Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights

Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights
Studio album by
Publication (s)	August 27, 2001
Label (s)	Great Sonic, Gun Records
Format (s)	CD
Genre (s)	Dark rock
Title (number)	10
running time	42:11
occupation	Singing : Ville Valo Guitar : Mikko Lindström Bass : Mikko Paananen Drums : Mika Karppinen Keyboard : Janne Puurtinen
production	TT Oksala, Kevin Shirley
chronology Razorblade Romance (1999) Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights Love Metal (2003)

Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights (English for. " Deep shadows and brilliant highlights ") is the third studio album of the Finnish rock band HIM . It was released on August 27, 2001 in Germany.

Album title

The expression Deep Shadows an Brilliant Highlights describes the variety of color tones in black and white photography . The band came up with the idea of ​​using this as an album title while talking to a friend about photography.

Album cover

As with the two previous covers, Janne Uotila ( noted in the booklet under the pseudonym Natas Pop ) designed the cover. The photos were from Jouko Lehtola. Originally, Uotila and Ville Valo had prepared a cover that visually matched the others. It was held in shades of purple, showing Valo with long hair and a leather jacket. The title of the album ran like a halo around his head, and black spiders crawled up his neck. BMG Finland and Germany would have been happy with the cover, but BMG England, who showed interest in the band, found the cover too cheesy. Therefore new photos were taken with the photographer Rankin and a new cover designed by Uotila.

In keeping with the album title, it is a black and white photo in the sense of "Deep Shadows an Brilliant Highlights" . The writing on the cover is silver. It's the last cover to have a photo of Ville Valo on it. You see him with long hair, a cigarette in his hand, silver rings on his fingers, a rosary around his neck and a jacket with inscriptions. The booklet shows a band photo and all lyrics are written in Valo's handwriting. The CD itself has a pink-purple gradient, which is probably due to the original color concept.

History of origin

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights   DE 2 08/27/2001 (26 weeks)   AT 1 08/27/2001 (10 weeks)   CH 2 08/27/2001 (11 weeks)   US 190 10/16/2004 (1 week)   FI 1 35/2001 (20 weeks)

Singles

Pretending   DE 10 07/02/2001 (9 weeks)   AT 36 07/02/2001 (8 weeks)   CH 32 07/02/2001 (7 weeks)   FI 1 27/2001 (8 weeks) In Joy and Sorrow   DE 17th 10/08/2001 (8 weeks)   CH 98 10/08/2001 (1 week)   FI 2 42/2001 (4 weeks) Heartache every moment and Close to the flame   DE 20th 01/14/2002 (7 weeks)   CH 88 01/14/2002 (2 weeks)   FI 2 3/2002 (5 weeks)

With the previous album , the band had a big hit, which resulted in their international breakthrough. Tours throughout Europe followed, on which the songs of the follow-up album were written.

In October 2000, when the band had some time between touring, HIM recorded demos at Petrax Studios in Hollola, Finland . Timo Tapani Oksala accompanied the recordings . They just wanted to master these demo versions and then release them as an album. Your record company did not agree to release an album with only "demo" versions without the help of a well-known producer . Therefore, HIM revised the songs again with TT Oksala and the producers Kevin Shirley , John Fryer , Randy Staub and Chris Lord-Alge . As a result, there were up to four mixes (or remixes) of some songs, and this led to discrepancies about which versions should be on the album. The album ended up being mixed two or three times. Love You Like I Do was mixed by Ville Valo himself.

Ville Valo said in 2002 that they had been in the studio too long and that everything, including the demos, had taken 11 months. The actual recordings took about a month, but due to dates and concerts, it was not possible to record in one go. In the beginning they would have had fun, but in the end he would have lost his interest in the album because too many people interfered and that unsettled him. He also said he was in a bad mood throughout the tour.

Originally the band wanted the album to be ready in spring, but the delays pushed the release date to August. As a result, they had to play the as yet unreleased songs live at festival gigs, which led to even more discontent in the band.

