HIM: The Life Story Behind Finland's Love Metal Band
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Some bands chase fame by copying what is already popular, and some bands build a world of their own and wait for the world to come to them. HIM, the Finnish band from Helsinki, belonged to the second group. They mixed the heavy guitars of metal with soft, sad melodies about love, and they called the result love metal. Their singer, Ville Valo, had a deep voice that could sound tender one moment and dark the next, and their symbol, the heartagram, joined a heart and a pentagram into one mark that fans tattooed on their skin all over the world.
The band started in the early 1990s, when a group of young friends in Helsinki decided to make music that was heavy but also romantic. At a time when most metal bands sang about anger and war, HIM sang about love, loss, and longing. That choice made them stand out. Their songs were loud enough for a rock club, but the words were gentle enough to belong in a love letter. Fans who felt shy, sad, or different found something in their music that spoke to them, and the band grew slowly, first in Finland, then across Europe, and then around the world.
This is the story of how a small Finnish band with a strange name and a strange symbol became one of the most loved rock bands of their generation. It is a story about friendship, about staying true to one idea, about big success in Germany and America, and about a band that knew when to stop. HIM never tried to be the biggest band in the world. They tried to be honest, and that honesty is the reason people still play their songs today.
The band’s name itself tells part of the story. His Infernal Majesty sounded like the name of a dark metal band, and in a way it was, but the short form, HIM, turned the name into something personal. It was no longer about a grand and frightening figure. It was about a person, about him, about the singer and the listener at the same time. That change from a long and heavy name to a short and human one was a small decision, but it showed how the band thought. They wanted their music to feel close, not distant, and they wanted listeners to feel that the songs were about real people, not about monsters from a storybook.
In the first years, the band also learned how to work together in a small room with little money and no promise of success. They wrote songs, they threw some away, and they kept the ones that felt true. That slow work mattered, because it taught them what their sound was. A band that rushes into a studio too early often makes a record that sounds like other bands. HIM took their time, and when their first album came out, it already sounded like them. That patience is one of the reasons the band lasted so long, and it is one of the first things a new listener should know about them.
School Friends in Helsinki
HIM began in Helsinki in 1991, when Ville Valo, Mikko Lindström, and Mikko Paananen, who is known as Mige, started playing music together. They were young men who loved both heavy metal and softer, sadder music, and they wanted to put those two loves together. The band first used the name His Infernal Majesty, which was long and hard to remember, and they soon shortened it to HIM. The short name was simple, and it fit the band well, because their songs were about love and about the dark side of love at the same time.
In the early years, the band played small shows and worked on their sound. They were not in a hurry. They changed members, they practised, and they wrote songs that mixed heavy guitars with slow, romantic melodies. Ville Valo became the singer and the main songwriter, and his voice became the heart of the band. Mikko Lindström, known as Linde, played guitar, and Mige played bass. The three friends shared the same taste in music, and they trusted each other, which mattered more than anything in those early days.
Helsinki in the 1990s had a lively music scene, but it was small, and a band that wanted to reach the world had to work hard. HIM played in clubs, they made demo recordings, and they looked for a record company that would believe in them. Their music did not fit neatly into one style. It was too soft for some metal fans, and too heavy for some pop fans. That made it hard to sell at first, but it also made the band special. They were not copying anyone else. They were building something new, and the people who heard them knew it.
The band also created the heartagram, a symbol that joined a heart with a pentagram. The heart stood for love, and the pentagram stood for darkness, and together they showed what the band was about. Fans loved the symbol. It appeared on albums, on T-shirts, and on tattoos, and it became one of the most famous band symbols in rock music. The heartagram was simple, and it said everything about HIM in one small picture.
First Albums and a Finnish Breakthrough
HIM released their first album, Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666, in 1997. The title was a joke and a promise at the same time. It told listeners that the songs would be about love, and that the love would be dark. The album did well in Finland, and it gave the band their first real audience. People in Finland began to know their name, and their shows began to fill up. The band had waited years for this moment, and they were ready for it.
Their second album, Razorblade Romance, came out in 2000, and it changed everything. The album included the song Join Me in Death, which became a huge hit in Finland and in Germany. The song was slow, sad, and romantic, and it spoke to listeners who had felt love turn into pain. It was the kind of song that people played again and again, and it made HIM famous far beyond Finland. The album also included a cover of Wicked Game, a song first made famous by Chris Isaak, and HIM made it their own with a darker, heavier sound.
