Venus Doom

Venus Doom
Studio album by HIM
Released	14 September 2007 (Germany, Finland, Sweden & Ireland) 15 September 2007 (Puerto Rico) 17 September 2007 (International) 18 September 2007 (United States & Canada)
Recorded	June 2006 - March 2007
Genre	Alternative rock (see HIM (Finnish band)#Genre)
Length	48:12
Label	Sire Records
Producer	Tim Palmer / Hiili Hiilesmaa
HIM chronology
Uneasy Listening Vol. 2 (2007) Venus Doom (2007) Uneasy Listening Vol. 1 & 2 (2007)
Singles from Venus Doom
"The Kiss of Dawn" Released: 10 September 2007 "Bleed Well" Released: 5 December 2007

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Blender	[2]
NME	[3]
Rolling Stone	[4]

Venus Doom is the sixth studio album by Finnish rock band HIM, released on 14 September 2007 (Germany, Finland, Sweden and Ireland), 17 September 2007 internationally and 18 September 2007 in the United States.^[5] Frontman Ville Valo calls the album the band's heaviest yet, describing the roots of its sound in Metallica's album Master of Puppets.^[6]

Overview

Venus Doom has both the longest and shortest running HIM tracks to date; the longest being "Sleepwalking Past Hope" (10:03) and the shortest being the acoustic "Song or Suicide" (1:10).^[7] The album was produced by Tim Palmer (Ozzy Osbourne, Dredg) and Hiili Hiilesmaa (The 69 Eyes, Apocalyptica).^[8] Ville Valo told Kerrang! magazine that there is a concept in a couple of the tracks written during the same period of time. Venus Doom is the first HIM studio album to feature a song featuring nothing but an acoustic guitar, aside from vocals.

The album has nine tracks to represent the nine circles of hell from Dante's The Divine Comedy. The acoustic version of "Bleed Well" references this, featuring a verse that was dropped from the final recording. The verse contained the line 'we'll descend to the ninth and last, where we're judged' referencing the next track, the ninth track "Cyanide Sun." ^[9]

On 26 September, the album debuted at #12 in the US, with 38 000 copies sold. This is a record for a Finnish act. It made #31 in the UK.^[10] In Finland Venus Doom peaked at #2, and in Germany it debuted at #3.

At the 50th annual Grammy Awards, Matt Taylor and Ville Valo, for HIM, was nominated for "Best Boxed/Special Limited Edition packaging" for Venus Doom, but lost to What It Is!: Funky Soul and Rare Grooves (1967-1977) (performed by various artists and artwork by Masaki Koike).^[11]

Cover art

The cover art was painted by artist David Harouni. Ville Valo purchased one of Harouni's paintings at New Orleans' Harouni Gallery and later asked Harouni if it could be used as the cover.^[12] The band launched a contest on their Street Team site, asking fans to use the painting as the base for the Venus Doom cover. The art work by Harouni is used for the regular edition of the album.

Early song previews and leaks

The band played "Dead Lovers' Lane" live at the "Give it a Name Festival" in Birmingham, England, 28 April 2007 and in Glasgow, Scotland, 29 April. The band also played the tracks "The Kiss of Dawn" and "Passion's Killing Floor" at the 7 July 2007 concert at Brussels, Belgium.

Many songs from the album were leaked prior to its release, such as the song "Venus Doom" and also "Passion's Killing Floor" weeks before it was released on the Transformers soundtrack.

Songs

HIM filmed the music video for the first single off the album, "The Kiss of Dawn" starting 21 June in the Los Angeles area.^[13] Meiert Avis, who directed HIM's previous video "Wings of a Butterfly", was the director. The production team put out a casting call for a "beautiful girl (model type) to perform in the lead role of the video". Auditions were held on 19 June.^[14] Ville Valo has stated that the song "The Kiss of Dawn" was for a "close friend who committed suicide soon after the band wrapped the recording sessions for Dark Light".^[8]

The song "Passion's Killing Floor" is on the Transformers soundtrack, which was released on 3 July 2007.^[15]

The second single is "Bleed Well," which was released on 5 December 2007.

Track listing

All songs are composed by Ville Valo in appreciation to Nataly Page.

