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Venus Doom | 
| Artist: H.I.M.
Label: Sire / London/Rhino
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $3.38
as of 3/21/2010 14:30 EDT details
You Save: $15.60 (82%)
New (41) Used (36) from $2.72
Seller: ZYXUK
Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 17012
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 105980
UPC: 093624998907
EAN: 0093624998907
ASIN: B000TUXL16
Release Date: September 18, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Venus Doom | | • | Love in Cold Blood | | • | Passion's Killing Floor | | • | Kiss of Dawn | | • | Sleepwalking Past Hope | | • | Dead Lovers' Lane | | • | Song or Suicide | | • | Bleed Well | | • | Cyanide Sun |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
After conquering the rest of the world with chart-topping albums and sold-out tours, Finland's HIM (His Infernal Majesty) won over the States with its 2005 U.S. debut, the Top 20 charting Dark Light. Venus Doom, produced by Tim Palmer (The Cure, U2 and HIM's Dark Light), elevates the band's summer-of-love-gone-goth to even greater heights. Two years ago, HIM had 45,000 MySpace friends. Today it has 400,000 and growing. We are all doomed.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 35
 Buyit Soon, Venus Doom September 24, 2007
Bryan (Missouri, USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
Ok, so let me get this straight(after reading reviews on this and previous HIM CDs): This band has 'sold out' because:
(A)they are signed to an American label after 8 years as a band(with the 2005 'Dark Light' album) and you no longer have to pay 4x the price for one of their CDs as an import.
(B)they are getting played on American radio.
(C)they are the first band from Finland to go Gold in America
or
(D)all of the above?
I honestly don't understand the sell out remarks. All I know is that this band makes good interesting emotional music. So what's the problem? None, in my opinion. Well, just one: their CD booklets aren't that interesting. ha
I think the new CD is great. The biggest difference that I noticed compared to thier previous 'sell out'(yes, sarcasm) Dark Light is that there are less keyboards on this new CD and -brace yourself- guitar solos! The riffs are memorable and Ville Valo sings in all the styles you would expect him to. None of the songs remind you of anything off of Dark Light. There's no real toe tappers on here like 'Rip Out The Wings of a Butterfly" and you really need to listen more intently with the new CD. I only wish there were more than 9 songs on it. Oddly, the 10-minute "Sleepwalking Past Hope" is the least interesting song on the CD to me.
I think anyone reviewing this CD needs to listen to it at least half a dozen times before any attempt at a review is made. Each HIM CD I buy I usually have to listen to over and over to really get into because this band sounds like no other band that I listen to and that makes for a truly unique band. You know instantly who it is even if you've never heard the song before. I like bands like that. If you like their other stuff, then this one will be no different in my opinion. If you like the single 'Kiss of Dawn' then that's all you really need to know in deciding to buy this CD. I was hoping for more keyboards after listening to it, because they have a really weird keyboard sound on all of thier CDs, but it's still great. They toned down the haunted house/phantom of the opera type keyboards(as I call it) this time around. Maybe that's why everyone is saying 'sell out' cos they sound closer to a more traditional rock band. Nevertheless... great CD.
I'm still in love... October 3, 2007
My Inner Goth Girl (Ogden, UT USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
It seems that a band can't ever do anything new without being labeled a sell-out. And those spouting such epithets are often those who have no experience whatsoever in playing or writing music.
I've noticed that after many years of working in retail establishments that sell CDs, a lot of people are like sheep. They find one band they like, cling to it, and then search out other bands that sound just like it. I have never understood this. I don't want all of my music to sound alike; what would be the fun in that? Honestly, I can't think of a particular band that really reminds me of HIM. They are, in my opinion, an entity unto themselves. I love the variety of HIM's music over the course of their career, and COMMERCIAL SUCCESS DOES NOT MAKE YOU A SELL-OUT. It makes you a hard worker. Sheesh. And honestly, do you people think that Ville Valo would ever conform to what a record label wanted just for the sake of selling albums? Come on! That guy has never conformed a day in his life, and he isn't about to start now.
I loved this album. I've loved all of HIM's albums since I discovered them a mere two years ago - I'm surprised I didn't know of them sooner, as my husband is half Finnish. Anyway, the album is very guitar heavy, owing to the fact that when they started to record the album, Burton (keyboards) was home with a new baby. And you know what? The heavy guitar works. The riffs are great - Linde (lead guitar) really gets to show off on this album. Ville's vocals are brilliant - really, when are they not? - and the overall sound is tight and speaks to the band's many years together.
This album is dark and a bit gritty (in a good way), and different from what I expected. There are no tender love songs here, no sweet words, mostly just desolation, grief, and anger. Mmmm. My inner goth girl loves it. I enjoy the more sophisticated structure of the songs, especially changing time signatures in the course of a single song (example: "Bleed Well"). And having a song completely in 3/4 time ("Cyanide Sun") is daring - I've been told by people in the music industry that you can't have a hit in 3/4 time. Riiiight.