Success in Germany was very important for the band. Germany had a large audience for rock music, and German fans took HIM to their hearts. The band toured there, they appeared on television, and their albums sold well. For a small band from Finland, this was a dream come true. They were no longer playing only in small clubs at home. They were playing to large crowds in another country, and people were singing their songs back to them.
The band also began to build a look that matched their music. They wore black, they kept their hair long, and their stage shows were dark and romantic. Ville Valo became a well known figure, and his face appeared in music magazines across Europe. But the band stayed close to their friends and their home in Finland. They did not move away, and they did not change their sound to please other people. They believed in love metal, and they kept making it.
The early tours taught the band how to play for people who had never heard them before. In a new city, the crowd did not know the words, and the band had to win them over with the sound alone. That is a hard test for any band, and HIM passed it again and again. They learned to play with energy even when they were tired, and they learned to talk to the crowd in a simple and honest way. Those small shows in Germany and other countries built the base of fans that would stay with them for the rest of their career, and the band never forgot those early nights.
Love Metal and the World Tour Years
In 2003, HIM released the album Love Metal, which gave their style its name. The album included The Funeral of Hearts, a song that became one of their most loved works. The song was about love that had ended, and it had a sad beauty that fans remembered. The album did well in many countries, and the band toured more than ever before. They played in Europe, in Britain, and in America, and their audience grew with every tour.
The band’s next album, Dark Light, came out in 2005, and it was their biggest success in America. The album included the song Wings of a Butterfly, and it reached new listeners who had never heard a Finnish band before. HIM were now a band that could fill large venues in many countries, and they were often on the road for months at a time. Touring was hard work, but it was also the best way for the band to meet their fans, and the fans loved to see them play live.
During these years, the band made more albums, including Venus Doom in 2007 and Screamworks in 2010. Each album kept the same heart of the band, but each one sounded a little different. Venus Doom was heavier and darker, while Screamworks was brighter and more open. The band did not want to make the same album again and again. They wanted to try new things, and their fans were willing to follow them. That trust between a band and its fans is rare, and HIM had it.
The heartagram became even more famous during these years. It was not just a band symbol any more. It was a sign that fans used to find each other. People wore it on necklaces, they had it tattooed, and they painted it on their bags. For many fans, the heartagram meant that they were not alone in feeling sad or in love. It was a small mark that said a lot, and it showed how deeply the band’s music had touched people.
The touring years also brought the band to America, where they played for audiences who had never heard a Finnish band before. American rock fans were used to bands from their own country, and a band from Helsinki with a strange name and a strange symbol was something new. HIM won those audiences over the same way they had won audiences in Germany, by playing with honesty and by letting the songs speak. The band did not change their sound for America. They played the same songs, in the same way, and the American fans loved them for it.
Hard Years and the Last Album
After many years of touring and recording, the band began to feel tired. Life on the road is hard, and the members of HIM had been doing it for more than twenty years. They had families, they had other interests, and they needed time to rest. The band also faced changes in the music world. Rock music was no longer as popular as it had been, and it was harder for a band like HIM to reach new listeners. The band kept working, but the energy was not the same as it had been.
Their last album, Tears on Tape, came out in 2013. It was a return to the sound that had made them famous, and many fans loved it. The songs were sad, romantic, and heavy, and they showed that the band could still write strong music after so many years. The band toured behind the album, and they played to crowds who had followed them for a long time. The shows were warm and emotional, because the fans knew that the band had been together for a very long time.
In 2017, HIM announced that they would stop. They played a farewell tour, and their last shows were full of feeling. Fans came from many countries to see them one more time, and the band played the songs that had meant the most to them. The farewell was not angry or bitter. It was a decision made by friends who had shared a long journey and who wanted to end it with respect. The band did not break up in a fight. They finished their story together.
After the farewell, Ville Valo began a solo career, and the other members worked on their own projects. The band did not reform, and they did not try to bring back the past. They left their music behind for fans to enjoy, and they moved on to new things. That choice was in keeping with who they were. They had always done things in their own way, and they ended things in their own way too.
