SPINEFARM / HEARTAGRAM
Ten years after Him’s final album, frontman Ville Valo returned with a record that sounded… well, like Him. Good job, then, that nobody does this shtick quite like Ville. Neon Noir was a yearning, gothrock injection to the heart and loins, covering everything from upbeat bangers to strung-out, doomy epics. The velvet-red thread? Your boy Ville Valo: crooning, undulating, going ‘uh!’ in that goosebump-inducing timbre. The king of Love Metal was back, and it felt so good.