April 24th, 2013 
Grace Duffy 
Artist: HIM
Album: Tears on Tape
Genre: Rock/metal
Label: Razor & Tie
It seems like an eternity since we last heard from HIM, despite Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice only having landed in 2010. Production on this album has been delayed by health issues and label problems, not for any want of willingness on the band’s part. Even so, on listening to Tears on Tape I can’t but feel that it’s still mired. There’s a lot wanting about this record. It seems almost like the world moved on a bit and left the band behind. Without meaning to imply that albums have to sound any particular way to be “current” and even taking into account the throwback influences in its composition, Tears on Tape doesn’t feel like a finished record. It feels like an idea, and it’s certainly one that lead singer and chief songwriter Ville Valo has talked up in promotional materials – likening it to “the autumn of a man” and describing it as “cinematic” and “very personal.” It’s a poetic allusion completely in keeping with HIM’s legacy as purveyors of catastrophically gorgeous rock, but it’s not one that’s actually translated on the album. While a relatively decent listen, Tears on Tape is almost lifeless. It lacks the grandeur and the pomp and circumstance that one associates with HIM and it never really finds a way to move you.
Valo has stated that he wanted this record to be “simple…I wanted to describe humongous moments of emotional revelation as simply as possible.” Some of this ambition does come across, but I fear that in their haste the band may have actually over-simplified the album. What may pass for unadorned love songs in theory here translate as a lack of effort. The album cries out for an event track; a blistering magnetic opener like “Vampire Heart” off Dark Light (2005) or “Buried Alive By Love” off Love Metal (2003). The closest it gets to one is “W.L.S.T.D.” which is the second last song, and even at that more compelling for its resemblance to their earlier, industrialised days than for any real dynamism. The band’s decision to include instrumentals for the first time is a wise one, however, and one which ensures some texture and diversity on the album. “Unleash the Red,” “Lucifer’s Chorale,” and “Kiss the Void” all bring darkness and melodrama to Tears on Tape, something its overly chaste regular tracks lack in abundance. They are largely electronic-based, thick and consuming, borrowing cues from other tracks and fomenting them into something harsh and portentous. Taken together, they’re a sublime mixture of conflict and resolution that comes closest to capturing the scale and spectrum of emotions alluded to by Valo in his vision for the album.
The other songs are mediocre. This is, in fairness, more attributable to their pacing and gracelessness than any inherent fault but it doesn’t make the record any less disappointing. The smouldering combination of fiery guitars and Valo’s faultlessly rich baritone is in place but in many cases never allowed to flourish. Several tracks start well but fall apart later on. “All Lips Go Blue” and “Love Without Tears” are ostensibly album openers but renounce their crusading intros for dreary choruses. “I Will Be the End of You” leads with a powerful riff but gradually waters itself down. It feels horribly like the guitar’s bluntness has been deliberately shorn in post-production. “Tears on Tape” is fatigued, missing a crucial piece from an otherwise enticing puzzle. Put quite simply, there’s no edge to the music in these tracks. It sounds sluggish and lacklustre, making it difficult to get involved even at an early stage. Even where the band seek to inject inspiration from other genres, it doesn’t quite work. “Into the Night” is a cataclysmic mélange of everything from acoustics to pop to classical and feels entirely directionless. For something so stuffed full of influences, it’s very thin and poorly served and completely devoid of HIM’s usual style and panache. The band are content to dwell on lengthy, heaving paces in an effort to intensify the emotions of the lyrics, but the songs aren’t good enough to benefit from it. They’re very plain to begin with and the slower pacing, rather than being luxuriant, just makes them duller.
The only songs that come close to capturing HIM’s effortless allure are “No Love” and “W.L.S.T.D.” “No Love” is all glamour, opening with a typically bold and bodied cry and evolving into something more consistent and bracing. It isn’t perfect, but sonically it’s infinitely more rigorous than the rest. “W.L.S.T.D.” is the only song that feels entirely complete. It has the murky extravagance of the band’s early days, relying heavily on industrial distortion and Gothic twists to give it character. Here, the slower pace suits the thickness of the sound but only because it was fully realised and intensive from the off.
Tears on Tape is far from the rush of cinematic elegance its makers profess it to be. For a HIM album, it’s extraordinarily disappointing. The leaden rhythm of the tracks only serves to highlight how uninteresting they are – it is less a musical maturing than a negation of the wonder and grandeur and even majesty usually exuded by the band. In short, too much energy is missing, and there’s not enough character to compel you to look deeper.
