VV

Around the turn of the millennium the Finnish ‘love metal’ band His Infernal Majesty, better known as HIM, stole the hearts of millions of hard rock fans by approaching the genre in a novel and unique way. In 2017, after more than two decades, eight albums and more than ten million in album sales, the band called it quits. In 2019 vocalist Ville Valo embarked on the next chapter in his career with a clean slate. In 2020 he tested the waters with an EP. The positive reception encouraged Vale to work on new tracks, culminating in the late 2022 release of ‘Neon Noir’, his first solo album. Musically VV dovetails perfectly with the music of HIM – hardly surprising since Ville Valo also wrote the lion’s share of HIM’s material – but there are subtle differences thanks to the judicious use of elements from the 80s steeped in synths and the alternative guitar sound that was all the rage in those days. #GMM23