likening the album to The Cult, Black Sabbath and U2. Turkka Holmqvist of Imperiumi.net gave the album eight-plus out of ten, and called it "fresh" and a "positive surprise". He did, however, comment on only half the album being up to par, but concluded that the album "takes the band back to the times when they were good on their own terms". Vesa Sirén of Soundi described Valo's melodies as sounding even more like traditional Finnish schlager than before, and commended the arrangements as "precise" and "nuanced". Sirén also felt that the second half of the album did not live up to the first, but still awarded Dark Light four stars out of five. Tero Valkonen of Helsingin Sanomat was positive in his review, singling out "Wings of a Butterfly" and "In the Nightside of Eden" as particular highlights, but did still criticize the album for following the same formula as the band's previous efforts. AllMusic awarded the album three-and-a-half stars out of five, and described it as "glossy and user-friendly". Raziq Rauf of Drowned in Sound gave the album five out of ten, and called the album "unremarkable" yet "solid". He praised Valo's performance, but criticized the material backing him as "dull" and "turgid backwash". NME also described Dark Light as "wimpy", giving the album 40 out of 100. Spin gave the album 25 out 100, and stated that Dark Light "gives new meaning to the phrase virgin sacrifice", while Stylus Magazine felt that "there's nothing to get excited or exhilarated over" on the album, also giving the album 25 out of 100. In 2016, the readers of Metal Hammer magazine voted Dark Light the second best metal album of the 21st century, second only to Babymetal's self-titled debut. In 2017, Valo revisited Dark Light and described it as a "pretty experimental record" for the band, stating: "Finnish melancholia was brought to the middle of the sunny city of angels, and we forcefully tried wed them. A good combination of the two." Loudwire later ranked Dark Light fourth in the band's discography, giving praise to the production and songwriting, while stating that "ultimately the 'dark' part of the title falls short of expectations." Kaaoszine ranked Dark Light as the second-best HIM album, stating: "Some albums are like a gateway to a dreamworld bigger than life. Dark Light'' is one of those records." Track listing All tracks written by Ville