Venus Doom
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Venus Doom is the sixth studio album by Finnish rock band HIM, released on September 14, 2007 (Germany, Finland, Sweden and Ireland), September 17, 2007 internationally and September 18, 2007 in the US.[1] According to frontman Ville Valo, it is their heaviest album yet, with music comparable to Metallica and My Bloody Valentine.[2] Like other HIM albums, all the tracks on Venus Doom contain Valo's allegorical lyrics. The longest song "Sleepwalking Past Hope" is ten minutes long, which is their longest running track to date, while the shortest song "Song or Suicide" is an acoustic track only about one minute in length.[3] The album was produced by Tim Palmer (Ozzy Osbourne, Dredg) and Hiili Hiilesmaa (The 69 Eyes, Apocalyptica).[4] Ville Valo told Kerrang! magazine that one might find a concept running through a couple of the tracks because a few of them were written at the same time.
On September 26th, the album debuted at #12 with 38,000 copies in the US, a record for the Finnish band, and #31 in the UK.[5] In Finland "Venus Doom" peaked at #2, in Germany it debuted at #3.
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 for Venus Doom.[6] The band started a contest for a new Venus Doom cover which was posted on HIM's Street Team site, telling fans to use Harouni's painting as the starting point to make a new cover for Venus Doom. The art work by Harouni is the one used for the normal edition of the album as for the special edition.
Early song previews and leaks
The band played the track "Dead Lovers' Lane" live at the "Give it a Name Festival" in Birmingham, England, April 28, 2007 and in Glasgow, Scotland, April 29. The band also played the tracks "The Kiss of Dawn" and "Passion's Killing Floor" at the July 7, 2007 concert at Brussels, Belgium.
HIM filmed the music video for the first single off the album, "The Kiss of Dawn" starting June 21 in the Los Angeles area.[7] 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 June 19.[8] 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".[4] Sheet music for this song was posted on their official website prior to the release of the album, giving fans from the US the chance to submit a video of themselves playing the song from their own perspective. The 3 winning videos will be featured on HIM's upcoming live DVD and the winners will receive a signed copy of said DVD.[9]
The song "Passion's Killing Floor" is on the Transformers soundtrack, which was released on July 3, 2007.[10]
A secret key at the official website Heartagram.com can be entered only once by the person who figures out the code hidden in "The Kiss of Dawn" video; the winner that enters the correct code will be able to see any concert performed by HIM in 2007 or 2008.
There are three editions of Venus Doom. The regular version is $13.99 and contains the basic 9 tracks. The special edition is $26.98, containing two extra tracks on a separate disc, and it also has alternate album art with the words "Venus Doom". The limited edition is $49.99, containing both discs of the special edition along with a leather journal featuring 60 pages of pictures, drawings, and lyrics, and 3 polaroid pictures in an envelope.[11]
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.
On September 5, 2007, the entire album was leaked onto P2P sites. [citation needed]
Track listing
- "Venus Doom" - 5:08
- "Love in Cold Blood" - 5:54
- "Passion's Killing Floor" - 5:10
- "The Kiss of Dawn" - 5:54
- "Sleepwalking Past Hope" - 10:02
- "Dead Lovers' Lane" - 4:28
- "Song or Suicide" - 1:10
- "Bleed Well" - 4:24
- "Cyanide Sun" - 5:54
Bonus Tracks:
- "Love In Cold Blood [Special K Remix]" - 4:25 */**
- "Dead Lovers' Lane [Special C616 Remix]" - 4:29 */**
- "Bleed Well [Acoustic]" - 3:53 **
- * - track only available on the special edition of Venus Doom
- ** - track only available on the limited edition of Venus Doom
Chart positions
Album
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Billboard 200 | 12 |
| Finland | 2[12] |
| Germany | 3[13] |
| Sweden | 12[14] |
| Norway | 22[15] |
| Netherlands | 36[16] |
| Switzerland | 5[17] |
| Austria | 9[18] |
| Italy | 20 |
| Irish Albums Chart | 36[19] |
| UK Top 40 | 31[20] |
| Australia | 32[21] |
| New Zealand | 38[22] |
References
- ^ The Gauntlet
- ^ Ultimate Guitar
- ^ The Gauntlet
- ^ a b Harris, Chris. ""HIM Say New LP Will 'Explode Your Speakers'; Want Bam To Helm Clip"". Retrieved 2007-04-07.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Venus Doom Cover painted by artist Harouni
- ^ http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=76010
- ^ Roadrunner Records/Blabbermouth.net "HIM To Film New Video This Month"
- ^ Kiss of Dawn Contest
- ^ Transformers Tracklisting
- ^ Venus Doom at heartagram.com
- ^ http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=81152
- ^ http://www.hs.fi/english/article/New+HIM+album+enters+Billboard+200+at+12/1135230617222
- ^ http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Him&titel=Venus+Doom&cat=a
- ^ http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Him&titel=Venus+Doom&cat=a
- ^ http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Him&titel=Venus+Doom&cat=a
- ^ http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Him&titel=Venus+Doom&cat=a
- ^ http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Him&titel=Venus+Doom&cat=a
- ^ http://acharts.us/ireland_albums_top_75
- ^ http://acharts.us/uk_albums_top_75
- ^ http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Him&titel=Venus+Doom&cat=a
- ^ http://charts.org.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Him&titel=Venus+Doom&cat=a