VILLE VALO (Former H.I.M. vocalist) – Will release his new album “Neon Noir” via Spinefarm Records on January 13, 2023 #VV #VilleValo

In the annals of 21st century alternative rock history there are few artists who cast a longer or more peculiar shadow than Finnish Love Metal pioneer Ville Valo. After all, his band HIM were easily among the most iconic and idiosyncratic groups of the millenium. Zealously revered, gleefully reviled but impossible to ignore, their music left an indelible mark on a worldwide legion of fans. The scarlet letters stood for His Infernal Majesty. Their founder stood for something delightedly out of step with the status quo.

“We only hoped to temporarily redirect hard rock’s blood flow from the nether regions towards the heart”, reminisces Ville Valo, the singer, songwriter and primus motor of HIM. Judging by the monolithic presence of the Heartagram in any account of music this side of the millennium it’s apparent that he succeeded.

Inspired by everyone from Poe to Bukowski and tinged by a penchant for perfumed Sabbathian gloom, Valo’s creative lovechild would produce eight era-defining studio releases and over ten million record sales, not forgetting a Grammy nomination, countless magazine covers, critical acclaim, and the veneration of a generation. Thus it came as no surprise that the news of a farewell tour in 2017 was greeted with shock and disbelief among devotees and endless speculation as to what or who was to take up the velvet mantle.

“As fun as the funeral rites for HIM were, it took me more than a few moons to lick my wounds in the shadow of the Heartagram and come up with an excuse to strum and hum again. Eventually I decided put a leash on my beloved black dog and we started howling together instead of barking at each other. That’s how Loveletting was born”.

Loveletting, the first single off VV’s debut album ‘Neon Noir’ out in early 2023, suggests this new infernal mix of light and shade is nothing short of a landmark release from one of modern music’s most distinctive and intriguing voices. It belongs to the same forlorn world of woe and whimsy once conceived and governed by Valo in HIM, but with the nuanced notes of a fine aged Cabernet.

Track List:

Echolocate Your Love 3:25
Run Away from the Sun 4:12
Neon Noir 4:57
Loveletting 4:50
The Foreverlost 3:30
Baby Lacrimarium 3:50
Salute the Sanguine 5:06
In Trenodia 5:04
Heartful of Ghosts 4:52
Saturnine Saturnalia 6:38
Zener Solitaire 2:31
Vertigo Eyes 7:43

“Artistically speaking the main difference between HIM and VV is the extra line in the Heartagram, but what an exquisite line it is! It’s the Mamas and the Papas dressed up as Metallica on their way to a Halloween bash at the Studio 54, and now who wouldn’t want to witness that?”

Get the album here: https://lnk.to/theforeverlost

Ville will be touring in North America this Spring. Dates are below.

3/31/2023 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of the Living Arts
4/1/2023 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of the Living Arts
4/2/2023 Boston, MA Big Night Live
4/4/2023 Pittsburgh, PA Roxian Theater
4/5/2023 Cleveland, OH House of Blues
4/6/2023 Detroit, MI Saint Andrews Hall
4/8/2023 Cincinnati, OH Bogart’s
4/9/2023 Chicago, IL House of Blues
4/10/2023 Chicago, IL House of Blues
4/11/2023 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater
4/13/2023 Denver, CO Summit Music Hall
4/14/2023 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot
4/16/2023 Sacramento, CA Ace of Spades
4/17/2023 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
4/18/2023 Los Angeles, CA The Belasco
4/19/2023 Los Angeles, CA The Belasco
4/21/2023 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues
4/22/2023 San Diego, CA House of Blues
4/23/2023 Phoenix, AZ The Van Buren
4/25/2023 Dallas, TX House of Blues
4/26/2023 San Antonio, TX Aztec Theatre
4/27/2023 Houston, TX House of Blues
4/28/2023 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
4/30/2023 Orlando, FL House of Blues
5/1/2023 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Revolution Live
5/3/2023 Atlanta, GA Buckhead Theatre
5/4/2023 Nashville, TN Brooklyn Bowl
5/5/2023Charlotte, NC The Underground
5/7/2023 Silver Spring, MD The Fillmore
5/8/2023 New York, NYIrving Plaza
5/9/2023 New York, NY\Irving Plaza

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