HIM frontman VILLE VALO has slammed his band's detractors as macho chauvinists living in the past.

The Finnish rocker believes the reason why so many rock fans dislike HIM is simply because they are afraid to embrace their feminine side.

He says, "I can accept that not everyone is going to like us, not everyone likes red wine but that doesn't make it a bad drink. Maybe it's that we are not Korn and Limp Bizkit who sing songs about nothing but still try to be angry.

"We stand for everything that Slipknot is not. Calling your band HIM is about as close to gay as you can get in naming your band, for example.

"But we are happy to be different from the status quo, if more people out there can't accept that rock music is about more than (MANOWAR singer) JOEY DeMAIO then f**k 'em. I don't care."