Publications and chart placements

The album was released on August 27, 2001 simultaneously in Finland, Germany and other relevant European countries. In Finland it reached number 1 in the charts, in Germany it reached number 2 ( Pur reached number 1 with an anniversary album). Three singles were released from the album ( Pretending , In Joy and Sorrow , Heartache Every Moment & Close to the Flame ). Of these, only Pretending could climb to the top of the charts in Finland, but all singles sold internationally with success, albeit worse than the previous album. An extended European tour followed from September to December 2001.

In addition to the standard version, Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights was also released as a limited digipak with two bonus songs. At Christmas 2001 the album was also released in a special limited album edition with three bonus songs, two music videos, a new cover and a slipcase.

Music style and topic

Music genre

In contrast to the two previous albums, the album is much quieter. Almost half of the album are ballads ( In Joy and Sorrow , Close to the Flame , Beautiful , Love you like I do ). The structure of the songs is also less complex and often follows the "verse - refrain - verse" scheme. However, sound effects such as Indian drums, rain, thunderstorms, birdsong and church tower bells are accommodated.

Please Don't Let It Go was originally faster than on the album. A concert from 2003 appeared on the internet where HIM played this fast version and Valo said it was the original version of the song.

Subject

The texts all revolve around the themes: "relationship", "being abandoned", "staying together" . So Ville Valo does not deviate from love as a theme on the third studio album either. However, he said in a 2001 interview that, unlike the older songs, the lyrics were more emotional and less fictional, and he used less religious terms.

One can assume that on this album, as with Razorblade Romance , his girlfriend at the time had a great influence on the lyrics. On the subject of the album, however, he made a rather general statement that seems as if it were just a matter of friendly relationships:

“[...] Actually, the whole album is about the same fixation-like thing . You realize you like people and it doesn't matter what the mood is. No matter how pissed off you are, you realize you have to be with these people. "

- Ville Valo; Book: Synnin Viemää (original in Finnish), chapter 22, 2002

The lyrics are sometimes more ( Heartache Every Moment ), sometimes less ( Love you like I do ) cheesy. Although one should not forget that Valo has a special sense of humor, he said: “How can anyone take the words of Heartache Every Moment seriously? - ' From lashes to ashes, and from lust to dust, in your sweetest torment I'm lost ' is just an amusing play on words ( fun figure of speech ) ”. He often tends to play on words that involve similar-sounding word combinations. Some critics may find this incomprehensible, but since a journalist once wrote that Valo had a manic-depressive illness, this could simply be an effect of it, as some manics have a tendency to play on words.

The lyrics of Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights are often written in a naively honest way (e.g. Beautiful or Please don't let it go ): “So please don't let it go, please don't let it go, 'cause if you won't let it go, I won't let it go ”(“ So, please don't let it end, please don't let it end, because if you don't let it end, so will I. Not").

criticism

Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights came out a year after Razorblade Romance . Critics complain that the new album was produced quickly and that the songs therefore seem uninspired in order to quickly build on the success of the predecessor. The singer Ville Valo described the record, especially in relation to the high proportion of quiet songs, that it was less a classic HIM album than a Ville Valo solo album.

Information about the video clips

• Pretending originated in England and was filmed by Kevin Godley . It is a performance video for which all band members were swung back and forth on a rack. You can't see the frame in the video. Originally it was planned to also integrate other scenes, e.g. B. There were two drag queens on the set , who were also filmed on the frame, but in the end they didn't.
• Joy and Sorrow was filmed in an empty warehouse in August 2001. It's another video with no storyline. You can also see the other band members and a model (Nicolette Groeler) who is repeatedly faded in, presumably she is supposed to represent a ghost. Directed by John Hillcoat .
• Close to the Flame and Heartache Every Moment : Because the band members were so divided at the time that they did not want to make a video together, recordings from the tour were used for the video clips of these two songs. The band only saw the result after it was released. You can clearly see the bad shape of Ville Valo, who repeatedly had to struggle with alcohol problems (in some video scenes he is literally hanging on the microphone stand). From Heartache Every Moment there is a second video clip that later on the DVD Love Metal Archives Vol 1 was released. The video was compiled by Bam Margera, a friend and fan of the band. He was also known as a skateboarder and from television, so the clip contains excerpts from Margera's projects and excerpts from HIM's first concert in the USA in August 2001.

