Him (His Infernal Majesty)

There are, at this point, multiple bands using some variation of the name HIM -- all of which currently redirect here.

1) HIM is a Finnish rock (or 'love metal' as they prefer) band, formed in 1991. Their name formerly means "His Infernal Majesty". The EP, '666 Ways to Love: Prologue' (1996) was their EP released only in Finland and only 1,000 were produced making it worth up to $700 and has been sold on ebay for more. HIM's first full length album 'Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666' (1997) gained European fame due to the success of the cover of Wicked Game the album also featured a popular cover of Don't Fear the Reaper.

HIM's second release, 'Razorblade Romance' (2000) was a success in Europe as well as in America due to the singles "Gone With the Sin" and "Join Me" as well as the inclusion of the "Wicked Game" cover. Initially Razorblade Romance was released under the pen-name "HER" in America as the name HIM was already copyrighted. After purchasing the rights to the name, Razorblade Romance was re-pressed under the name HIM.

For their third album, HIM released, 'Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights' (2001) which was met with mixed reviews by HIM fans who felt that HIM's music had drifted from their original style and sound.

'Love Metal', HIM's fourth album, was released in 2003 in Europe but was not released in the US until 2005.

Their latest album, 'Dark Light' (2005) features the hit singles "Wings of a Butterfly", "Killing Loneliness" and "Under the Rose".

HIM uses a widely famous logo called the 'heartagram', which is a pentagram crossed with a heart. It's also been said that Ville designed it when he had a hangover on his 20th birthday and was inspired by this Finnish private hospital logo. The symbol represents the balance between love and hate, life and death, dark and light, good and evil and sometimes love and death. Because of this logo they have been wrongly labeled as satanic.

Bam Margera has legal licensing rights to this logo in America, which he acquired off Ville. The two have been friends for a long time, and he has directed a number of HIM videos, including Buried Alive by Love. Ville has also appeared in episodes of Bam's TV show called Viva la Bam.


2) HiM is also a solo project put together in 1995 by Doug Scharin (drummer for June of 44, Rex and Codeine). Their musical output includes dub and jazz. Artists that have contributed to this project include members of Tortoise, Jon Theodore (drummer for The Mars Volta), Fred Erskine, and Carlos Cennano.