more or less two factions, one of which would praise the group to the hilt (especially girls, or those approaching rock for the first time), while the other would be quite eager to dismiss the band with a resounding: how awful!.

Now I must admit, I definitely appreciated the first demo released on the market "666 Ways To Love" and "Greatest Lovesongs vol. 666", but already with their masterpiece (according to some), that "Razorblade Romance" that brought them success, I began to change my mind about Ville Valo and the rest; now what I wondered was what these guys had composed before their 1996 demo, the answer came while navigating their Italian website, since I discovered the existence of three demos dated 1992 for the first one and 1995 for the other two.

After exhausting searches on the web to hear the recorded tracks, I managed to find the first 1995 demo with the following tracklist:

Borellus

Serpent Ride

The Heartless

Upon listening to this demo, I have to say I was at least stunned for a simple reason: the HIM of the past, the ones very few know, were a different band, which has nothing to do with the sugary rock-pop soul that we are all used to hearing today: they were a group endowed with a powerful sound, aggressive, full of energy, melodic yes, but never sweet like our cheerful Finns are today; right from the first track, introduced by Valo's bitter vocals and a decidedly compact sound wall, we understand what the combo's musical philosophy was, namely to find a connection point between the darkness of Black Sabbath-inspired hard rock and the vigor of metal, all seasoned with a good dose of melody, a true HIM trademark.

The next "Serpent Ride" only emphasizes what was said before, so we will witness a decidedly lively song, endowed with a gothic vein that helps darken the sound. In this second episode, you'll see how these young guys tried to compose very "compact" music, with an extremely square rhythmic section and powerful, decisive guitar riffs.

The scream that opens "The Heartless" immediately makes us understand that we are witnessing something completely different from what will be heard two years later on "Greatest Love Song vol. 666", as the piece is decidedly less melodic and theatrical, being based mostly on fast rhythms and much more substantial guitar and bass parts. You'll also notice the difference in the singer's interpretation, opting for harder and therefore less "sweet" vocal lines.

As for the technical side of the band, they don't prove to be masters of their instruments, but they come across as extremely tight and solid, never getting lost in useless digressions that would lower the listener's attention; as for the recording, you can't shout at the miracle, but being in front of a demo, moreover rather old, you can't complain that much.

We have reached the conclusions then and it can't be ignored how the change and evolution of HIM's sound have certainly shifted towards better economic solutions, but decidedly worse in terms of music quality, but if I have to listen to chart-topping songs, I would rather go back 10 years and listen to something that, although not enjoying a multimillion-dollar hyper-production, offers me good quality music.