HIM (His Infernal Majesty) is a group formed in Finland. After several training components is considered that the group started to work at 1995 with Ville Hermanni Valo, Linde on guitar, Mige Amour with bass, Pátka with drums and Antto Melasniemi at the keyboard. Globally recognized for theirlogo, Heartagram, created by Ville Valo. The logo is a combination of a heart and an inverted pentagram, the union of good and evil, love and death, a new Yingyang. They are the only Finnish group has achieved a gold álbum at USA. Their musical style has always been difficult to classify. It can be say their music is classified as alternative rock, gothic metal or love metal depending on songs and albums.
The first demo recorded in 1992 was called "Witches and Other Night Fears" and not released for sale. The only known copy is in the hands of Ville. In 1995 with the official formation, was published "This Is Only the Beginning" and in 1996 published "666 Ways to Love: Prologue" from which only 1,000 copies were sold and on which it is rumored that the woman on the cover is the Valo's mother. Their first studio album was "Greates Love Songs Vol. 666" in 1997 in which was included a version of the "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak and "(Do not Fear) the Reaper" by Öyster Cult. Asta Hannula and Sanna-June Hyde collaborated as guest vocals on "For You" and "(Do not Fear) the Reaper". The album lasts 66:06 minutes, has 66 tracks (56 of them in white), at 6 minutes the track 66 begins to sound is known as "HIM666", "666" or "Dark Circle" and this is the only disc with a hidden track. Some of the songs on this album have been left out of the setlist of the group: "For you", "Our Diabolical Rapture" and "The Beginning of the End".
Melasniemi was replaced by Zoltan Pluto. After gaining some popularity in Europe recorded "Razorblade Romance" in 1999 whose single "Join Me in Death" reached number one in Germany, sold over 500,000 copies and was the soundtrack of "The Thirteenth Floor" and "Resident Evil: Apocalypse ". The original title of this album was "Slippery When Dead" as a tribute to "Slippery When Wet" by Bon Jovi.
The fame spread throughout Europe despite the changes of components: Pätkä was replaced by Lipstik Gas and Zoltan Pluto by Emmerson Burton. In 2001 they created a new group: Daniel Lioneye And The Rollers, a solo project of Lion like vocalist with songs that spoke of sex, alcohol and rock'n'roll into a bluesy hard-rock style. Migé Amour played bass, Valo was on drums, Ike was responsible for the sound effects and Hiili Hiilesma keyboards. His 2001 album was titled "The King of Rock'n'Roll" and only made 4 concert under this name.
The same year "Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights" was realised with Emmerson Burton's collaboration for first time. This record pushed them to number 1 in their country and #2 in Germany. There was 4 singles: "Pretending", "In Joy and Sorrow," "Close to the Flame" and "Heartache Every Moment". This album was originally titled "Ozzymandias Dargnum" and had 14 tracks.
In 2002 "Razorblade Romance" was being re-edited and relaunched at USA but this time as was another American group with the same name (HiM), they had to use the name of HER (Her Evil Royalty) until to buy the naming rights to the American group . Only 1,000 copies were published under the name HER.
"Love Metal" was released in 2003, without Ville Valo on the cover. Instead the Heartagram appears in gold color. "The Funeral of Hearts" was the first single and was well received in Europe. This song was followed by "Buried Alive by Love" and "The Sacrament". During the promotion they had the support of Bam Margera (professional skateboarder and television personality), who also directed and produced the video "The Sacrament" and "Buried Alive by Love" where appered Juliette Lewis (Natural Born Killers).
In 2004 "And Love Said No: Greatest Hits 1997-2004" was released with two new songs: "Solitary Man" (a cover of the song by Neil Diamond) and "And Love Said No" while "Too Happy To Be Alive" was filtered at the network.
In 2005 they recorded their fifth studio album, "Dark Ligth" debuting at # 20 on the Billboard 200 with "Rip Out The Wings Of a Butterfly" and "Killing Loneliness" in whose video appears Kat Von D tattooing the eyes of Edgar Allan Poe at Ville's back. This album gave them in 2006 his first gold record in the United States. During the promotional tour Migé and Burton wrote "Plasma Mullet" which is not included in any official publication of the band.
One year later their second compilation álbum "Uneasy Listening vol: 1" was released with an acoustic version of "Pretending"and in 2007 "Uneasy Listening Vol. 2" which includes a cover of Black Sabbath's "Hand of Doom", a remix of "Sigillum Diaboli" and the "Rendezvous with Anus" by Turbonegro. This year sees the light "Venus Doom" the longest song by "Sleepwalking Past Hope" of 10:42 minutes and the shortest 1:11 ("Song or Suicide"). It also includes one of his hymns "The Kiss of Dawn" (with video directed by Meiert Avis) and the song "Passion's Killing Floor" which is part of the soundtrack of "Transformers".
Their first DVD / CD was "Digital Versatile Doom" in 2008 with a live performance at The Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles and flipbook with pictures of the performance of "Sleepwalking Past Hope" from that concert. Their first MTV Winter performance was in 2008 with The Cure and From First to Last and took part in the anual Projeckt Revolution concert led by Linkin Park.
In 2010 they started selling "Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice" with 13 songs such as "Heartkiller", "Love the Hardest Way" and "Scared to Death". This album incorporates Latin stences and references to biblical texts as in "In Venere Veritas" where referred pain, passion or really pure love and "Shatter Me With Hope" which speaks about Solomon, Cassandra and Damocles. It also refers to one of the shunned poets: Charles Baudelaire in "Love the Hardest Way".
In 2011 HIM and Sire / Records break their relation, in 2012 published a new collection: "XX - Two Decades of Love Metal" which includes "Strange World" the versión by Ké and in 2013 realised "Tears on Tape", their last album.
Members:
- Ville Valo
- Mikko Lindström
- Mikko Paananen
- Mika Karppinen
- Janne Puutinen
Exformer members:
- Antto Melasniemi
- Juhana Tuomas Rantala (Pátka)
- Jussi-Mikko Salminen (Zoltan Pluto)
1997: 666 Greatest Loves Songs Vol.
1999: Razorblade Romance
2001: Shadows and Brilliant Highlights Deepn
2003: Love Metal
2005: Dark Light
2007: Venus Doom
2010: Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice
2013: Tears on Tape
Tour:
12/5 London (UK)
12/6 London (UK)
12/9 New York (NY)
12/10 Boston (MA)
12/11 Sayrevile (NJ)
12-12 Silverspring (MD)
12/16 Los Angeles (CA)
12-17 Temple (AZ)
12-18 San Diego (CA)
12/19 Las Vegas (NV)