Writing songs is hard. Making a living in music is harder. (I know both of these things from personal experience.) I respect anyone who can do it, and HIM does it well. People can cry "sell-out" all they want - it's a free country - but my opinion is that the band is excellent at what they do, and the rest of the world is finally starting to notice.
End of story.
Another Solid Effort September 25, 2007
Greg (Houston, TX)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
After coming to the realization that no other album would ever top the masterpiece "Razorblade Romance", I've been able to thoroughly enjoy each album HIM has put out since. The band's last several albums seem to stick with a similar style, and "Venus Doom" does that for the most part but also brings in a few fresh things. Prior to the album's release, vocalist Ville Valo described this latest effort as a combination between Metallica and My Bloody Valentine. I've never listened to much MBV, so I can't compare the 2. But you won't hear much Metallica sounding stuff on this, with the exception of a few cool guitar solos from Linde that remind me of something Kirk Hammet would play in the "Master Of Puppets" days. The whole album is full of great guitar work actually. Ville also uses a lot more of his deep vocals this time around, and they sound really good on songs like "Kiss Of Dawn", but they felt a little forced on the title track. "Passions Killing Floor" and "Bleed Well" are your typical fast-paced HIM tunes, but "Sleepwalking Past Hope" is a unique epic that clocks in around 10 minutes, and is one of my favorites on the album. "Song Or Suicide" is only about a minute and a half long, with a nice acoustic guitar melody which is usually uncommon on HIM's albums. Overall, this album is what you'd come to expect from HIM, but they did manage to throw in several surprises that you could appriciate. Aside from a few guitar solos, I wouldn't compare this album much with Metallica, but I definitely hear some influence of Type O Negative in several areas.
A little harder-still solid! October 1, 2007
Richard K. Kostoff (columbus, oh)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
This latest entry by one of the last real guitar bands proves that "rock is better off dead"! Just kidding, of course. Some of these lyrics makes one wonder how much longer this gothic theme will endure. Apparently Mr. Valo has no problem with pulling it off. "My heart's a graveyard" and "dead lovers lane" brings to mind the lurid horror films of the 1960's. Yet, to those who have ever experienced a broken heart, can relate to these strange and somewhat humorous lyrics.
Musically this is the heaviest offering the Finnish lads have offered. Love Metal has a heaviness to it, yet this tops that effort. Tim Palmer's production leads this album to the glory that H.I.M. deserves! "Sleepwalking Past Hope" crowns the bands career with a glorious stadium rock anthem that gives this band its due.
As the music industry seems to be dying, this band and its "already undead" approach give great reason to buy this record. I am thankful that this theme works. I cannot wait to see them on tour again!
Suprised and kind of amazed September 28, 2007
Bill Allison (Southwest Missouri, United States)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
At this point in their career (at least for over here in the U.S. anyway),this is a pretty brave album for them to have made. Here's what I mean:
I've been listening to these guys for several years now, ever since I heard "Join Me in Death" something like seven years ago. I've been a fan of their music ever since. Not a diehard-obsessive who hangs on every word out of Ville's mouth, but a fan nonetheless and a new release from them is something I alway look forward too. After "Dark Light" I was really amazed at the progression from "Love Metal". Yeah, it had a much slicker appeal to it and it was definitely more commercial. Normally when a band does this, it cheapens the overall effect for me. Not because I think of it in terms of "selling out", but it really bothers me to know that a band I really like is about to get a lot bigger. Call me a jerk but I get a little annoyed when I see something I love turned into a fashion statement because you know that the jackasses you see claiming to like their music will just be spitting it right back out in six months, moving on to whatever else is "in". "Dark Light" didn't really have this effect on me. I knew that it would make them even bigger, but I was still able to embrace the album for what it was and I still listen to it occasionally. I may not love it as much as "Razorblade Romance" or "Greatest Love Songs Vol.666" but I think it ranks pretty close.
After all the exposure they've gotten through Bam, as well as on their own merit over the years, H.I.M. is now bigger than ever. I've even seen 5th graders running around in heartagram t-shirts. So why was I so suprised with "Venus Doom"? Well, the first thing I thought of was WOW! Is this IT?? Did I put in the right cd? It's definitely heavier and it's kind of a backstep from the direction they were heading in with "Dark Light". Some have said it's just as commercial sounding but I just don't see that. The songs aren't quite as instantly infectious. They require more than a couple listens to fully digest and in my opinion, that makes for a better song. Aside from being heavier, there is of course, much less emphasis on the keyboards. Initially, I wasn't too crazy about that last bit, but the more I came back to the album, I saw that the material just didn't call for it near as much. It's still there, and very effective where it's used. Just check out "Dead Lover's Lane".
At just nine songs, I felt myself wanting more when the album ended. I wasn't quite satisfied. A little unfulfilled. Then I listened to it again. And Again. So on and so forth. Now that I've had time to let it sink in a little, I believe that it's up there with some of their best material. They've greatly matured as a band and just as with many of my favorite albums, you won't even start to hear the best stuff until at least a half-dozen listens. This is also, in my mind, what makes it one of their strongest efforts. The good stuff is in there but you will be required to pay attention.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 35
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