“Shatter Me With Hope” by HIM
“Shatter Me With Hope” piece can be colorfully described as a dark love song. HIM appears to be a somewhat-macabre band that is also adept in symbolism and is not afraid to relay that knowledge through their lyrics. So there is a lot of powerful language and imagery being thrown around in this track.
But that noted, what it is actually speaking too doesn’t seem that complicated at all. Instead, most simply interpreted, it appears that the vocalist is someone who has lost faith in romantic relationships. This is a sentiment that we come across pretty commonly in song. But what makes this case unique, once again, is how those feelings are relayed.
“Shatter Me With Hope”
For instance we have the title, “shatter me with hope”, which, it should be pointed out, is sort of an oxymoron. That is to say that “hope” is not an emotion that ‘shatters’ people. But the reason the vocalist is phrasing it that way is because, once again, he obviously does not believe that his relationship with the addressee is going to work out. However, romance being what it is, he has apparently decided to take the risk anyway.
So conclusively, it’s as if the vocalist is relaying his belief beforehand, to the other party involved, that their association will ultimately fail. Instead as he seems to perceive the matter, they’ll indeed be smitten for a spell, i.e. go through the euphoria stage as we tend to call it. But eventually, he expects to end up heartbroken.
And what’s being inferred is that conversely the addressee is more optimistic, as in having genuine “hope” that things will work for the best. So it’s as if what the vocalist is telling her is that her likewise making him believe that the relationship may actually last will only make it more painful for him when it inevitably proves otherwise.
HIM
HIM is a rock band from Finland. The band’s acronym stands for “His Infernal Majesty”. Accordingly, HIM’s artistry is known to be heavily influenced by Satanism. This is an act that has been around since the early 1990s and has proven especially successful in their homeland and some nearby nations.
When did HIM release “Shatter Me With Hope”?
This track is from “Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice”, a studio album of theirs released through Sire Records on 8 February 2010.
Credits
Four of the five current members of HIM – Ville Valo, Mikko Paananen, Mikko Lindström and Janne Puurtinen – were involved in the creation of “Screamworks” alongside the band’s former drummer, Mika Karpinnen.
Furthermore, it’s Valo, the lead vocalist of the crew, who wrote “Shatter Me With Hope”, with it being produced by American musician Matt Squire.