Ville Valo at the Ruisrock Festival 2001

Information on individual songs

• HIM never played Love you like I do and Don't close your heart live.
• According to the booklet, Eicca plays Toppinen from Apocalyptica Cello in the song In Joy and Sorrow . At some point in the same song you hear a whispering, murmuring background noise that is supposed to be a Finnish poem.
• In Salt in our Wounds you can hear a kantele .
• At the beginning of Please don't let it go you can hear Indian drums (probably tabla drums ).

Others

• For this album Janne Puurtinen alias Emerson Burton returned as keyboard player in the band. Years before he had already been a member of the band and now replaced Juska Salminen (Zoltan Pluto), who had resigned for private reasons. Since Zoltan Pluto left the band on January 1, 2001, Ville Valo played part of the keyboard parts on the album before Burton became a member and recorded the remaining parts.

• In August 2001 HIM won the Viva Two Viewer Comet at the Viva Comet Awards Ceremony (at that time still internationally oriented).

• On the Germany tour, Ville Valo played and sang a cover song with acoustic guitar before each concert. Some of these recordings (mostly audio) can be found on the Internet. He played u. a. Lonley Road (by Daniel Lioneye), Some Kind of Hate (Misfits), More or Less (Screaming Trees), The first cut is the deepest (Cat Stevens), Old Man (Neil Young), Poison Heart (Ramones) Fade into you (by Mazzy Star) and an improvised song called Fade away .

• In September 2001, HIM guitarist Linde released the album The King of Rock'n'Roll under the stage name Daniel Lioneye . It's a fun side project on which u. a. Mige (bass) and Ville (drums) were also involved.

Track list

Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights (Standard Version) - 40:52

1. Salt in Our Wounds - 3:58
2. Heartache Every Moment - 3:56
3. Lose You Tonight - 3:42
4. In Joy and Sorrow - 4:00
5. Pretending - 3:55
6. Close to the Flame - 3:46
7. Please Don't Let It Go - 4:29
8. Beautiful - 4:33
9. Don't Close Your Heart - 4:39
10. Love You Like I Do - 5:14 am

Bonus title of the limited Digipak edition - 51:47

7. You Are the One - 3:26
10. In Love and Lonely 3:47
13. Pretending (music video)

Christmas Limited Edition Bonus Title - 1:04:53

11. Again - 3:41
12. In Joy and Sorrow (String version) - 5:04
13. Pretending (Cosmic Pope Jam) - 8:00
14. Pretending (music video)
15. In Joy and Sorrow (music video)

