VV - Loveletting - Single [Review]

In 2017, I finally fulfilled a long-standing dream of seeing one of my favorite bands of all time - HIM. Seeing them followed the devastating news that they were disbanding after more than two decades together and consequently going on a farewell tour, and I knew that I would need to see them on that tour since it was going to be my last chance. It was such a great experience, but it was also a very emotional one, knowing that it was my last chance and also knowing that I was never again going to hear a new HIM song. Fast-forward to 2020, however, and HIM frontman Ville Valo (under the name VV) released an EP titled Gothica Fennica Vol. 1 featuring three new songs - "Salute the Sanguine," "Run Away from the Sun," and "Saturnine Saturnalia." While it was not HIM, it might as well have been because it sounded just like HIM's typical style of melancholy bluesy metal; VV even revived the heartagram, now slightly updated so that his initials were featured within. There was unfortunately no news, however, regarding whether or not the EP was an album sampler or if there would be a Gothica Fennica Vol. 2 - no news until recently (two years later), that is. On April 8th, VV dropped a new single titled "Loveletting," by far my favorite of the four songs that Ville has thus far released as a solo artist. Like the three songs on Gothica Fennica Vol. 1, it's definitely very much in keeping with HIM, reminding me most especially of the band's 2010 album Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice, Chapters 1-13. A somewhat melancholy but also beautiful and hopeful keyboard motif opens the song which is primarily a mellow rock song with the keyboard motif being joined by a gentle electric guitar riff, and Valo's velvety voice singing the lulling melody of the chorus is enough on its own to remind me of how much I have missed HIM. It lyrically seems to address star-crossed lovers who cannot be together: "Two heartbeats out of sync with each other and crying." (This is also typical HIM territory thematically.) While I don't know for sure, I am thinking that Ville is probably playing all instruments on the track because that was apparently the case on Gothica Fennica, and even though Ville has announced a solo album on the way titled Neon Noir (the lead single of which being "Loveletting"), it's as of now unclear if the three songs on the EP will be on the album or if there will be a Gothica Fennica Vol. 2. Either way, however, I am so excited about this album!

Harry Styles - As It Was - Single [Review]

Following the late 2019 release of his second solo album Fine Line, Harry Styles is releasing his third studio album, titled Harry's House, on May 20th. The album's lead single, released on April 1st, is titled "As It Was" and broke records on its first day of release. The song is an uptempo alternative pop song with synth that gives it a bit of an '80s and early '90s feel. (Parts of it, in fact, especially the motif with which the song opens, remind me of The Cure's 1992 song "Friday I'm in Love.") In keeping with the title of the album (which, again, is Harry's House), the lyrics of the song definitely do seem to address some sort of isolation or being held back from human interaction: "'Harry, you're no good alone. Why are you sitting at home on the floor?'" Styles also claims that he can't interact in the way that he would like to because "gravity's holdin' me back" and asks for someone else to be the one to make the first move of reaching out: "I want you to hold out the palm of your hand." The intro of the song, in fact, features a young child speaking the following words: "Come on, Harry, we want to say goodnight to you." As Styles has confirmed himself, that is actually Harry's goddaughter Ruby and is from an actual voicemail left by her: "[Ruby] got a streak of calling me every night before bed," he revealed, "and I missed it once, and she wanted to let me know that she was quite angry with me." Once I learned that, this song (and especially that intro) became so much more precious, and it definitely fits with the song's theme of social isolation. Harry has also further elaborated upon the meaning of the song, commenting, "The song is about metamorphosis, embracing change and former self, perspective shift and all that kind of stuff." I personally love the fun, synthy energy of the song and can't wait for the album, especially since I feel like if this song is a harbinger of what's to come on the album, this may just end up being even better than Harry Styles or Fine Line!

Ghost - IMPERA [Review]

