New Ville Picture

London Show

February 8th sees the hotly anticipated release of HIM's new album ‘Screamworks: Love In Theory & Practice’

To celebrate HIM are playing a very special Valentine’s Day gig at London’s Garage that offers a rare opportunity to see the band in an intimate environment for the perfect alternative Valentines Day!

Admittance to the February 14th show is provided solely by a brand new t-shirt design made exclusively for the event!
Strictly limited to just 600 copies (one for each attendee), the t-shirt is sure to be a valued collector item and a badge of honor for HIM’s hardcore fans.

Entry to the show is only available here on ukundercurrent via an exclusive bundle featuring:
- The brand new album
- The exclusive collectors T-Shirt
- Entry to the show

If you order a bundle you will also be able to buy an additional T-Shirt (and thus show entry) for your friend or valentine!

Heartkiller Preview

View a 30 second clip to the new single Heartkiller!

HIM 18+

With the huge amount of underage HIM fans, there has been some argument that the Australian Sydney and Melbourne tour should be an All-Ages concert. To try and make this happen a petition has been created, if you care you would sign it. Even if you're not going or if you're in another country, put yourself in the shoes of these people and think of how you would feel. Thank You :)

'Heartkiller' Single Cover

HIM Brag About New Album

HIM frontman Ville Valo has told Rock Sound how much effort was put into the creation of the band's new album 'Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice':

"I’ve just been working, no time in pubs honest," he said recently. "I've had no time to do anything besides this album. I’m not shitting you because I was on a personal mission to find out how much energy you can put into an album before you break. I didn’t break, but I was on the verge of it more than once. It was important to really live with the ideas rather than just going with the flow as we have in the past. The result is, I hope, something that will shake peoples’ asses."

HIM Soundwave Sideshows Australia

The purveyors of ‘Love Metal’ and masters of dark atmospheric music, HIM, re-defined the gothic rock/metal movement and no one comes close to their heavy, ethereal sounds. Driven by lyrics that spin tales of fatalistic love and depression, it’s perpetually heartsick frontman Ville Valo’s vampiric crooning that ultimately gives the band its fangs.

After spreading their gothic wings over the masses it was the follow up to the platinum selling ‘Dark Light’, ‘Venus Doom’ that saw HIM rocking with fury with Ville’s stunning vocals and lyrical poetry moving from raging wail to deep baritone with consummate ease. “With every album that he writes HIM mainman Ville Valo gets closer to his dream fusion of Metallica, Depeche Mode and Ozzy, while still remembering to add some distinctly gothic beauty.” – Uncut

With a new album on the way in February we are thrilled to announce that HIM will be performing 2 clubs show only on the back of their Soundwave 2010 appearances.

TICKETS ON SALE THURSDAY 3 DECEMBER, 9AM

TUESDAY 23 FEBRUARY SYDNEY, THE FORUM – 18+

THURSDAY 25 FEBRUARY MELBOURNE, THE HI-FI – 18+

More Kerrang!

Click to get a larger view

New Photo

HIM have just released a new photo!

New Kerrang

For those of you who haven't got it yet, Ville did a small Interview with Kerrang.

In what way is this album the story of what’s happened to you since the last album?

Ville Valo: “Actually this one is probably the most direct, diary-esque, in the sense that maybe through me fucking up a lot of my long term relationships in the past through excessive partying and just being a slob that I kind of lost faith when I stopped drinking, and I felt that there was no chance for a guy like me to find equilibrium or be at peace, or balance between those things. While starting to write for this album, I was on the verge of falling head over heels for a person. So I captured that moment on the album. Unfortunately I’m bad at saying it. I never really had the chance of telling her that. So she’ll hear the album a bit later and know how I felt then. It’s one way of doing it.”

I think people like very autobiographical music, like Nine Inch Nails. It feels like a genuine insight into that person or band.

Ville: “I’ve never been a big fan of Nine Inch Nails but Trent Reznor was very direct… you can’t diss him because if he feels like that it’s his right to feel like that. As opposed to writing about something a bit more obscure or… historical things. I just try – in pseudo-poetry – to… there are really direct autobiographical things in there in people, places and times. I like it, because it makes me like a naked invisible man. In the middle of the street…”

…with a butcher wearing nothing but wellies…

Ville: “People can always see the wellies, ‘Oh no! the Welly Man!’ ha ha. Welly Wallo! Ha ha.”

HIM have now revealed their new album's art work and that the new album will be released on February 8th.

(Picture from the latest Kerrang issue.)

Screamworks Drawings

Me and my friend Matt did a drawing of the Screamworks album cover. Mine is the first one, the one without a Heartagram and the Don Vito eye.

Screamworks Tracklist (Updated)

A couple changed have been made, and last time I didn't have them in order. This is the official track list.

1. In Venere Veritas
2. Scared To Death
3. Heartkiller
4. Dying Song
5. Disarm Me (With Your Loneliness)
6. Love, The Hardest Way
7. Katherine Wheel
8. In The Arms Of Rain
9. Ode To Solitude
10. Shatter Me With Hope
11. Acoustic Funeral (For Love In Limbo)
12. Like St. Valentine
13. The Foreboding Sense Of Impending Happiness

Single

The first single for Screamworks has been announced, the song 'Heartkiller' will be released on February 1st, 2010 (Or so they say). =] Worldwide release date? I have no idea, let's just keep our fingers crossed.

