HIM – “Venus Doom”

“Leave all behind now to watch her crawl through our dark gardens of insanity She’ll be the light to guide you back home Just give her a kiss worth dying for And open your arms.” These are the opening lyrics to “Venus Doom”, the title track off HIM’s latest release, and they are a good indicator of the mood of the rest of the record: dark, dreary, and depressing. The album features nine tracks, each representing one of the nine circles of Hell as outlined in Dante’s Inferno: people trapped in limbo, the lustful, the gluttonous, the hoarders, the wrathful, the heretics, the violent, the fraudulent, and the traitors.

Apparently, lead vocalist Ville Valo did not intend for this record to be the soundtrack to my family reunion (although it certainly could be), but rather a trip into his own personal Hell. Some tracks were so personally hellish that Valo won’t even discuss the meaning behind them, preferring to leave the songs open to listener interpretation. Convenient, since I’m here to give you my interpretation of the album.

In a word, Venus Doom is complex, with each track blending acoustic, electric, melodic, and distorted sounds to take you on a rollercoaster ride of sound and emotions. The songwriting and performances are bang on, and producer Tim Palmer did an excellent job mixing. That being said, this record is lacking; in what, I’m not sure. I just don’t find myself listening to it repeatedly like I did with 2003’s Love Metal, or even 2005’s Dark Light. With tracks like “Bleed Well” and the epic “Sleepwalking Past Hope” (my two personal favourites) I should be blown away, but I’m not.

I thought this album would be a lot heavier, based on this quote from Valo, discussing the progression from Dark Light to Venus Doom: “I felt that we needed a lot less keyboards and there was just going to be more punching-to-the-face type thing.” Silly me, I expected less keyboards and more “punching-to-the-face type thing.” My bad!

Yes, I found the album disappointing, but I know there’s a ton of people out there who would disagree with me. All in all, it’s a must-have for HIM fans, but it’s just not likely to bring many newcomers to the party.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. Venus Doom
02. Love In Cold Blood
03. Passion’s Killing Floor
04. The Kiss Of Dawn
05. Sleepwalking Past Hope
06. Dead Lover’s Lane
07. Song Or Suicide
08. Bleed Well
09. Cyanide Sun

Run Time: 48:12
Release Date: 2007