SCORE: 4/10
Review written by Grace Duffy
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I have yet to hear the entire album but from what i’ve heard already i had to preorder my copy from: http://smarturl.it/HIMiTunes
oops i hope it lives up to my expectations
songs from the album are being previewed all week on HIM’s website! can’t wait for the release! http://www.tearsontape.us/
i’m so glad someone feels the same about this album. this album makes it difficult for me to go back and listen to their earlier stuff that i loved so much. the only way they could’ve simplified this album more is by saying “you’re so beautiful” over and over again. oh wait, they already did that and it sucked! :( though p.s. i loved screamworks in all it’s ridiculously cheesy glory.
they are playing in Chicago at House of Blues on 5/8 – definitely a show I wouldn’t want to miss!
Never fear, I share your pain! I really love HIM and I think Ville is an incredibly talented musician, but there’s just something so plain about his latter-day efforts. He’s resorted to worn clichés and repetition and it’s irritating, because I feel he’s capable of so much more than that. The early stuff is golden but that doesn’t mean they can’t offer a more mature, thoughtful take on it. Albums like this seem regressive, alas.
Spot on Justin, it’s got none of the energy that Screamworks boasted. Perhaps they wanted an easier tour this time around?
Anyone who is reconsidering buying this album because of this shit review, I’d like you to consider your source. The reviewer gave the new Will.I.Am album a 7/10. Buy “Tears on Tape”. You’ll be happy you did. Trust me.
There aren’t many bands I’ll go in blind on and pick up an album without hearing it. HIM is one of them.
Thus, I did buy it. And I’m not happy that I did. I think the review is spot on, actually. “Catastrophically gorgeous rock” is the perfect descriptor for them. It’s over-the-top. It’s excess. It’s almost a guilty a pleasure. And there’s almost none of it on this disc. I can’t name any other band that provides quite the experience HIM does in their best moments, but I can name many who do what they do on “Tears on Tape” quite a bit better.
what’s really disappointing is ur ability to write a review! It is an amazing album. I love the atmosphere, lyrics, the instrumental songs in between. some tracks are pure genius, some are really direct which I love. Oh and keep this in mind: U can never compare albums. u can never say old H.I.M new H.I.M. human nature is all about emotions which change constantly, it’s about evolving and songs are written based on emotions and state of mind.u know that right? If ur a H.I.M fan u won’t think twice about buying this album.
by the way, if this dude gave a 7 to buy Will I Am then he should be banned to write about real music.
Thanks for the review. Looking forward to seeing the band play in NYC on 5/10. Have never seen their live show.
A HIM review from a rap lover?
First of all, I’m a girl, so congratulations on your stunning analytical ability there. Secondly, and this may be difficult to comprehend, but different kinds of music to HIM can actually be good. Sometimes – whisper it – they can even be better. Now, while it’s unlikely that someone who likes HIM will also be interested in will.i.am (although then again, most discerning music fans don’t pigeonhole themselves, so I suggest you widen your listening), and the will.i.am release is not necessarily better than Tears on Tape, reviewing an album means taking it on its own merits as a representation of that genre. HIM’s record is disappointing as a rock release – it’s lazy, uninspired, and could have been much better considering how brilliant HIM are as a band. will.i.am’s record is very good as an r’n’b/pop release – it’s catchy, it’s upbeat, it does what it says on the tin. Comparing two albums from two different genres is difficult because of the differing approaches and influences of the artists and the audience they’re writing for. Put quite simply, a HIM audience will expect different things to a will.i.am audience. Tears on Tape does not deliver for its audience, but Willpower does deliver for its own audience. To dismiss a review because the reviewer wrote about – shock! – two different forms of music and expressed positive sentiments for one but not the other is really, really silly. Would you dismiss an Elton John album because he once shared the stage with Pete Doherty? Of course you wouldn’t. So stop being so immature.
^ My sentiments exactly. HIM are a terrific band and a long time favourite of mine, which is why I’m disappointed in this album. I know what they wanted to do but it just didn’t work.
I’ve written a fuller response below about dismissing a review because the reviewer wrote about a different genre and gave it a better score, so there’s no need to repeat that here. Thank you for reading both reviews, though it’s unfortunate you didn’t learn any more impressive words than ‘shit’ for expressing distaste. If you think an album is guaranteed to be good because the reviewer positively scored an album of a different genre but disliked this, you’re in a bad way. Quality is not the monopoly of any particular genre, and a good release in a genre that you perceive as being of lesser quality than rock does not automatically make the rock album better.
I don’t actually listen to that much rap, but it’s worth pointing out that Willpower (from which I assume you made this fantastic leap of logic) is much more dance, pop, and r’n’b than it is rap. And it is quite a good album, and people should broaden their horizons and listen to it. Further, it may be shocking to some but a team of reviewers on a music site that covers everything from pop to rock to metal to hip-hop to dubstep to indie to pop-punk to screamo to synth to electro to instrumental to acoustic to orchestral are sometimes assigned reviews of more than one genre. Who’da thunk it?!