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Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice, Finnish rock band HIM’s seventh studio album, attempts to be their greatest yet. Unfortunately, it succumbs to a number of awkward pitfalls that leaves fans with mixed feelings.

Front man and lead singer, Ville Valo, has referred to the band’s genre as a unique mix between heavy metal and passionate, romantic themes.

Thus, “love metal” was born. 

As far as living up to that title, Screamworks is about 3/4 of the way there. 

Love is often mentioned throughout the album, remaining as a focus in most songs.

Valo’s vocals also still hold true to the metal genre, strong and gruff, at times bleeding into a falsetto or a scream, to get his point across.

However, the music tragically pulls away from this idea, at times leaning painfully close to pop-punk with synth driven lines and light drums and guitar.

The awkward tension between the airy music and heavy vocals is hard to ignore.

This change is a clear contrast to HIM’s last album, Venus Doom (2007), which garnered much of their popularity in the states.

Venus Doom was their darkest album to date, and many hoped that they would continue on in this direction. 

Although it is difficult to pinpoint what exactly a Finnish rock band should sound like, Screamworks is much more Americanized than prior albums, being catchy and to-the-point.

In doing this, the band has created an album with many similar sounding songs.

The notable exception is the last track, “The Foreboding Sense of Impending Happiness,” which is much darker and creates a chilling end to the album.

Screamworks definitely isn’t all bad.

Although HIM’s use of synths isn’t exactly dark, it creates a number of catchy lines and does an excellent job to create recognizable song intros. I would suggest this album to anyone who enjoys heavy metal.