Pink backdrop and shirtless tattooed hunk on the cover say it all: for once, straight dudes weren’t the prime audience for a metal album. Shocking! Ville Valo and his fellow bad romantics specialized in sugary confections dipped in black mascara, telling melodramatic stories like “Your Sweet Six Six Six” and “Join Me in Death” that made Romeo and Juliet look like a dispassionate couple. Call it Hot Topic goth if you want but they approached it with utmost sincerity. Heartbreak never felt so good.

– Jeff Treppel