HIM (Finnish band)

In 1991, a band in Finland was first formed, which eventually would become well known around the world, and even in the United States. This band was initially started by three young men, Ville Valo a vocalist, Mikko Paananen bassist, and Mikko Lindstrom guitarist. Originally, the name of the band was actually His Infernal Majesty, but due to bad publicity and confusion, the band soon changed their name to just HIM.

At first the band started out by covering the songs of other people. They covered various songs by artist's like Black Sabbath, KISS, Depeche Mode, and Type O Negative. For awhile the band was actually on a hiatus, between the years of late 1991 to 1995, which was due to the founding members doing their military duty. Currently, the band not only includes the original three members that started it, but it also includes Mika Kristian Karppinen who plays the drums and Janne Johannas Puurtinen who plays keyboards for the bands.

This band has released at least 12 albums, starting out with the album, 666 Ways to Love: Prologue, and only 1000 copies of this first album were ever released, which makes it a collectible with their fans. Later in 1999, the popularity of this band began to spread all over Europe and they released another album called, Razorblade Romance. Eventually, the band started gaining popularity in the United States as well, and in 2002 they rereleased the album Razorblade Romance in the US.

When they first started releasing their material in the United States, this band actually had to release their albums under the name HER. The name HiM was then owned by a post rock band from the state of New York. Soon they were able to purchase the name HIM and now all of their albums use their name. There were only a few of the albums released under the name HER, so these albums are also collectibles among their fans.

Other albums that have been released by the band include: Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights, Love Metal, And Love Said No: Greatest Hits 1997 to 2004, Dark Light, Uneasy Listening 1, and Uneasy Listening 2. The group is also planning on releasing another album called Venus Doom, which will be released in July of 2007.

Although the band has seen a few changes over the years, their popularity is continuing to increase globally. Their signature love metal sound is loved by fans everywhere, and they are beginning to tour with popular names, which is adding to their popularity. Recently they have performed on the same stages as groups like Metallica, Linkin Park, and My Chemical Romance. This is a group that started out small, but has already done amazing things in music across the world. No doubt they will continue to enjoy popularity and fame as more and more people become familiar with their unique blend of music.