HIM - Uneasy Listening Volumes 1 & 2

Alternate versions for Saturday night and Sunday morning

No one has done more to “feminise” heavy metal recently than Finnish goth-rockers HIM (His Infernal Majesty). Metal was once the last bastion of “male-only” music, where nothing but Manowar-issue machismo was acceptable from its XY-chromosome practitioners. With bands such as HIM and My Chemical Romance, times have changed. They’re Bram Stoker’s Dracula to the Cannibal Holocaust of all the other head-bangers.

Some may call this a leather’n’lace double-album of outtakes, versions and remixes, but they deserve better, so let’s call it Saturday night and Sunday morning. Disc Two is excellent, showing how well the band work as a semi-acoustic outfit, and it’s a treat to hear tracks such as Join Me In Death and The Sacrament freed from bombast. Singer Ville Valo, one of the last truly great rock stars, sounds awkwardly naked on one of two of the live recordings, but on Close To The Flame he sounds like a young Scott Walker.

Disc One is a bracing selection of heavier tunes, including a storming live cover of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game and the drive-time rock of Again. With half of these tracks available on general release for the first time, here it is, relatively fan-friendly, and a good snapshot of HIM’s impressive range.

SonyBMG | 00697011702 (2-CD)

Reviewed by John Doran
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