Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice
Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice, Chapters 1−13 is the seventh studio album by HIM. This one was released on February 8th, 2010. This one was recorded in LA with producer Matt Squire. I remember twitter stalking him since he kept posting updates and random HIM things. Screamworks was the first album after Ville's personal issues which resulted in the band rehearsing more than ever before. He wanted to prove himself but the excessive rehearsing eventually wore some of the band out. This album was heavily inspired by 80's muse which you can tell with the poppy beats. It did still stick to the bands darker lyrics.
In December of the same year, they released SWRMXS, which was a remix album of the album done in collaboration with several different artists. The was also a special two-disc edition of the album was also released, which included an acoustic bonus CD of the album, titled Baudelaire in Braille. The acoustic was all recorded in Ville's Tower in Finland, it's beautiful and peaceful. I actually walked down the aisle to Acoustic Heartkiller and it was perfect.
Thankful the line up still didn't change. It was really a great line up.
- Ville Valo − lead vocals
- Mikko "Linde" Lindström − guitar
- Mikko "Mige" Paananen − bass
- Janne "Burton" Puurtinen − keyboards
- Mika "Gas Lipstick" Karppinen − drums
Tracklist
- In Venere Veritas
- Scared to Death
- Heartkiller
- Dying Song
- Disarm Me (With Your Loneliness)
- Love, the Hardest Way
- Katherine Wheel
- In the Arms of Rain
- Ode to Solitude
- Shatter Me with Hope
- Acoustic Funeral (For Love in Limbo
- Like St. Valentine
- The Foreboding Sense of Impending Happiness
The lyrics on this album were incredible with references to Charles Baudelaire, Catherine of Alexandria and King Solomon. Those combined with the 80's beats are an amazing combo. If the beats don't get you the words will.
This may be my favorite HIM album. I don't know if it's cause the words have stuck with me or it's cause it's got that 80's punk vibe. I will literally listen to backward and forwards on repeat. I actually did when I was in college working on my art degree. Like I said this band has been one of my driving forces for as long as I can remember. I used stuff from this album in so much of my artwork it's insane. I started a Page 43, which no one ever really figured out what it was in reference to. Anyways I used it for a self-portrait piece. I used Like St. Valentine for a portrait of my mother who had passed a few years before. Heartkiller I used a piece on Ville. I may be a bit obsessed with this album.