The farewell shows also showed how wide the band’s reach had become. Fans travelled from Finland, from Germany, from Britain, and from America to be there, and many of them had followed the band since they were teenagers. Some had grown up with the songs, and they had played them at weddings, at funerals, and on long drives at night. The band knew this, and they played the shows with care, choosing songs that covered the whole journey from the first album to the last. It was not a show about saying goodbye to fame. It was a show about saying thank you to the people who had listened.
A Sound Nobody Else Had
The sound of HIM was built on a simple idea that was not simple to play well. The guitars were heavy, the drums were strong, and the bass held everything together, but on top of that weight there was a melody that was soft and sad. Ville Valo sang in a deep voice that could drop low and then rise into a gentle line, and the contrast between the heavy instruments and the gentle singing is what made the band easy to recognise. A listener could hear a few seconds of a song and know it was HIM, and that kind of clear sound is something most bands never find.
The band took ideas from many places. They loved old metal bands, they loved the gothic rock of the 1980s, and they loved the sad pop songs that played on the radio when they were young. They did not copy any one of these styles. They took the heavy guitar from one, the dark mood from another, and the strong melody from a third, and they joined them into something new. That joining is the reason their music could be played in a rock club and still be loved by people who did not usually listen to metal. The band built a bridge between two kinds of listener, and many people walked across it.
The words of the songs mattered as much as the music. Valo wrote about love in a way that was direct and open, and he did not hide behind clever jokes or strange images. He wrote about wanting someone, about losing someone, and about the pain that comes when love ends. He also wrote about the fear of being alone and the hope of being loved in return. These are feelings that almost everyone has, and the band sang about them without shame. That honesty is why fans felt close to the band. The songs did not talk down to them. They talked with them.
The band also knew how to build a song so that it grew from a quiet start to a loud and emotional end. Many of their best songs begin softly, with a guitar line or a quiet voice, and then the drums and guitars join in, and the song becomes bigger and stronger. That slow build gave the music a feeling of movement, as if the song was walking toward the listener and then standing right in front of them. It also made the live shows powerful, because a crowd could feel the song grow around them, and they could sing along when the chorus came.
Over the years, the band’s sound changed in small ways, but the heart of it stayed the same. Some albums were heavier, some were brighter, and some were slower, but a listener could always hear the same voice, the same guitar, and the same feeling. That steadiness was a choice. The band could have changed their sound completely to follow a new trend, and many bands do that when they feel afraid. HIM did not. They trusted the sound they had built, and they let it grow slowly, the way a tree grows. That trust is one of the best things about their story.
What HIM Left Behind
HIM left behind a body of music that still matters to many people. Their albums are still played, their songs are still shared, and the heartagram is still seen on jackets and skin around the world. The band showed that a small country like Finland could produce a band that reached the whole world, and they showed that heavy music could also be gentle. They proved that songs about love did not have to be soft, and that songs about darkness did not have to be angry.
The band also left behind a lesson about friendship. The core members stayed together for more than twenty years, and they kept their sound and their symbol through all the changes in the music world. They did not chase every new trend, and they did not change their name or their style to fit a fashion. They believed in one idea, and they followed it from a small rehearsal room in Helsinki to large stages in many countries. That kind of loyalty is rare in music.
For Finnish music, HIM mattered a great deal. They were one of the first Finnish rock bands to become famous around the world, and they opened doors for other Finnish bands. They showed that a band from a small country could sing in English, could tour the world, and could build a loyal audience that stayed with them for decades. Their success gave hope to other young musicians in Finland, and it put Finnish rock on the map.
Today, fans still listen to Join Me in Death, to The Funeral of Hearts, and to Wings of a Butterfly, and new listeners still find the band for the first time. The music has not gone away, and the heartagram has not gone away either. HIM ended, but the songs remain, and that is the best kind of ending a band can have. They made their music, they shared it with the world, and they stopped when the time was right.
My Take:
When I think about HIM, the first thing that comes to my mind is how brave it was to mix two things that most people kept apart. Heavy metal was supposed to be loud and angry, and love songs were supposed to be soft and sweet, and HIM put them together without asking for permission. I admire that, because it takes a clear mind to see that a feeling can be both strong and tender at the same time. Love is not always gentle. It can hurt, it can make you lose sleep, and it can make you feel lost, and HIM wrote about that side of love in a way that felt honest to me.