IMPERA is Swedish metal band Ghost's long-awaited and highly anticipated fifth studio album, with it having been four years since the band's fourth album Prequelle (although they did drop small releases here and there such as the two tracks on the Seven Inches of Satanic Panic single and their incredible cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman"). Admittedly, IMPERA was a bit of a grower for me because I felt lukewarm upon first listen (even though I instantly loved the first two singles "Hunter's Moon" and "Call Me Little Sunshine" when they first dropped). I remember seeing several friends who are Ghost fans saying on release day that the album was beautiful and might have even been their favorite Ghost album yet, and I initially found myself thinking that I didn't quite feel the same way but wished that I did. While I still don't know that I would call IMPERA my favorite Ghost album thus far (an honor that I think still goes to Prequelle), I am definitely absolutely in love with it now and definitely think that beautiful is, overall, a great word to describe it. As is Ghost tradition (with Meliora being the one exception as it opens with "Spirit"), the album opens with a short instrumental intro titled "Imperium"(a word meaning absolute power, which makes sense given the album title being a variation of that and frontman Tobias Forge having revealed ahead of the album's release that the album would be about the fall of empires). "Imperium" is absolutely gorgeous, a slow acoustic piece that builds in intensity and weight as it progresses, eventually bringing in electric guitar and a marching beat. Forge has described it as having a "national anthem opening" quality to it, and I can definitely hear that, especially because of its aforementioned marching beat which also gives it a bit of a militaristic quality. The melody heard via the electric guitar is also repeated again at the very end of the album (which I will call back to when I get there). IMPERA then gives us "Kaisarion" which is my least favorite song on the album. While I by no means hate it, it has somewhat of a punk rock quality to it, and I don't know how well it works here. It also feels a tad too long. Running at just over five minutes in length, it is a bit redundant, and by the time it reaches four minutes or so, it feels like it has already done pretty much everything that it needs to.

Interestingly, whereas "Kaisarion" definitely sets the stage for the album's previously mentioned theme involving the fall of empires (as it addresses, as Ghost often does, Christian hypocrisy and dominion and even directly states in the first verse that "we're building our empire from the ashes of an old" which calls attention to a wheel turning as empires fall and new ones take their place), the next three tracks seemingly veer away from it a bit, with "Spillways" and "Call Me Little Sunshine" (the album's second single which I reviewed here) hitting upon a theme similar to that of Meliora's "Cirice." "All your faith, all your rage, all your pain," fictional frontman Papa Emeritus IV declares in the pre-chorus, "it ain't over now, and I ain't talking about forgiveness." The title of the song (which is recited in the song's chorus) is in reference to a structure that is intended to help release a controlled amount of water from a dam to prevent overflow, emphasizing the song's theme of our souls needing to purge that bottled up darkness (rage and pain). I love the somewhat poppy and retro synthy sound to it (reminding me of Bon Jovi's "Runaway"), making it one of the catchiest songs on the album. We then get "Call Me Little Sunshine" and "Hunter's Moon," both of which I already reviewed since they are the album's first two singles. (Check out my review of "Hunter's Moon" here.) "Watcher in the Sky" is one of IMPERA's heaviest tracks, featuring a thumping and chugging guitar riff following Forge opening the song with the chorus. The song is a bit repetitive, since the main hook ("Searchlights looking for the watcher in the sky") is heard nearly twenty times throughout. In the Metal Hatter interview with Tobias Forge to which I linked earlier in the review, Tobias said that the song addresses the irony of using science to reverse humanity's progress, and fitting the overall theme of the album, it lyrically makes Machiavellian and totalitarian references which makes for a nice transition into the next track as it is titled "Dominion," a short instrumental track Forge described as "majestic." Featuring horns, it also sort of works as an intro to "Twenties," which I already reviewed since it was released as a promotional single ahead of the album's release. (All I will say in addition to what I already said about "Twenties" in my review of it is that I now love it even more than I did then. It might even be my favorite song from IMPERA; the pulsating rhythm of the big band intro is - for lack of a better word - sick.)

I remember when I first saw the album's tracklisting, I thought that "Darkness at the Heart of My Love" sounded like an epic power ballad from the '80s penned by Diane Warren, and that is essentially exactly what it is (sans Warren's involvement). Forge talked about the song with Metal Hammer and said, "This is about people promoting all of these values under the guise of being God-fearing and righteous while they practice none of it. It's just for cash and power." It therefore touches upon a frequent Ghost subject - Christian hypocrisy. As is also often the case with Ghost's music, however, the lyrics can also be heard in a broader sense. As is true of "Cirice" and "Call Me Little Sunshine," this is another example of a Ghost song in which the empathetic speaker is offering his hand to those in need: "When the summer dies," Emeritus offers in the first verse, "severing the ties, I'm with you always..." My favorite line of the song, however, is the following: "Remember always that love is all you need. Tell me who you want to be, and I will set you free." It's a beautiful and epic (epic especially because of the choir brought in late in the song that joins Forge on the chorus) hard rock ballad about sharing kindness, empathy, and love in a world in which there isn't nearly enough of it (hence that darkness that's at the heart of the love; the darkness that the love needs to snuff out). "Griftwood" is another one of my favorite songs on the album, possibly even my second favorite next to "Twenties." I think that it might be the catchiest song on the album, with an infectious guitar riff and chorus, and I also love the rhythm of the verses. It has an arena rock sound to it somewhat similar to that heard in "Square Hammer." Ahead of the album's release, Forge revealed that "Griftwood" is about religious hypocrites such as Mike Pence: "That song's about him and anyone like him who's willing to soil everything they've worked for. They definitely qualify for a front-row ticket to hell which is so ironic because that's what they believe in... He's known as this sort of Bible-thumper believing that he has strong faith, and he's just this awful, awful person..." This is definitely reflected in the song's lyrics which seem to be from the titular grifter's perspective as he makes false promises which he has no intention of delivering: "You want a view from the spire? You want a seat by the pyre and never, ever suffer again?" This could also be seen as in reference to the promise of heaven that Christianity offers, a promise that, according to Forge, would be false.

