Many things have been said about this Finnish band. Things - especially coming from the toughest metalheads - that are not so flattering and mostly compare Ville's muscular character with that of a fine and sensitive glassware or with even much worse which our e-dignity will not allow us to publish on this website! But let us focus more on the music and less on the injected fluids of sexual organs that someone might want to spill all over this record [Chief Editor: talk about e-dignity...]!
The record opens quite vividly with Vampire Heart and catches the listener's attraction almost at once. H.I.M.'s usual style is self evident here once again. All the vocal lines, the riff alterations, song structure, the diffuse gothic atmosphere, the lyrical content about suicidal loving situations and more are here! There are about 2-3 songs which are not that interesting for this album but this will not let you down. In fact, in my opinion, if you consider yourself to be a devoted H.I.M. fan then you will find much of interest in The Dark Light.
The characteristic voice of Ville is found in good mood while the guitar lines play their usual catchy tunes. There is not that much differentiation from their previous work here - except the fact that there is a darker, moodier atmosphere floating around the album. This record (or albums like this one) is the perfect excuse for those who want to have a touch of Rock in their repertoire but also think that Deep Purple is a cigarette brand or consider Rammstein too heavy and Iron Maiden too old to Rock 'n' Roll yet too tough to die!
It is really a pity that their Finish mates, Sentenced, have not received the proper respect they deserved - even though they are much better songwriters than H.I.M.. You can also imagine the inequality which the Rock community showed towards these two bands by taking into consideration that in a certain way these two bands have quite many artistic similarities in their sound (especially in the last albums of Sentenced).
The fact that this band is fronted by a sweet and handsome guy that all the girls really get mad about is not the proper one for their huge publicity. Anyway even some hard assed metalheads might find some interesting parts in this CD or even some interesting copies of this CD to burn at the stake. The first two singles of The Dark Light, Rip Out The Wings Of A Butterfly & Killing Loneliness are definitely radio hits (especially the first one) and manage to broaden the spectrum of H.I.M. furthermore. Their old fans will also fancy these 2 songs as well as the whole album for sure!
The production is very clear (it is also definitely radio friendly) and it gives this album the proper sound it needs in order to attract H.I.M.'s audience. It is absolutely certain that this album deserves huge radio attention and air time.
One of the drawbacks of this album is the lack of extensive guitar leads which lessens the strength of The Dark Light at certain points.
To sum it up, dudes, this is a quite decent H.I.M. record which will definitely not let you down - and even though you will not feel the shivers up and down your spine all the time - it continues the H.I.M. status with quality and style, the style that could be found in their previous records.
- Album Highlights: Vampire Heart, Rip Out The Wings Of A Butterfly, Behind The Crimson Door and Venus (In Our Blood).

[Webmaster: Of course most of us wish that H.I.M. would get in a bloody bar fight with Six Feet Under, Crowbar and a random Norwegian black metal band, complete with corpse painting and spikes.]