HAPPINESS, EXILED - a review of the Hurts album, Exile

Following up on a stellar debut album is tricky business. Does the sophomore album contain more of the same? Or does the sound evolve and change, bringing with it potential risk? After their debut blasted them on the pop scene full force, the Hurts were faced with this uncomfortable choice – change or stick to a winning formula.  Their new album Exile seems to indicate that the Manchester based duo chose neither; or to be precise - both.

Hurts burst out, seemingly out of nowhere, with their instant-classic, tastefully retro 80’s pop album Happiness with pomp but not pretention. Though they looked and acted like new romantic dandies straight out of the 80’s Spandau Ballet school, their music backed them up in what was one of the finer pop debuts in recent times. As such, a follow-up was already a daunting task. Even if they chose to do more of the same, the level of quality was bound to drop. Singer and author Theo Hutchcraft even mentioned as such in an interview he gave between album cycles, astutely commenting on the fact that the first album was produced at a time of great personal and emotional sorrow. He remarked that their success made them far too happy and content to create their melancholy music, even joking they need something bad to happen so they could get inspired.

Listening to Exile, it seems their task is only half fulfilled.  The overall mood alternates from their trademark somber, introspective, heartbreak mood through to  dark and gritty, yet upbeat, club anthems. Hutchcraft again pointed out that while the first album is based around love and loss, Exile is based on sex and death.  This dichotomy is evident throughout the whole album – and this reluctance and hesitation do decide on a clear direction is its undoing.

Roughly half of Exile is playing it safe. Songs like Somebody to Die For, The Crow, Help and Guilt all posses the traits of a “typical” Hurts album – they could easily find their place on their debut Happiness. This part of the record is slightly sub-par to their previous work yet very similar and thus, highly enjoyable.

The other half, though, seems to be an experiment; an effort to change up their sound. Whether this is, ironically, a consequence of their newfound happiness, or a simple need to “change it up” – it becomes evident that the experiment has largely failed. The songs are made more fuzzy, gritty, heavy and danceable, with obvious aspiration to more recent Depeche Mode club hits.  Exile features an unnecessary attempt of modernizing the Hurts retro sound by adding modern electronica, distortion and even dubstep elements. Further experimentation led to the “arena rock” guitar additions and the bland, Coldplay-like sound of songs such as Miracle and the title track.  The hip hop backtrack of Sandman  is especially atrocious, along with the similarly inclined main riff of Bilind, pointlessly enhanced by a choir of children. This experimentation does sometimes yield great results, such as the instantly classic Only You And the head-banging Mercy.

Though  Hurts’  idea to create an album that will both please fans of their debut and inspire and cater to a new audience  might be noble in theory; in practice, Exile seems an awkward Frankenstein monster of a record, saved from disaster only by the duo’s sublime songwriting abilities and the knack to create a memorable, catchy and touching song – even if they are their own worst enemy in doing it. Because of this, Exile can, and should, be picked apart for the parts you do enjoy. We are left with the hope that Hurts will, in their future efforts, change completely or stay with a winning formula – decide on a direction and stick with it.

HIM: Tears on Tape - A review

Any band that reaches the ‘20^th year of existence’ milestone has  usually had their share of struggles with carrying on, such as gathering the sufficient motivation and inspiration to continue in not only making music, but also persisting in a rapidly changing industry. When you add to that the debilitating health issues their drummer went through, it’s a miracle HIM have managed to put out their new record, Tears on Tape, at all. The album suffers from the bands, no doubt justified, need to get back into the game quickly – but it is far from a flop.

Whether or not you like HIM and their brand of pop-laced, faux-metal rock, they have built a credible fan base with their high level of quality, and an air of nonchalant swagger personified by their Billy Idol-esque frontman, Ville Vallo. To their detractors this record will no doubt represent just another blip in a discography of pop-rock records aimed and teen goths. True HIM connoisseurs, however, track the fluctuations in HIM’s style with meticulous precision – from the early, almost doom-metal days of Greatest Love songs Vol.666 and Razorblade Romance, to the pop excursions of Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights and Screamworks: Love in theory and practice. Even their throwback album, Venus Doom, intentionally heavier than its predecessors, still had that positive, major chord sparkle that graces all the newer HIM outings, along with more upbeat lyrics (albeit still filled with references to death, blood and graves).

While again pretending to, and at times succeeding, to be heavier than its predecessors, Tears on Tape still holds that ‘’happy” if not sappy tone that has characterized the last few HIM records – it is a trend that does not seem to be regressing, to the chagrin of some fans.

After the booming introduction of Lips Go Blue, a full-on aggressive HIM track reminiscent of some of the heavier tracks on Dark Light, the record slips into a groove and remains unchanged up until the very end, and the surprisingly down-tempo, doomy W.L.S.T.D. This is one of the records major drawbacks: the songs meld together, and while some excel (Love without tears) and others flop (the title track) it takes several listens for most of these songs to make an impression and for the listener to differentiate them.

Combine this with the fact that, out of the 13 tracks on Tears on Tape, 4 are instrumental filler tracks and 4 are something akin to filler songs – songs that sound like the band put minimal effort into creating them – and you get an album that feels more like a jam session, or a masterfully produced demo. This can be a good thing, as the album is extremely easy and smooth to listen too – it feels, as mentioned, as one long song with good and bad moments.

 HIM prove they still pack a punch though, with the afore mentioned All Lips go Blue being the highlight, followed by the keyboards laced Love without tears and the more rockin’ No Love and I will be the end of you. Finally, W.L.S.T.D is almost doom metal and would, without the poppy chorus, feel right at home at a Black Sabbath fan’s discography; as would many of those Sabbath-like breakdowns on this record.

Tears on Tape is a couple of really killer songs wrapped in 10 filler songs. It is a package that might disappoint some of the hardcore HIM fans – but that very group is already mindful of the fact that this album very nearly might have never existed at all. From that perspective, Tears on Tape is a 

pretty good deal.