Celebrate three decades of HIM with a new and exclusive Metal Hammer bundle, available only via the Louder webstore!
From today (May 7), you can get your hands on a special edition of the magazine’s current issue, which features founding lead singer Ville Valo looking back on the goth metal beloveds’ every era, from their 1996 debut EP through to their breakup in 2017.
This version comes with a cover you won’t find anywhere else, depicting Ville with aptly devilish horns, as well as a t-shirt marking 30 years of dark romantic hits. There’s also an art card signed by Ville himself.
Get yours now while stocks last!
Looking back on how HIM started, Ville says in the new issue: “It was our first clandestine operation – four boys gathered in Mige’s [bassist Mikko Paananen] mother’s larder listening to church bells tolling. All the melancholy and darkness of Him could be traced to my dog, Sami. He was my furry brother. He passed when I was six, and it was my first real brush with melancholy.”
He also looks back on the 1997 cover of Chris Isaak’s sensual hit Wicked Game, which helped the band score a deal with major record label BMG.
“Chris Isaak helped us find our own musical identity,” he says. “I’d heard Wicked Game on the [1990 David Lynch movie] Wild At Heart soundtrack, so went to the public library, took out the LP, and me and Linde [guitarist Mikko Lindström] sat down working out the riffs.”
The issue also features the life story of late At The Gates singer Tomas Lindberg, as told by three of his longtime bandmates.
“He wasn’t only this metal singer and the godfather of the Gothenburg scene,” says guitarist Anders Björler. “Everybody that met him knows he was a really humble guy. He was always making sure, if somebody was left out, that they were introduced and felt welcome.”
Elsewhere inside, we get to know rising trad-metal stars Tailgunner, list the 25 greatest goth metal albums ever made, look back at how Gimme Chocolate!! turned Babymetal into viral sensations and meet some of Iron Maiden’s biggest fans as the band release their career-spanning documentary, Burning Ambition.
You’ll also find reviews of all of this month’s biggest albums – including new releases from At The Gates, Foo Fighters and Sevendust – and gigs by Alter Bridge, Powerwolf, SikTh and more.
Pick up your copy – with that exclusive HIM cover, t-shirt and signed art card – while you can! Alternatively, you can pick up a t-shirt and magazine-only bundle, or grab the shirt by itself.
