HIM – “Screamworks: Love in Theory & Practice”

Ahh. Nothing says fashionable dysthymia like a bottle of black hair dye and a HIM CD. As Finland’s finest, emo rockers HIM released the oh-so fervently titled Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice, you just know that a million angsty teenagers all over the globe finally felt like someone understood them. So who is this god amongst men? Why, it’s unaffected frontman Ville Valo. Sure, he looks a little like a Tim Burton character, but the man certainly knows how to capture the hearts of the emotionally wavering youth of today.

And so it begins. The album opens with Valo singing a capella: “…let’s fall apart together now.” I can’t really say that I fell apart in any way during the listening of this album. But I can tell you that I’ve listened to it several times, so I guess it can’t be too bad.

Track four, “Disarm Me (With Your Loneliness)”, is among the least noteworthy songs of the album, as it’s a tad too slow and uninspiring compared to the more upbeat numbers like its successor “Love, the Hardest Way” which has clever little changes in tempo, keeping the song interesting throughout.

There’s definitely some cool ideas here. The introduction to “Ode to Solitude” is interesting, while album closer “The Foreboding Sense of Impending Happiness” at first seems lifeless, but features enough unusual sounds for it to be intriguing, although lacking any real kind of climax.

Screamworks… is definitely OK. It’s not overly memorable, and Valo’s pained whimper is oftentimes more amusing than anything else. But if you’re a lovesick teenager who needs to make a louder statement than shutting yourself in your room to read Twilight over and over can achieve, this is the album for you.

Track Listing:

01. In Venere Veritas
02. Scared To Death
03. Heartkiller
04. Dying Song
05. Disarm Me [With Your Loneliness]
06. Love, The Hardest Way
07. Katherine Wheel
08. In The Arms Of Rain
09. Ode To Solitude
10. Shatter Me With Hope
11. Acoustic Funeral (For Love In Limbo)
12. Like St. Valentine
13. The Foreboding Sense Of Impending Happiness

Run Time: 47:01
Release Date: 02.09.2010