2010 Callender

2010 HIM Wall Calender available at the Heartagram store. Ville showing off some new tattoo's as well?

Screamworks Current Release dates.

UK and France on February 8th
USA on February 9nd
Japan on February 10th
Germany on February 12th

New Album Cover!

New album cover has been released!

Ville has already started rocking a shirt with it.

Kerrang

Ville will be in the next issue of Kerrang talking about his inspiration for Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice

Happy Birthday Ville Valo!

Happy 33rd Birthday Ville Valo!

Ville Valo Arrested

This is old old news! But it's an interesting read, and brings back the memories.


According to the Finnish tabloid newspaper Iltalehti, HIM Frontman Ville Valo was taken into custody by the Finnish police over the weekend for allegedly threatening to kill his neighbour and resisting arrest.

At approximately 2:30 in the morning Monday morning (Feb. 6, 2006), Ville allegedly became belligerent and violent while spending time at his apartment building, which is located in the Eira district of Helsinki. For reasons that are unclear, Ville is said to have thrown a flower pot at his neighbour's door, after which he was confronted by his neighbor and a brawl ensued. The police were called by the neighbour's wife and two officers came to the scene but were unable to calm Ville down, who had to be restrained with handcuffs.

Ville Valo, 29, spent the night in police custody and reportedly admitted threatening the neighbour but failed to provide a clear motive for his actions.

No injuries were reported in the incident, although the neighbour's door did suffer some minor damage. (Oh Dear!)

According to Iltalehti, Valo was involved in previous disturbances within the same housing organization.

The neighbours refused to comment the issue, according to the report.

In Venere Veritas

Ville is a big wine drinker, the phrase "In Venere Veritas" (One of the songs coming on the new album) sound very similar to the Latin phrase "In Vino Veritas" which means 'In Wine there is Truth' has had it's words played around with (By Ville) and the phrase now as far as I can tell means 'In sexual desire there is truth'... Oh Ville :P

Serious as Dog Dirt

Here is part of Bam Margera's book Serious as Dog Dirt

I don't take any credit for the photos and scans.

MySpace

HIM have updated their page on MySpace! Go look at it, it's awesome.

http://www.myspace.com/heartagram

Ville Valo: This Is Our Most Sexual Album

Lyrically, it’s the most sexual one, the most horny one, we’ve ever made. The horny and the horned. Like the Impaled Nazarene song. It’s got that and a sense of immediacy: ‘I want it now, now, now’. It’s not about being poetic or forlorn about something that is about to happen, it’s actually about something that is happening at this very moment in time.

I like the immediacy of it. There’s a lot of information put in short songs and they don’t let go. That was the whole vibe for me. You should have seen me working the vocals out in the middle of the night, amongst my taxidermy owls in the tower screaming my guts out, unable to stop until 9am and then sleeping on a couch for two hours before starting again. So the whole process of the album is very close to that mental boner that just didn’t go away.

Ville Valo's Castle

From my understanding this is where Mr Valo lives.
I've put up some pictures so check out how this Rockstar lives.

There is no surprise that he lives in a Castle, But isn't this the most beautiful house you have ever seen.

Kari Valo on Fathers Day

(click on image to read)

Roughly translates to:

He was an ace of a child: nice and lively. Not that he’s tongue-tied yet either. He hasn’t caused massive misery. When he yakked as a baby , I put on Somerjoki and danced until he fell asleep in my arms. I have been a hands-on father, I haven’t watched my children from afar.

I should have spent more time with the kids, but I had to go earn some money too. It would have been easier if I had been born with a silver spoon in my mouth, then wouldn’t have had to work that much.

I am proud of my children. They have grown up to be pretty upright people, even though during the years they would have had the opportunity to end up in any kind of a crowd. Of course as a parent you are always worried because there are all kinds of people in the industry.

His success can be seen in the fact that my shop is visited by quite a lot of foreigners who come here to a pilgrim age. They are friendly and polite and come to talk to me as if I was a professor.

He will be an ace of a father. I hope he will have more than one child. I hope the one he ends up marrying will be an upright person.

What do I hope for him... I hope he has enough skin for all the tattoos he wants to take.

Screamworks Tracklist

I have the current list of songs that are to be used for Screamworks.

01. Ode To Solitude
02. Scared To Death
03. Heart Killer
04. Dying Song
05. Disarm Me
06. Love The Hardest Way
07. Katherine Wheel
08. In The Arms Of Rain
09. Shatter Me With Hope
10. In Venere Veritas
11. Acoustic Funeral
12. St. Valentine
13. Smother A Heart

I don't know about you, but this sounds Incredible.
Track 10 made me happy, I have the saying tattooed on my leg.

Ville Valo update

I was really excited hearing this. Ville mentioned that he was starting the tour in Australia, Which is the country in which I live. To have the greatest band ever, come to Australia to start off their new album. Although they will be playing at the Soundwave Festival which I am a bit unhappy about, I would much rather have them do their own show.

Starting Out

Hello Sweethearts. I have created this new blog to support and welcome the upcoming H.I.M album 'Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice' due to be released worldwide on February 14, 2010 (Valentines Day :]). I have also started this blog to just rant, rave, and put up as much news as I can find out about my favourite band. I will be looking forward to seeing how this turns out :].