Finnish goth rockers
His Infernal Majesty's seventh studio album was built around one of pop music’s most ubiquitous themes, heartache. Breakups have been throwing artists into alternating fits of feverish work and hopeless despondency since time immemorial, resulting in both great works and self-absorbed descents into bloated narcissism.
Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice is a little bit of both. The group’s penchant for melodramatic late-'80s/early-'90s melodic alt-rock in the vein of
New Model Army,
Dream Theater, and
Mission serves as an efficient yet predictable vehicle to deliver the primal scream that is heartbreak, and songs like "In Venere Veritas," "Heartkiller," and "Katherine Wheel" deliver the goods with solid hooks and appropriate gravitas. Overall, the material sits within the band’s canon well enough to please longtime fans, and listeners looking for some kind of middle ground between
Evanescence, late-period
Queensrÿche, and
Fall Out Boy will more than likely find a few wicked gems to hang their heads to. ~ James Christopher Monger