Artist: HIM
Title: “Bleed Well” (Single)
Label: Sire Records
Release Date: 12/9/2007
Genre: Gothic Hard Rock
Rating: 4/5

I had to toss a coin about whether or not to add a review of the recently released single by HIM with the song “Bleed Well” which hails from their latest album “Venus Doom”, an album that is actually already on the shelves of your local music retailer. I’ve already given that album an overview which you can examine on THIS LINK but for those fans who have not yet decided to give the band a chance, let’s quickly go over this single release.

“Bleed Well” as a song is a good one for sure and works well with the more “classic” sound of the Finnish Hard Rock titans. As a whole “Venus Doom” is heavier than anything else they’ve done which I think might be high on the appeal list of those craving some more crunch than they might have given the band credit for. A solid track but since this is a maxi-single the buyer gets a couple of more tunes for their investment and the second number is a live tune and an EPIC one running at over ten minutes with “Sleepwalking Past Hope”. This song has some ups and downs for me and I think that at the end of the day I prefer shorter, more melodic HIM offerings as opposed to smackdowns. This release closes with a remix of the “Killing Loneliness” from the “Dark Light” album and I can say that speaking for me I am not the biggest fan of remixes. This one also had some cool cover art which should make your digital music library a little more interesting to look at while you play your songs.

Track Listing:
1. Bleed Well
2. Sleepwalking Past Hope (Live)
3. Killing Loneliness (Remix)

Official Website: http://www.heartagram.com