Deep Shadows Revisited

SCORE: 100/100

Deep Shadows is an album I knew I was wrong about from the moment I posted my review. I went into HIM's third album expecting the heavier sounds of the band to be ever-present on this LP as well - but when I was met with a different sound with more experimentation and ballad-fronted tracks, I was caught off guard. I still gave it an overwhelming amount of praise in my original review, but I knew it was more than a 97. It felt like something I might not have come back to as much, as if the songs weren't as memorable - but I quickly realized that some of the band's absolute best material resides on this album. From the night I reviewed it I found myself coming back again, and again, and... again.


The opening track alone for this album shows how different it is from the rest of their catalogue, with a more experimental sound palate that refines their sound into something even more melodic and atmospheric while keeping the sounds that fans of the band had come to be accustomed to at the backbone of the project, Deep Shadows is a gorgeous spectacle of an album that feels like one of the most definitive projects that HIM has put out, with their sound becoming even more polished despite pressure from the band's label pushing them to produce something under such high stress.


The entire album is deeply consistent and it goes by in a flash - from tone shifts to melodic guitar riffs, drum beats, and stunning lyrics throughout the entire 42 minute runtime held by the album, it's a project that I wholeheartedly believe has something for everyone - from the more rock-edged songs to the slower, gorgeous ballads, the album has enough different tones and moments of raw, heavy emotional content to keep it feeling like something you'll never want to let go of. The most emotional moments of this album have always been enough to tug my heartstrings - but it feels even deeper, like something I'm even more connected to in the most recent times of my life. I feel an even more deeply rooted emotional connection to this album than I ever have, and this has resulted me to shift harder on this album; bringing it up higher for me than 'Love Metal'.

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