Album a Day: HIM - Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666

I really enjoy this debut album from Finland's HIM. Love is a universal topic and so it is expressed in art all across the board on a regular basis. Some bands try to hide this by writing songs about break-ups, shitty relationships, or burying it in metaphor, but not HIM. No HIM takes love songs and takes them WAY over the top, which I personally love. Love isn't polite, it's WAY over the top. I've had a relationship end and felt like it was the rapture, so why not write about it? Ok, I admit that at times HIM (especially this album) is perhaps a bit cheesy, but the emotions are all right there. I think the thing about this disc (and perhaps this goes for HIM in general) is that not every song really hits you or is really doing much of anything. In fact there are some fairly useless songs on this album. However, when the band hits the mark then they are absolutely firing on all cylinders. I remember the first time I heard When Love and Death Embrace I was almost brought to tears and it became a staple of my college radio show. The covers of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game and Blue Oyster Cult's (Don't Fear) The Reaper are also just spot on with HIM really embracing the original spirit of the songs but rearranging them to sound like they were written by the Helsinki band themselves. Keeping in mind this is also the debut album for the band I think it's really strong effort. Favorite Tracks: Your Sweet Six Six Six, Wicked Game, When Love and Death Embrace, (Don't Fear) The Reaper, and For You