Honestly, it’s kinda wild to look back at 1997. The music world was basically a tug-of-war between the dying embers of grunge and the neon explosion of pop. Then, out of the freezing Finnish darkness, came this skinny kid with a baritone voice that sounded like it belonged in a haunted cathedral. That kid was Ville Valo, and the album was Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666.
It wasn't just a debut. It was a statement.
People always get the "666" thing wrong. They see the numbers and the pentagram-adjacent imagery and assume it’s some edgy Satanic worship. But if you actually listen to Valo talk about it, he’s always been pretty clear: it was a provocation. It was a "horror movie" aesthetic stolen from the backmasking rumors of Led Zeppelin.
Basically, he wanted to mix the sweetness of a love song with the grit of a funeral.
Why Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 Hits Different
The recording of this record was a total whirlwind. Fifteen days. That’s all they had. They hunkered down in MD-Studios and Peacemakers Studio with producer Hiili Hiilesmaa, who Valo often calls the "sixth member" of the band. You can hear that urgency in the tracks. It’s raw. It’s unpolished compared to the glossy, chart-topping Razorblade Romance that came later.
There’s a specific grit here. Linde Lindström’s guitars aren’t just playing riffs; they’re creating this wall of fuzz that feels like a heavy blanket.
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I remember the first time I heard their cover of "Wicked Game." Most bands fail miserably when they try to touch Chris Isaak. They either play it too safe or make it a joke. HIM did something else entirely. They took that surf-rock melancholy and turned it into a gothic metal anthem. Valo’s voice shifts from a whisper to a scream, and suddenly, the song isn’t about a beach in Hawaii anymore—it’s about a rainy night in Helsinki.
The tracklist is a masterclass in mood:
- Your Sweet Six Six Six: The ultimate opener. It jumps straight into the chorus. No foreplay.
- It’s All Tears (Drown in This Love): This one is heavy. Seriously heavy. The way the stereo sound "breaks" at the end actually caused people to return the CD to stores because they thought it was broken. That’s legendary.
- When Love and Death Embrace: Six minutes of pure, unadulterated yearning. It’s the blueprint for everything the band would do for the next two decades.
The Math of the Beast
HIM was obsessed with the theme. The album is exactly 66 minutes and 6 seconds long. If you pop the original CD into a computer, it shows up as 666 megabytes.
There are actually 66 tracks on the disc. Tracks 10 through 65 are just silence. If you wait through the quiet, you hit a hidden instrumental track at the very end. It’s that kind of obsessive detail that turned a local Finnish band into a global cult phenomenon.
The Sound of "Love Metal" Before the Label Existed
Back then, they didn't really call it "Love Metal" yet. They were just a "special shade of goth," as Valo once put it. They were pulling from Type O Negative and Black Sabbath, but they were also listening to 1980s pop and Finnish schlager music.
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That’s the secret sauce.
You’ve got these massive, down-tuned riffs, but the melodies are actually catchy. You could almost imagine Elvis singing these songs if he’d grown up in a basement in the 90s. The contrast is what makes Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 so enduring. It doesn’t feel like a relic of 1997. It feels like its own pocket of time.
Lyrically, Valo was already deep into his "love and death" obsession. He was a poet working in his dad’s sex shop, soaking up the weirdness of the world. He wrote about relationships as if they were life-or-death struggles. Because to a twenty-something with a cigarette and a dream, they usually are.
What People Still Get Wrong
A lot of "true" metalheads at the time hated this record. They thought it was "fake" or "artificial" because it focused on emotions rather than being tough. They missed the point. The heaviness wasn't in the speed of the drums; it was in the weight of the atmosphere.
Also, the band lineup was totally different. This is the only HIM album to feature Antto Melasniemi on keys and Juhana "Pätkä" Rantala on drums. It gives the record a distinct, slightly more "analog" feel than the later stuff. It’s less "vampire prince" and more "garage band in a graveyard."
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Actionable Insights for Fans and Collectors
If you're looking to dive back into this era, there are a few things you should know about the different versions floating around:
- The Original Finnish Pressing: Look for the "Terrier" label. It has the original tracklist starting with "For You (Intro)."
- The German Version: This one adds "Stigmata Diaboli," which is a killer track from their earlier EP. It’s worth tracking down if you want the "complete" experience.
- The Vinyl Reissues: Most modern reissues (like the ones from 2014 or 2022) sound fantastic. Because the original was recorded so quickly, the vinyl mastering actually helps bring out some of the low-end warmth that got squashed on early CDs.
- Check the Seconds: If your digital rip doesn't end at exactly 66:06, you're missing the true experience.
Whether you’re a long-time member of the "Heartagram" horde or a newcomer curious about where gothic rock went right, this album is the starting line. It’s dark, it’s dramatic, and it’s unapologetically romantic.
Go grab a pair of decent headphones. Turn the lights off. Let the opening feedback of "For You" rattle your brain a little. You’ll see why people are still talking about this record nearly thirty years later.
If you're hunting for a copy, start by checking Discogs for the 1997 Digipak—it’s the holy grail of HIM collecting. Or, if you just want the music, the 2014 remastered vinyl is your best bet for pure sound quality.