HIM w/ Mz Ann Thropik @ The Metro

Finnish Love-Metallers HIM were one of the main attractions at this year's annual Soundwave Festival, alongside heavyweights Faith No More and AFI. As is the case every year, the day after Soundwave there were sideshows being held all around the city for some of the festivals biggest acts, and this saw the opportunity for HIM to once again headline a show in Sydney, this time at The Metro.

Having just released a new album, 'Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice' and supported at the last minute by Sydney's own goth/rock act Mz Ann Thropik, this was one of the most anticipated sideshows of the year, and neither band disappointed.

Mz Ann Thropik took to the stage at 8:35pm and straight away flew into their own blend of hard rock. As is the case at every Mz Ann Thropik show, the band completely encapsulated the crowd from the moment they came onstage. Playing a very similar set to the one performed at the same venue a week earlier in support of Wednesday 13, Mz Ann Thropik once again showcased a consistent blend of established crowd favourites such as 'Nobody Move', 'Queen 222' and 'Rule of Three' as well as new tracks 'Zombie' and 'X-Rated' among others.

Anyone who has had the privilege of seeing Mz Ann Thropik live in the past, will know that the energy expelled in every single performance is completely unrivaled by any other band in Australia's gothic/rock scene. Fronted by the ever impressive front women, Mzzy and backed by bassist Brad Fitter, guitarist Matt and drummer Peter Marks this band has established themselves as one of the most charismatic bands in the Sydney area and it's no wonder they have earned themselves such a large underground following of dedicated fans, which gradually increases with every performance. The last track of Mz Ann Thropik's set was the aforementioned 'Zombie' and by the time they had left the stage, the entire venue was buzzing with energy and excitement for the Finnish headliners.

It was 9:45pm before the lights once again dimmed and HIM came out to a huge roar from everyone present. The first song of the set was 'Like St. Valentine' from the band recently released 7th studio album. The show started with a huge explosion of passion from band and audience alike. 'Like St. Valentine' flowed into 'Right Here In My Arms' and with the beginning of this HIM anthem, the crowd roared into a frenzy of clapping hands and turned the song into a screaming sing-a-long.

The self proclaimed 'love-metal' band blended a mix of 16 new and old classics including 'Rip Out The Wings Of A Butterfly', 'Poison Girl', 'Wicked Game', 'The Kiss Of Dawn', 'Killing Loneliness', 'Join Me' and 'Buried Alive By Love' as well as new tracks 'Heartkiller', 'Disarm Me (With Your Loneliness)' and 'Scared to Death' in to their set which showed why HIM are one of the worlds most unique bands.

Front man Ville Valo joked off and on with bassist Mige and drummer Gas throughout a majority of the set, although not until close to the end of the main set did he interact with the crowd. During 'Join Me' every voice in the Metro could be heard chanting for Ville to "Take it off", the humorous response from this legendary lead singer proved that the language barrier was to blame for the low level of communication, but still managed to draw a huge applause from everyone in attendance.

HIM closed out the main set with the heavy ballad 'When Love And Death Embrace', before leaving the stage for a short 2 minutes before re-emerging for the inevitable encore. Once back behind the microphone, Valo announced that they chose this specific 3 track encore because the songs are 'easy to play', which once again brought laughter and applause from the now sweaty and exhausted crowd who were still eager for more. The encore kicked off with the massively popular 'Your Sweet 666' which once again brought out every voice in the building, the hard hitting 'Love the Hardest Way' followed, and the night was rounded out by the ever popular 'The Funeral of Hearts'.

HIM are set to play at the remaining Soundwave festivals in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth before heading off to Europe and America in order to continue touring in support of the new album.

For all of HIM's confirmed tour dates, check out: www.myspace.com/heartagram. Catch Mz Ann Thropik at Sydney's Batcave on March 11.