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HIM - Venus Doom

'Venus Doom' is the sixth studio album from Finnish rockers HIM, and it has a way of making a listener so intrigued by their sounds, that it is very difficult to place them in a specific genre. From alternative rock and heavy metal, to Goth rock and gothic metal, with elements of a Goth pop feel slid in or good measure. Their musical style has been known to switch through albums, on this album the tracks are the band's heaviest material to date.

The first single 'The Kiss Of Dawn' is just one example of the creative writing ability, and personal experience the band have called upon to write these tracks. The vocals on the album are very distinctive. At times high pitched, poppy and others dark and unsettling. This is predominant on 'Sleepwalking Past Hope'. In HIM's longest running track to date (10 minutes), two very different vocals are juxtaposed next to each other. There are those of deep dark death, which fit harmoniously with the darker sounds, then the more angelic chords, which fit the piano perfectly. Harmonies on some absurd level work together in...harmony.

You will probably notice when listening to the album that it is mostly guitar-oriented with a distinctive lack of keyboards in most areas. From the lighting of a match to the scream of an individuals fear, the opener and title track has some amazing dark electric sounds. At times the track can get a little muddled, with a slower unnerving section, creating an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach one minute, and then gets me with the catchy chorus lines. This is what much of the album gives feelings of. Change in moods and directions very quickly not only for the track and the band, but for the listener too.

Then there are times where all this sounds quite cleaver and creative, which it is, but the vocals sound fake, especially in 'Love In Cold Blood'. The creepiness sounds put on in the chorus, vocals are high pitched to such that the scream is proof enough. The electric middle sounds creative as you'd imagine live, but not on an album where it's accompanied by screams and scratches.

The atmosphere of other tracks is also ruined incessant electric sounds. The piano medley introduction of 'Sleepwalking Past Hope' for instance is followed by scratch of guitar and puts all aspirations out of wack, destroying the tracks atmosphere. Just when something special and a little calmer seems to pop up in the form of 'Song Or Suicide', a rush of relief runs through my bones, but is quickly side swept by husky vocals. The feeling lasts a little longer in 'Cyanide Sun', with its acoustic ending.

Feelings of depression, love and confusion whip past you while the album plays loud on your stereo. Baffled and bewildered I may be, but satisfied and content to go with.