DANIEL LIONEYE: THE KING OF ROCK 'N' ROLL

SCORE: 98/100

For a "joke", this album was pretty stacked with incredible songs.

Daniel Lioneye is a HIM side project that stemmed from tension/stress coming from the mass success being achieved by HIM around this time period. Three of the band's members (most notably Linde Lindström) came together to make this album, the lineup for the band would later change - but this album was the one that really counted due to the underground success/mainstream hit coming from the usage of the opening track as the intro for every episode of Viva La Bam, MTV's most popular series at the time.

Lindström's unique vocals along with the heavier, more catchy rock sound of this project were a huge departure from the sound that HIM fans had been accustomed to - but for some, this was a welcomed project that manages to feel like a cult classic despite near nobody knowing about the band or this album nowadays, but even then, it's always been a hard one to find. This album has an entirely different sound when compared to HIM's discography - and it's an impressive feat full of hidden gems from front to back.

This album has a huge riffiness that makes it that much more enjoyable. All of the songs have elements that make them catchy - and it's worth more than just it's title track. The impact of this album may have been small, but for those who like HIM and need more material - this is the album for you, and even if you aren't a fan of HIM, you might just love this album. Daniel Lioneye is easily one of the most underappreciated and overlooked rock acts out there, and they deserved just as much success as the main band got.

Despite the fact that Daniel Lioneye didn't make it to as massive of a status as HIM did, this was a good thing. The fact that the band was made so three of the members (including Ville Valo on drums!) could ease stress and make music worry-free without the constraints and pressure of making a HIM album meant that this album keeping an underground status was the best thing to happen for them.

The album's title track wound up being the second most played song originating from Finland in the world due to the attention brought by it's usage in Viva La Bam - another example of the impact that Bam Margera had on HIM's music. A large portion of this album was written and tinkered with as the band went, with only three songs being written prior to the recording of this album. They went for the average themes of "sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll", but they feel even more amped up here.

This album was technically released "as a joke", and it received poor feedback from critics - almost overwhelmingly so. Despite the band's sound not being for everyone, there are songs that anyone would be crazy not to enjoy throughout the entirety of this project as well. It's hugely consistent in sound while still having unique sounds that differ massively from one another; and it comes together into one album that is so infectiously fun you'll constantly be coming back for more.



Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 21, 2025 at 7:25 PM

    Interesting! Love all of the facts and knowledge you put into each of your reviews! The time and research you put in definitely shows.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ViviMay 21, 2025 at 8:24 PM

      Thank you so much! This was one I had listened to quite a bit and there's so much backstory to how the band came to be with this first album. This was their only real "hit" of an album and even this was still an underground sleeper success.

      Delete

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