Review by Tammy on March 6, 2002.

Him (His Infernal Majesty) has released yet another Metal/love CD. While it is hard for me to think that love is an accepted metal topic; I have an even harder time classifying this band as metal at all. This band has given themselves an evil name and written songs like ‘Your Sweet 666’, ‘Poison Girl’, and ‘Join Me In Death’ just to capture the consumer eye. The pink cover seems to be for the same reason. I mean who the hell has ever seen a pink CD in the metal section? However covers don’t classify the band; music and songs do.

The music in “Razorblade Romance” is actually quite well done. All the members compliment each others playing, which adds a kind of mysterious quality to the music. The music flows together in such a way that it is hard to define which instrument ends where. The overall effect of the music is good, but "Razorblade Romance" seems to sound the same in each song, both vocally and musically.

Vocalist Ville seems obsessed with women (maybe because he looks like one?), and all his songs follow that one desire. His voice however does have a nice tone, and I can see the possibility of a good metal career for him. The deep morbid quality of his voice weaves itself into the listener’s mind, and blends in perfectly with the music, which sometimes makes it hard to focus on the lyrics themselves. His voice does however, have one demeaning quality; he never really shows a large vocal range. His voice keeps it’s dark and dismal tone, which makes a lot of the songs on “Razorblade Romance” sound very similar, and can get on a person’s nerves quite easily.

The lyrical content on the varying tracks on “Razorblade Romance” are indecipherable from one another, which adds to the monotony that the listener will experience with the almost identical musical style present on all tracks. HIMs’ cover of ‘Wicked Game’ (originally by country music singer Chris Issac) proves to me that this band is anything but a pure metal band. Every song in “Razorblade Romance” has the same subject, which leads me to see that this band has no originality at all. While I know that many bands sing about women, and love especially in the doom genre of metal, HIMs’ previous CD’s seem very similar to this one. The band just hasn’t explored any other subjects or sounds.

I find that HIM has not done anything that really deserves a lot of merit at all. All the songs are simply Ville’s ranting about his love life. The lyrics are simple and could probably be written by that retard in the back of the class if he got put down by women enough, and while the music flows, it seems to flow exactly the same in each song.

Bottom Line: I can’t respect a guy who wears pink makeup and writes songs that could be played on the lite music radio station. To a metal fan this is blasphemy, but I can see it going far as a rock band.

Categorical Rating Breakdown:

Originality: 4
Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 5
Production: 6
Overall: 5.5

Rating: 5.7 out of 10

Review by Tammy on March 6, 2002.

Him (His Infernal Majesty) has released yet another Metal/love CD. While it is hard for me to think that love is an accepted metal topic; I have an even harder time classifying this band as metal at all. This band has given themselves an evil name and written songs like ‘Your Sweet 666’, ‘Poison Girl’, and ‘Join Me In Death’ just to capture the consumer eye. The pink cover seems to be for the same reason. I mean who the hell has ever seen a pink CD in the metal section? However covers don’t classify the band; music and songs do.

The music in “Razorblade Romance” is actually quite well done. All the members compliment each others playing, which adds a kind of mysterious quality to the music. The music flows together in such a way that it is hard to define which instrument ends where. The overall effect of the music is good, but "Razorblade Romance" seems to sound the same in each song, both vocally and musically.

Vocalist Ville seems obsessed with women (maybe because he looks like one?), and all his songs follow that one desire. His voice however does have a nice tone, and I can see the possibility of a good metal career for him. The deep morbid quality of his voice weaves itself into the listener’s mind, and blends in perfectly with the music, which sometimes makes it hard to focus on the lyrics themselves. His voice does however, have one demeaning quality; he never really shows a large vocal range. His voice keeps it’s dark and dismal tone, which makes a lot of the songs on “Razorblade Romance” sound very similar, and can get on a person’s nerves quite easily.

The lyrical content on the varying tracks on “Razorblade Romance” are indecipherable from one another, which adds to the monotony that the listener will experience with the almost identical musical style present on all tracks. HIMs’ cover of ‘Wicked Game’ (originally by country music singer Chris Issac) proves to me that this band is anything but a pure metal band. Every song in “Razorblade Romance” has the same subject, which leads me to see that this band has no originality at all. While I know that many bands sing about women, and love especially in the doom genre of metal, HIMs’ previous CD’s seem very similar to this one. The band just hasn’t explored any other subjects or sounds.

I find that HIM has not done anything that really deserves a lot of merit at all. All the songs are simply Ville’s ranting about his love life. The lyrics are simple and could probably be written by that retard in the back of the class if he got put down by women enough, and while the music flows, it seems to flow exactly the same in each song.

Bottom Line: I can’t respect a guy who wears pink makeup and writes songs that could be played on the lite music radio station. To a metal fan this is blasphemy, but I can see it going far as a rock band.