The album closes with "Respite on the Spitalfields" which is introduced by a very short instrumental segue titled "Bite of Passage." "Bite of Passage" moves gaplessly into "Respite on the Spitalfields," somewhat of a power ballad that does, however, get fairly heavy in the pre-chorus when Emeritus employs a somewhat more aggressive vocal style than usual, probably my favorite part of the song, although I also adore the lyrics of the chorus: "Nothing ever lasts forever. We will go softly into the night." Ghost is no stranger to repeating musical motifs. The melody heard in Meliora's "Spöksonat," for example, is repeated on Prequelle's "Ashes" / "Rats," and here, as previously teased, "Respite on the Spitalfields" ends with the same melody heard on the opening track "Imperium." I have, for a very long time (ever since seeing the 2001 film From Hell), been fascinated by the Jack the Ripper case, and that is what this song is tackling lyrically: "We're here in the after of a murderous crafter," Forge laments in the first verse. "The past is spun like a yarn and mangled with flesh and blood and bones." Tobias did in fact confirm this in an interview with Kerrang! when he stated, "[Jack the Ripper] did the people of Spitalfields and that part of London an enormous disfavor because he was never caught which meant that... they were never sure that he was not going to do it again, so for a long time after, there must have been fear, especially among women, that it could happen again..." The song lyrically addresses that collective fear that unites people, and it's a great song but probably Ghost's weakest closer so far primarily because of its fade-out. When a song fades out at the end, I, for some reason, expect that to lead into something, but it doesn't. As I said, however, I overall adore IMPERA. It's very eclectic, with Ghost at times being in league with Metallica and other times Bon Jovi. I know that some fans didn't like Prequelle because they felt that it was too "poppy," and I fear that such fans must likely hate IMPERA because I think that it's overall undoubtedly the "poppiest" Ghost album so far. I do kind of wish, however, that "Hunter's Moon" had been featured as a bonus track rather than as track 5 because I do think that it feels a bit out of place thematically, and speaking of bonus tracks, I am very surprised that there is no deluxe version of IMPERA with at least one cover included because that seems to be tradition for Ghost, but perhaps that is still to come (as I believe was the case with Meliora).

Avril Lavigne - Love Sux [Review]

Love Sux is Canadian pop-rock musician Avril Lavigne's seventh studio album, a highly anticipated album by many for a couple of reasons. Not only did it simply feel time for a new album since it had been three years since Lavigne's sixth album Head Above Water, but Love Sux is a return to form for the singer. Ahead of the album being announced, Lavigne collaborated on a couple of singles with WILLOW and Travis Barker ("G R O W") and her current boyfriend MOD SUN ("Flames"), and both songs (whether intentionally or unintentionally, I don't know) served as precursors for what was to come on Love Sux. Much like her 2007 third studio album The Best Damn Thing, Love Sux is an album fueled by pop punk reminiscent of the likes of Simple Plan, blink-182, Sum 41, etc., and the album doesn't waste any time getting into that vibe, opening with the loud, heavy, and high energy punk rock number "Cannonball." "Cannonball" opens with the staticky sound of instruments plugging in, making it such a great way to open the album as that definitely sets the overall tone of the album. "Like a ticking time bomb, I'm about to explode!" Avril shouts after the instruments kick off. The chorus is a soaring, catchy melody that is sure to get stuck in your head after a couple of listens. I am not going to spend a whole lot of time addressing the lyrical meanings behind most of the songs on the album because many of the songs have a similar (if not the same) lyrical theme, and that is another way that "Cannonball" sets the mood for the album. Lavigne has stated that the song is "about being a fierce bitch," but, as is the case with most of the songs on the album, it addresses a bad breakup and how the speaker feels free and happier now that it's over: "You did me dirty," she aggressively proclaims in the first verse. "Now, I'm gonna live a life without you... and I'll be happy if we never speak again." (Like I said, that pretty much sums up the entire theme of nearly the entire album.) I like the melody of "Bois Lie" (the spelling of which is likely intended to be a reference to Lavigne's very early hit single "Sk8er Boi"), but I am not a huge fan of Machine Gun Kelly so don't love his being featured on it. One thing that does thematically stand out with "Bois Lie," however, is that it's not one-sided. Despite the title, MGK argues that "girls lie too," so we sort of get both perspectives of the failed relationship.

