Ville Valo, who was the leader of the Finnish band HIM, gave signs of life with the surprise release of the EP "Gothica Fennica vol. one" He compiles three songs under what appears to be the 43-year-old musician's new plan, a project that is simply signed with the initials of his name: VV.
The morning of this March 20, VV He used the digital networks of his extinct band to officially hang the three tracks that make up this production: "Salute The Sanguine", “Run Away From The Sun" and "Saturnine Saturnalia".
In the midst of the global health emergency due to a virus with a high level of contagion, these three songs fell as a balm for HIM followers around the world, and they are three songs that we can perfectly locate in the musical line that placed this group in the taste of its fan base: soft, dark, melodic and catchy rock.
“Salute the Sanguine” dances between the latest from HIM (their eighth album “Tears on Tape”) and the album that made them famous worldwide, the Dark Light. A piece that sounds in the purest HIM style, mixing its old and new school, with rhythmic choruses, a consistent drums and a lyric that, undoubtedly, comes from Valo's vein. Salute the Sanguine closes between whispers and a descending rhythm that fades to make way for “Run Away From the Sun”.
"Run Away From the Sun" sounds like a lost piece from Screamworks, one of HIM's richest, softest and least appreciated lyrics; With this song, VV flaunts his ability to tell stories in the form of ballads, with the simplest words of love, pain, melancholy and redemption, all with that kind of Finnish elegance that draws him. Run Away from the Sun takes its climax with a touch of synth pop that suddenly breaks with the characteristic strumming of HIMezca music.
The EP closes masterfully with "Saturnine Saturnalia", a piece that takes us further into the era of Venus Doom; VV takes advantage of his vocal ability here, going from low to high, going through echoes, beats, choruses and a musical base in which the bass of his HIM partner: MIkko Paananen is guessed. The closing of this song is the most metal that you will find in this EP.
With Gothica Fennica Vol. 1, Ville Valo explores his composer abilities taking us to nostalgic landscapes, with poetic, melodious, brilliantly dark stories. VV thus receives the honorable mention at the graduation of his own school: Love Metal.
Review by Karina Coss