I think Ville Valo is the reason the band worked so well, and I do not mean only his voice, though his voice is deep and warm and easy to recognise. I mean the way he wrote songs that said simple things in a direct way. He did not hide behind clever words. He sang about wanting someone, about losing someone, and about missing someone, and he sang it as if he meant every word. That directness is hard to do, because it is easy to sound silly when you sing about love, and it is easy to sound cold when you sing about darkness. Valo found a middle way, and the band followed him there.
What I love most about HIM is the heartagram, because it is a small idea that says a lot. A heart and a pentagram should not fit together, but they do, and the symbol tells you everything about the band before you hear a single note. I think about how many fans have that mark on their skin, and I understand why. When you are young and you feel sad and in love at the same time, you want a sign that someone else feels the same way. The heartagram was that sign. It was not just a logo on a T-shirt. It was a way for people to find each other, and that matters more than sales or charts.
I also think about Finland, because it is a small country with long winters and a lot of quiet, and HIM came from that place and sang about feelings that fit that quiet. There is something honest about a band that does not pretend to be from somewhere else. They stayed in Helsinki, they kept their friends close, and they sang in English so the world could hear them, but the feeling in the music was Finnish in a way I can sense. It was patient, it was sad without being loud about it, and it was strong without shouting. That is a rare combination, and I think it is why the band lasted so long.
I feel sad when I think about how hard touring must have been for them, because twenty years on the road is a very long time. People see the big stages and the crowds, but they do not see the long nights, the waiting, and the time away from home. I respect the band for keeping going for so long, and I respect them even more for stopping when they needed to stop. Many bands keep going until they fall apart in public, and the ending becomes ugly. HIM chose a clean ending, and that choice shows character. It is easy to start a band. It is much harder to end one well.
When I listen to Join Me in Death in my mind, I hear a song that could have been written only by this band. It is slow, it is dark, and it is romantic, and it does not apologise for any of those things. Some people might hear it and think it is too sad, but I think it is honest. Young people often feel love in a very strong way, and they often feel that the world does not understand them, and this song gave those feelings a voice. I do not think the song tells people to do anything bad. I think it tells them that their feelings are real, and that they are not alone in having them. That is a kind thing for a song to do.
I also admire the way the band changed their sound without losing themselves. Venus Doom was heavier, Screamworks was brighter, and Tears on Tape went back to the older sound, but all of them sounded like HIM. That is not easy. Many bands change so much that their old fans leave, or they never change at all and their music becomes boring. HIM found a balance, and I think that balance came from the friendship between the members. They trusted each other, and they let each other try new things, and that trust kept the band alive for a long time.
There is a lesson here for any young musician, and it is a simple one. You do not have to be the loudest band, or the fastest band, or the band that follows every trend. You have to know what you believe in, and you have to keep doing it until people understand it. HIM believed in love metal when nobody else used those words, and they kept going until the words made sense to the world. That takes patience, and patience is not a quality that many young bands have. They want success in one year, and if it does not come, they give up. HIM waited, and the waiting made them stronger.
I think about the fans too, because a band is only half the story. The fans of HIM were loyal in a way that is rare. They followed the band from small clubs to big stages, they learned the words, and they wore the symbol. When the band said goodbye, the fans did not get angry. They came to the last shows, they sang along, and they let the band go. That is a healthy relationship between a band and its audience, and it tells me that the band treated its fans with respect. They did not take them for granted, and the fans knew it, because the band always gave them honest music in return for their loyalty.
If I have one regret about HIM, it is that the band never got as much praise in the English speaking world as they deserved. In Germany and Finland, they were huge, but in America and Britain, they were known mostly to rock fans. I think that is a shame, because their songs are good enough for anyone who likes a strong melody and an honest lyric. But maybe that is also part of their charm. They were never a band for everyone, and they never tried to be. They were a band for the people who needed them, and that is enough.
I also think about what Ville Valo did after the band ended, and I respect that he went on making music on his own. It would have been easy to stop and to live on the past, but he kept writing and singing, and that shows that music was not just a job for him. It was a part of his life. The other members also went on with their own work, and that is healthy. A band should not be a prison. It should be a chapter in a life, and when the chapter ends, the next one begins.
For a reader who has never heard HIM, I would say this. Start with the songs, not with the image. Do not judge the band by the black clothes or the dark symbol. Listen to the melody, listen to the words, and ask yourself if the feeling is true. If you have ever loved someone and lost them, or wanted someone you could not have, you will find something in these songs. That is the test of any band, and HIM passes it. Their music is not for a single season. It is for the moments in life when feelings are strong and words are hard to find.