"Bite Me" is the album's lead single and is definitely one of my favorite songs on the album. It's so catchy, and I especially love Lavigne's "eh-oh" at the beginning of the chorus because something about it takes me back to old school Avril from Let Go and Under My Skin. It's such a fun song that, like I said, as is the case with most of the album's material, is about feeling free and empowered after the end of a bad relationship: "Should've held on, should've treated me right," the chorus advises. "I gave you one chance; you don't get it twice." (She also released an acoustic version which even got its own separate music video.) We then get the album's second single, "Love It When You Hate Me," a collaboration with alternative hip hop artist blackbear who solely commands the second verse. Avril has described the song as being "about ignoring all the warning signs and doing something knowing, full well, you shouldn't." With that in mind, I would argue that it's more specifically about the consequences of having jumped into bed with someone whom you knew wasn't right for you. While I am not spending a whole lot of time discussing the sonic elements of the music (the reason behind which I will explain shortly), I will say that there is a part in "Love It When You Hate Me" that reminds me a great deal of "Runaway" from The Best Damn Thing. Here in "Love It When You Hate Me," Avril's voice melodically soars in the pre-chorus, "...and I ignore all the warning signs...," and in "Runaway," she sings (interestingly, also in the pre-chorus), "...and I feel so alive..." The melody between these two parts is nearly identical, and they even both start with the same two words. Given that both songs (albeit in different ways) thematically address being impulsive, it's not a stretch to imagine that it might be an intentional callback to that song. As one would expect given that it's the title track, "Love Sux" (which sonically reminds me a bit of Under My Skin's "He Wasn't") is such a great representation of the album's overall story: "Na-na-na, not another breakup. When I think of you, I just wanna throw up." "Kiss Me Like the World Is Ending" is another one worth mentioning because, despite the title of the album, it addresses love from a more positive perspective. Written with and about her boyfriend MOD SUN, it is a lovey-dovey number about getting swept away in the honeymoon era of a relationship: "The stars shine for the two of us... so sweet and mysterious." 

"Avalanche" is another highlight, mainly because it's the first of only two occasions on the album that veers a bit away from the raw punk sound heard throughout most of the album which is exactly why, as previously stated, I am not spending a lot of time in this review discussing the sound of each song. Doing so would quickly get redundant because, as is one of my minor complaints with the album, it's a bit monotonous sonically. Although I have found this to frequently be the case with pop punk albums, The Best Damn Thing does at least offer up a lot more variety with tracks like "When You're Gone," "Innocence," and "Keep Holding On." Although a band eventually joins in, "Avalanche" begins on an acoustic note reminding me a bit of Head Above Water's "Goddess." I love the melody of the chorus, and I also love that it's one of the few spots on the album that doesn't address a relationship. It is instead about admitting that you're not okay emotionally, making it the one song on the album to which I most relate. I also really enjoy the guitar riff that fuels the chorus of "Deja Vu," and other highlights include "All I Wanted" (if for no other reason than that it features Mark Hoppus on guest vocals, an absolutely iconic name in the world of punk rock) and "Dare to Love Me" (the album's only soft ballad driven primarily by piano and orchestra). The album then closes on an upbeat note with "Break of a Heartache," perhaps (especially because of its speed) the most punk rock that the album gets. It's somewhat of a historical move for Lavigne because this is the first time that an album of hers doesn't end with a soft ballad. I overall have complex feelings about Love Sux. I am so happy to see and hear this return to form and there are some great gems on it, but one of the reasons why I love her 2013 self-titled album as much as I do is because of the variety on it, whereas, as previously stated, Love Sux gets a bit monotonous after a few tracks. The chorus of "Deja Vu" says it best: "It's the same thing over and over again." A close friend also pointed out that he felt that the equalization is off on certain tracks, and I went back and listened specifically for that and found myself agreeing; on the first three tracks especially, I am not sure if her vocals are loud enough, and on "Dare to Love Me," her voice seems to suddenly get a bit louder once the second verse begins. I think that, overall, this might be my least favorite Avril Lavigne album so far, but like I said, I am also thrilled about the return to form.