1. "Venus Doom" – 5:08
2. "Love in Cold Blood" – 5:54
3. "Passion's Killing Floor" – 5:10
4. "The Kiss of Dawn" – 5:54
5. "Sleepwalking Past Hope" – 10:03
6. "Dead Lovers' Lane" – 4:28
7. "Song or Suicide (Acoustic)" – 1:10
8. "Bleed Well" – 4:24
9. "Cyanide Sun" – 5:54

Additional Tracks

1. "Love in Cold Blood" (Special K Remix)^[16] – 4:25 _{Special/Limited Edition bonus track}
2. "Dead Lovers' Lane" (Special C616 Remix)^[16] – 4:29 _{Special/Limited Edition bonus track}
3. "Bleed Well" (Acoustic) – 3:53 _{Limited Edition only bonus track}
4. "Killing Loneliness" (Live) – 4:21_{iTunes only bonus track}
5. "Wings of a Butterfly" (Live) – 3:19 _{iTunes only bonus track}
6. "The Kiss of Dawn" (Video)- 3:54 _{Japanese version only}

Japan Promo Edition DVD

1. "Venus Doom EPK: Interview"
2. "The Kiss Of Dawn" (Video)

Deluxe Edition

Available for pre-order on Heartagram.com was a deluxe version of Venus Doom which including a book with the handwritten lyrics to all nine tracks and three polaroids taken from around the studio, also had two discs - Venus Doom and a bonus disc. The bonus disc features three tracks, both remixes from the special edition bonus disc version of Venus Doom and an acoustic version of "Bleed Well".

1. Love In Cold Blood (Special K RMX)
2. Dead Lovers' Lane (Special c616 RMX)
3. Bleed Well (Acoustic VRS)

Personnel

HIM

• Ville Hermanni Valo — lead vocals
• Mikko Viljami "Linde" Lindström — lead guitar
• Mikko Henrik Julius "Migé" Paananen — bass guitar
• Janne Johannes "Emerson Burton" Puurtinen — keyboards
• Mika Kristian "Gas Lipstick" Karppinen — drums

Technical Staff

• Producers: Hiili Hiilesmaa, Tim Palmer
• Engineers: Hiili Hiilesmaa, Tim Palmer
• Mixing: Tim Palmer
• Mixing Assistant: Jamie Seyberth
• Mastering: Ted Jensen
• A&R: Michael Goldstone
• Art direction: Matt Taylor, Ville Valo
• Design: Matt Taylor
• Photography: Ville Valo, Tim Palmer, Matt Taylor, Ville Juurikkala
• Cover Painting: David Harouni

Chart

Chart Peak position Billboard 200 12[17] Finland 2[18] Gold[19] 23,000 Greece 2[20] Germany 3[21] Sweden 12[22] Norway 22[23] Netherlands 36[24] Switzerland 5[25] Austria 9[26]

Chart Peak position Spain 22 Italy 20 Poland 48 Irish Albums Chart 36[27] UK Top 40 31[28] Australia 32[29] New Zealand 38[30] Canada 32 Japan 80[31]

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ Blender review
3. ^ NME review
4. ^ Rolling Stone review
5. ^ The Gauntlet
6. ^ Ultimate Guitar
7. ^ The Gauntlet
8. ^ ^{a b} Harris, Chris. ""HIM Say New LP Will 'Explode Your Speakers'; Want Bam To Helm Clip"". http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1556419/20070405/him___.jhtml. Retrieved 2007-04-07. 
9. ^ HIM heads into darkness with 'Venus Doom' >> Tour dates and concert ticket info >> LiveDaily
10. ^ BBC - Radio 1 - Chart Show - The UK Top 40 Albums
11. ^ GRAMMY.com
12. ^ Venus Doom Cover painted by artist Harouni
13. ^ BLABBERMOUTH.NET - H.I.M. Draws Influences From 'SABBATH, Old-School METALLICA' For New CD
14. ^ Roadrunner Records/Blabbermouth.net "HIM To Film New Video This Month"
15. ^ Transformers Tracklisting
16. ^ ^{a b} Producer-Musician
17. ^ HIM's New Album "Venus Doom" Enters Billboard Chart at Number 12; Finnish Rock Band's Highest Debut to Date With More Than 40,000 Copies Sold
18. ^ Finnish top40
19. ^ HIM Finnish sales
20. ^ Ελληνικό Chart
21. ^ Helsingin Sanomat - International Edition - Culture
22. ^ swedishcharts.com - HIM - Venus Doom
23. ^ norwegiancharts.com - HIM - Venus Doom
24. ^ dutchcharts.nl - HIM - Venus Doom
25. ^ HIM - Venus Doom - swisscharts.com
26. ^ HIM - Venus Doom - austriancharts.at
27. ^ Ireland Albums Top 75 - Music Charts
28. ^ UK Albums Top 75 - Music Charts
29. ^ australian-charts.com - HIM - Venus Doom
30. ^ charts.org.nz - HIM - Venus Doom
31. ^ (Japanese) ＨＩＭ-リリース-ORICON STYLE ミュージック

External links

• Heartagram.com - HIM Official Website
  • Venus Doom - audio