Charts

In the Austrian charts the album stayed at number 1 for 1 week and 13 weeks in the charts and was awarded gold.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [1] , video title: "Backstage interview with Ville Valo. (Part 1 from 4)" Interview with Valo from the set for the video clip Pretending, 2001, At the beginning, Ville is asked where he got the idea for the album title from.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} see: DSABH booklet
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Juho K. Juntunen: Synnin Viemää. WSOY, 2002, ISBN 951-0-27304-X , Chapter 22 = pp. 208–209 (Finnish)
4. ↑ [2] old cover in 2 variants
5. ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts US Charts FI
6. ↑ Juho K. Juntunen: Synnin Viemää. WSOY, 2002, ISBN 951-0-27304-X , Chapter 17 = pp. 158–169 (Finnish)
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Juho K. Juntunen: Synnin Viemää. WSOY, 2002, ISBN 951-0-27304-X , Chapter 22 = pp. 194–203 (Finnish)
8. ↑ ^{a b} Reinhardt Haydn: HIM - His Infernal Majesty. Plexus Publishing, London 2007, ISBN 978-0-85965-392-3 , p. 78
9. ↑ ^{a b} Juho K. Juntunen: Synnin Viemää. WSOY, 2002, ISBN 951-0-27304-X , Chapter 22 = pp. 204–207 (Finnish)
10. ↑ ^{a b c} Juho K. Juntunen: Synnin Viemää. WSOY, 2002, ISBN 951-0-27304-X , Chapter 22 = pp. 210–211 (Finnish)
11. ↑ ^{a b} see: HIM / discography
12. ↑ Source, for Pur in first place: Juho K. Juntunen: Synnin Viemää. WSOY, 2002, ISBN 951-0-27304-X , Chapter 23 = pp. 212–225 (Finnish)
13. ↑ [3] , for the DSABH tour see tour archive 2001 and 2002 (could be incomplete)
14. ↑ [4] Video title: "HIM LIVE - Please Don't Let It Go - 04.26.2003 Semifinal Club Helsinki Finland", audio; accessed on August 9, 2015
15. ↑ [5] Video title: "HIM - Live at Astoria, London (2003-05-03)", At minute 58:18 he says that it is the original version of the song; accessed on August 9, 2015
16. ↑ [6] , video title: "Interview Ville Valo and Mige 2001" Sonic Seducer interview, minute: 6: 30-7: 55
17. ↑ Juho K. Juntunen: Synnin Viemää. WSOY, 2002, ISBN 951-0-27304-X , Chapter 15 = pp. 140–149 (Finnish)
18. ↑ [7] , source: http://heartagram.ru/him_e.html (old fansite) to be found under "Articles" - again "Articles" - "2007" - "Image" - "german version"; Magazine: Image (probably a Finnish magazine), Title: "Ville Valo's Dream Became a Nightmare" , from August 2007; Quote : "[…] The depression followed by making the record (Note: Venus Doom ) didn't come as a surprise to Valo. He has been diagnosed to have manic-depression, although according to him it is not deep depression," the kind that you can't get out of bed, you just piss yourself, because nothing matters. " [...] " ; last accessed on 8 Aug 2015
19. ↑ [8] PDF of a text about mania (can also be found under the web links on the Wikipedia page about mania); Quotation from page 17: "What is impressive is the constant production [...] of original, quick-witted or even funny ideas, which in the end are only lined up according to external aspects (ambiguity of words, sound similarity). [...]"; last accessed 14 Aug 2015
20. ↑ [9] , video title: HIM Making of the videon - Pretending , 2001.
21. ↑ ^{a b} Juho K. Juntunen: Synnin Viemää. WSOY, 2002, ISBN 951-0-27304-X , Chapter 24 = pp. 234–237 (Finnish)
22. ↑ [10] (old fansite); Example of evidence of alcohol problems: Magazine: Close up! , from August 2007; Quote from Valo: “When we started the band in 1997 I was on antabuse. I didn't drink that much at that time but I stopped. […] ", Translation:" When we started with the band in 1997, I took Antabus. I didn't drink that much at that time, but I managed to quit. "; Note: Antabuse is a controversial drug for alcohol cessation; last accessed on 14 Aug 2015
23. ↑ [11] , video title: Viva 2 Rock DSBH - Interview only , Interview with Ville and Mige for Viva, Sendung 2Rock, 2001, At minute 4:57, Ville says that at the beginning of Please don't let it go you get Indian drums hears.
24. ↑ see: VIVA Comet 2001
25. ↑ [12] , video title: "HIM - Poison Heart (Acoustic)", live 2001
26. ↑ [13] , video title: "Ville Valo - Fade Into You", live 2001
27. ↑ [14] , video title: "HIM Fade Away (Acoustic Version) Live Cover EuropeanVampires (CRISTO)", live 2001
28. ↑ Interview at the Tammerfest on July 19, 2002: In the interview it is said that Ville Valo played an acoustic cover for every concert on the last tour in Germany and it is listed which songs were there. The interviewer asks who is Fade Away and Ville replies "Oh, it might be a special occasion when I improvised".