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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice

EMAILPRINTby H.I.M.

H.I.M. reviews
61
9.8 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 7 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 120 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >

Album Info

Label: Sire/Warner Bros.

Release Date: 09 February 2010

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Rock, Alternative

Summary

Finnish goth-rock outfit, HIM returns with its seventh studio album on Sire Records.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

70

Rock Sound

This is a solid album, rife with brooding love metal and big choruses, but while this is HIM’s most accessible album to date it’s also the most unpalatable, as Ville takes one step too many towards self-satire.

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70

Alternative Press

When the band are a little more concrete and less spooky, the results are especially compelling, but Screamworks is ultimately successful in its blending of melody and muscle. [Mar 2010, p.90]

70

Billboard.com

A mixed bag, but an appealingly bold one.

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65

Absolute Punk (Staff reviews)

If I lived completely under a rock, I'd say Screamworks, and HIM in general, would hit Twilight tweeners straight in the heart with its dark, dismal and dire themes, but the more mature crowd would see the excessive sentimentality as almost self-parodying.

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60

Spin

Old-school romantic Ville Valo croons as often as he screams, so that even when aiming for the stylistic median, a bit of local weirdness oozes forth to make Screamworks more interesting than it's designed to be.

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60

All Music Guide

The material sits within the band’s canon well enough to please longtime fans, and listeners looking for some kind of middle ground between Evanescence, late-period Queensrÿche and Fall Out Boy will more than likely find a few wicked gems to hang their heads to.

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40

Q Magazine

While his lyrics are lascivious to a point, songs such as "Love," "The Hardest Way" and "Heartkiller" are strictly soft-focus, with any semblance of attitude--or actual sex--air-brushed into radio-friendly oblivion. [Mar 2010, p.102]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 9.8 (out of 10) based on 120 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Igor S. gave it a10:
Very good album.

Fred H. gave it an8:
Aside from the autotuned mess that is the first track, this album is fantastic.

Din C. gave it a10:
Great work. Great sound. And great band.

Coop E. gave it a10:
Its so f*cking awesome i love from the first track "In Venere Veritas" to the space techno finisher "The Foreboding Sense Of Impending Happiness" its an amazing record its a new and improved sound from a break away from the "Love Metal" sound and which sounds like a up beat "Razorblade Romance" with a lot more keyboard synth sounds i love it its a great improvement on the new HIM sound.

Iryna A. gave it a10:
Perfect album. Very impressive and passion.

Alexandra Z. gave it a10:
To me this album seemed to become something totally new from the band without them losing the features I have always loved them for.

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