Gloom and melancholy swept over Sydney’s Luna Park earlier this week, as Finland’s most successful rock band, HIM, took to the stage at the Big Top.

Black was the colour of the night for HIM’s largely metalhead and goth audience with plenty of eyeliner and piercings on show. But above the black fingernails and devil-horns of the crowds, this five-man band played some bloody fine music.

Opening with Passion’s Killing Floor, a song from the newest album “Venus Doom”, HIM’s captivating frontman Ville Valo set the mystical mood for the rest of the night. 

Wearing his signature beanie, he took his place at the lone microphone at the front of the stage. At once, his baritone resonated over the striking percussion: “It’s poetry carved in flesh/This beautiful hell of ours/To the deadliest sin we confess/And tears of joy fill our eyes.”

Poetry carved in flesh? More like poetry carved in hard rock. HIM’s music defies classification despite Valo labelling it ‘love metal’ many years ago. Themes of love, death and longing lingered in each song. These were brought to life with sounds varying from the upbeat and electric Right Here In My Arms to the sullen piano and fierce guitar solos in Sleepwalking Past Hope. 

Before the start of the 10-minute Sleepwalking Past Hope, Valo warned the crowd tongue-in-cheek that now was a good time for those with weak bladders to go to the toilet.

Yet, except for the usual few sweaty exits from the claustrophobic front rows, everyone else cheered. The fans knew this was HIM’s newest masterpiece. Unstructured and loud in its study of love and despair, the instrumental elements gave each member of HIM their chance to shine, especially Linde with his vigorous guitar play.

Amidst the heavy melody, Valo had his last haunting word on love: “I crawl beneath Lucifer’s claws/Just for one last kiss.”

The loudest roar of the night came just after the piano prelude to HIM’s 1999 hit Join Me – a rock music take on Romeo and Juliet’s eternal love. To this day, the song holds the position of biggest-selling single in Finland’s history.

Finland may be a small country on the other side of the world, but the fans in Sydney knew all the words.

That night, the fans knew all the words and applauded all the songs. Think what you wish about metalheads and goths, but with HIM, the fans also knew that they were onto a quality band.