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HISTORICAL FACTS: 2 | History Defined

“I’m not a role-playing games guy. I’m not about drinking beer and singing folk songs. I’m all about sex, blood and rock’n’roll”: How Finnish glam-goth metal icons The 69 Eyes blazed a trail for HIM

Before Ville Valo and HIM, there was Jyrki 69 and The 69 Eyes

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“Man, it was amazing, the reactions we got for a Britney Spears cover. A lot of kids were super-mad at us”: The rocket-fuelled rise of Finnish hellraisers Children Of Bodom

Children Of Bodom did as much as HIM and Nightwish to put Finnish metal on the map

Metal Hammer

“We were weeping like little babies, trying to figure out whether to continue, and if so how”: How HIM pulled back from the brink to make their final album Tears On Tape

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"He was my hero." HIM legend Ville Valo reveals the iconic goth film character that inspired him

This beloved 90s cult classic is a particular favourite of the HIM frontman

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“I didn’t realise how much Him meant to people”: Ville Valo on the legacy of Him, finishing up with VV and the music that comes next

The goth metal beloved talks about his impending Royal Albert Hall show, drawing VV to a close and why he won’t play a Him album live in full

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“I’m a good actor. I’m the Jack Nicholson of rock’n’roll! I can do the one expression and people still believe it”: how Ville Valo became one of rock’s last great stars

A classic 2004 interview with Ville Valo that proves he’s always been goth metal’s most charismatic star

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“The heart of darkness for me is a heart of honesty, it’s the heart of vulnerability”: how Ville Valo pulled back from the abyss and bared his soul on HIM’s Screamworks

In 2010, Hammer visited HIM frontman Ville Valo at home in Helsinki to talk about the goth-metal band’s new album, Screamworks: Love in Theory And Practice

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"I've already started humming and strumming": Ville Valo is planning to work on new music this year

Ville Valo explains what he misses most about HIM, but says he's still planning on working on a sequel to Neon Noir in 2024

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"Our tour manager had to have every city’s morgue number, just in case we found Alexi dead in his bunk": The meteoric rise and tragic end of Children Of Bodom

Children Of Bodom helped put Finnish metal on the map in the mid-90s, but substance abuse would ultimately lead to the band's dissolution - and death of iconic guitarist/frontman Alexi Laiho

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"We've had sex a lot to HIM": Atreyu's Brandon Saller shares the 10 records that changed his life

From Misfits to HIM, In Flames to Traveling Wilburys, Atreyu vocalist Brandon Saller picks out the ten records that changed his life

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Don't bank on Ville Valo reuniting HIM any time soon: "We haven’t really been in touch"

HIM leader Ville Valo is enjoying his solo career right now, and it looks set to stay that way

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10 metal bands who thankfully retired before they turned rubbish

While some bands may choose to push on years past their sell-by date, these metal icons called it quits at just the right time

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A beginner’s guide to goth metal in 5 albums

The beating black heart of goth metal summed up in five essential albums

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