In the end, I think HIM teaches us that being different is not a problem to fix. It is a gift to protect. The band was different from other metal bands, and different from other pop bands, and that difference could have been a weakness. Instead, it became their strength. They built a world around one idea, they invited people into that world, and they left it standing when they walked away. I will remember them not only for the songs, but for the courage to be themselves, from the first small show in Helsinki to the last big farewell. That is a full story, and it is a story worth telling.
I keep thinking about the long winters in Finland, and how they might have shaped this band in a quiet way. When the nights are long and the cold keeps people inside, feelings grow stronger and thoughts grow deeper, and music becomes a place to put those feelings. HIM made music that fits that kind of winter, not loud and showy, but warm and close, like a light in a dark room. I think people in warm countries loved the band too, because everyone has their own kind of winter, a time when they feel alone and need a song that understands them. The band gave people that song.
Another thing I notice is how the band never seemed to be in a fight with the world. Some rock bands build their fame on anger, on shouting at the world and blaming it for their pain. HIM did something quieter. They sang about the pain itself, about the love that caused it, and about the hope that it might pass. That is a kinder way to make music, and I think it is a wiser way too. Anger fades fast, but a sad and honest song can stay with a person for years, and it can help them through a hard night in a way that anger never can.
I also want to say something about the farewell tour, because goodbyes are hard and most bands get them wrong. HIM got theirs right. They told the fans the truth, they played the songs people loved, and they did not pretend that they would come back next year. That honesty gave the fans a chance to say thank you in person, and it gave the band a chance to feel how much their work had meant. A farewell like that is a gift to both sides, and it is one more reason I respect this band. They did not just know how to begin. They knew how to end.
When I look at the whole story, I see a band that never asked for too much. They did not ask to be the biggest band in the world, and they did not ask to change music for everyone. They asked only to make the music they believed in, and to find the people who needed it. That is a modest wish, and it is a beautiful one. So many bands want everything at once, and they lose themselves chasing it. HIM wanted one true thing, and they held on to it for more than twenty five years. That is what I will carry with me from their story.
I also think the band’s story has a message for people who feel different in their own lives. If you like sad songs when others like happy ones, or if you feel things deeply when others seem to feel nothing, it is easy to think something is wrong with you. HIM tells you that nothing is wrong with you. Your feelings are real, and there are other people who feel the same way, and a song can bring you together. That is not a small thing. For a young person who feels alone, it can be the thing that gets them through a hard year, and the band gave that gift to millions of people without ever making a big show of it. They did not stand on a stage and tell people they had saved them. They simply played the songs, night after night, and let the music do the work. That quiet way of helping is, in my view, the most honest kind, because it does not ask for praise. It asks only to be heard.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did HIM form and where did the band come from?
HIM formed in Helsinki, Finland, in 1991, when Ville Valo, Mikko Lindström, and Mikko Paananen started playing music together. The band first used the longer name His Infernal Majesty before shortening it to HIM, and they built their sound by mixing heavy metal guitars with soft, romantic melodies.
What does love metal mean?
Love metal is the name HIM gave to their own style of music, which joins heavy rock guitars with songs about love, loss, and longing. The band used the term for their 2003 album Love Metal, and it became the best way to describe their mix of dark sound and tender words.
What is the heartagram?
The heartagram is the symbol created by HIM, made by joining a heart with a pentagram. The heart stands for love and the pentagram stands for darkness, and together they show the two sides of the band’s music. Fans wear the symbol on clothes and jewellery, and many have it tattooed.
What is HIM’s most famous song?
Join Me in Death, from the album Razorblade Romance in 2000, is widely seen as the band’s most famous song, and it was a huge hit in Finland and Germany. Other well known songs include Wicked Game, The Funeral of Hearts, Right Here in My Arms, and Wings of a Butterfly.
Why did HIM break up?
HIM announced in 2017 that they would stop after a farewell tour, after more than twenty five years together. The members had spent many years touring and recording, and they decided to end the band with respect rather than keep going until the friendship broke down.
Is Ville Valo still making music?
Yes, Ville Valo has continued to make music as a solo artist after HIM ended, releasing songs and albums under his own name and the name VV. The other members of HIM have also worked on their own projects since the farewell tour.