Categorical Rating Breakdown:

Originality: 4
Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 5
Production: 6
Overall: 5.5

Rating: 5.7 out of 10

Review by Tammy on March 6, 2002.

Him (His Infernal Majesty) has released yet another Metal/love CD. While it is hard for me to think that love is an accepted metal topic; I have an even harder time classifying this band as metal at all. This band has given themselves an evil name and written songs like ‘Your Sweet 666’, ‘Poison Girl’, and ‘Join Me In Death’ just to capture the consumer eye. The pink cover seems to be for the same reason. I mean who the hell has ever seen a pink CD in the metal section? However covers don’t classify the band; music and songs do.

The music in “Razorblade Romance” is actually quite well done. All the members compliment each others playing, which adds a kind of mysterious quality to the music. The music flows together in such a way that it is hard to define which instrument ends where. The overall effect of the music is good, but "Razorblade Romance" seems to sound the same in each song, both vocally and musically.

Vocalist Ville seems obsessed with women (maybe because he looks like one?), and all his songs follow that one desire. His voice however does have a nice tone, and I can see the possibility of a good metal career for him. The deep morbid quality of his voice weaves itself into the listener’s mind, and blends in perfectly with the music, which sometimes makes it hard to focus on the lyrics themselves. His voice does however, have one demeaning quality; he never really shows a large vocal range. His voice keeps it’s dark and dismal tone, which makes a lot of the songs on “Razorblade Romance” sound very similar, and can get on a person’s nerves quite easily.

The lyrical content on the varying tracks on “Razorblade Romance” are indecipherable from one another, which adds to the monotony that the listener will experience with the almost identical musical style present on all tracks. HIMs’ cover of ‘Wicked Game’ (originally by country music singer Chris Issac) proves to me that this band is anything but a pure metal band. Every song in “Razorblade Romance” has the same subject, which leads me to see that this band has no originality at all. While I know that many bands sing about women, and love especially in the doom genre of metal, HIMs’ previous CD’s seem very similar to this one. The band just hasn’t explored any other subjects or sounds.

I find that HIM has not done anything that really deserves a lot of merit at all. All the songs are simply Ville’s ranting about his love life. The lyrics are simple and could probably be written by that retard in the back of the class if he got put down by women enough, and while the music flows, it seems to flow exactly the same in each song.

Bottom Line: I can’t respect a guy who wears pink makeup and writes songs that could be played on the lite music radio station. To a metal fan this is blasphemy, but I can see it going far as a rock band.

Categorical Rating Breakdown:

Originality: 4
Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 5
Production: 6
Overall: 5.5

Rating: 5.7 out of 10

Review by Michael on August 26, 2024.

German death metal institution Torment Of Souls exist now for 30 years and although they already released 4 full-length albums plus two EPs they haven't gotten too much attention so far. Now, in 2024, they have released their second EP Mortuus Est I – maybe this one is a game changer for them?

Well, my first encounter with the band was at a festival almost three years ago and although I was skeptical when I read about them, I must say that I really liked what they did on stage. So, I was pretty curious about what the new EP Mortuus Est I can offer to the world. Well, the first song 'Schlachthaus' (which means “Slaughterhouse” in English) starts with some death metal riffs that would have been quite popular at the end of the 90s when Gorefest did “Erase” and stuff like that. Very hardcore influenced, so to speak. But hey, that sounds quite groovy and cool. But suddenly there comes a break in the song and it turns into a totally different direction – traditional Swedish melo-death. Together with the hateful German lyrics, it is quite an entertaining song with a lot of catchy elements. 'Aus Der Erde' is a much faster song with a lot of Swedish death metal vibes. The guitars sound a lot like old Dismember / Entombed and the drums are very pummeling and straightforward. This one is a really cool death metal killer that you won't find anything wrong with. Again the German lyrics sound pretty sick and sinister, quite matching to the topic about zombies. 'Pandemie' sounds like a homage to mid-90s Atrocity in a certain way. Especially the vocals sound like Krull on “Willenkraft” – super guttural and deep. Sometimes the drums go more into some kind of brutal death metal (concerning the pace) but then again, the song turns out super melodic with these aforementioned Swedish influences. 'Mehr Hass 2024' is a re-recording of the single from 2021 and I cannot find too many differences to that short, hateful track which is very groovy. Maybe the sound is a little bit more powerful and strong but that's all. I guess the guys just wanted to have it on that EP because back then it was just released as a digital single. The title track however is something totally different from the rest of the songs and from what the band did so far. Spoken words and a gloomy piano initiate that satanic invocation, and when it comes to the guitars and drums, they are quite dragging and dark. Apart from that Mortuus Est I is more of a repetitive chant without any bridges or breaks.

If you are interested in the German death metal scene (and German lyrics aren't a no-go for you), Torment Of Souls is worth checking because they don't sound generic or uninteresting in any way on the new EP. I hope that they will get more attention in the future because they really deserve it!

Rating: 8 out of 10