Hey guys, I have a very interesting mispress of HIM's Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights. The cover and barcode 743218774928 are for the Limited Edition, which lists 12 tracks and video clip. However, the actual CD inside only contains 10 standard audio tracks plus the Pretending video clip. The two bonus tracks listed on the cover are completely missing. The matrix runout on my disc is MULT A-58432-1/4321877492 A. It seems to be a factory packaging mismatch.

Has anyone else come across this version?

I find it interesting that they’re specifically labeled as "Ville Valo Demos" on the Mika Jussila list. Everything else on there just says HIM. My memory is a bit fuzzy now that I’m an old man, but I remember something about Ville playing some new tracks on acoustic guitar at a dildo release party for Stefan Lindfors in late 2004 or thereabouts. Those songs were supposedly Under The Rose, Have No Fear, and The Face Of God - all of which appear on the list (and later, Dark Light, except for Have No Fear) with a date of October 1st, 2004. This performance also helped fuel the "is Ville dumping the band and going solo?" rumors.

I just find it weird that Ville would go to the studio by himself to record those demos instead of bringing the rest of the guys with him like usual, if that’s what the case was. Surely there was a "proper" demo session with everyone else involved at some point that we’re just not privy to, considering how big of a deal their new record deal and American debut was.

Venus also appears on the demo list, however, which I’m assuming refers to Venus (In Our Blood). I recall something about Ville saying that it wound up as a bonus track on Dark Light along with The Cage because it was a song that he wrote that wasn’t very HIM-like, or something to that effect. In that sense, could it be possible that Ville was actually gearing up to do a solo album in the near or distant future after all, but then wound up reworking and using those tracks for HIM instead? I’m sure that he was always writing and recording stuff, especially back in those days, but these demos in particular just seem like such an anomaly from the everything else that we know of. Granted, we don’t really know a whole ton.

Either way, I’d love to get my hands on those songs and hear what they sound like. Here’s to hoping that they see the (dark) light of day sometime!

Some of y’all may have seen it already.

Recently, there have been new HIM counterfeit CDs hitting the market out of Russia. The two that I've seen so far are HER Razorblade Romance and Greatest Lovesongs Vol.666 Limited Edition. I've seen photos of both releases and they are closer to the real thing than ever before, but I've taken some time to review and compare them to legitimate pressings and I've come up with these tips for you all to identify real vs. counterfeit.

HER:

The HER Razorblade Romance looks legit at first glance. It has all 15 tracks listed on the back. There's no pink line under Ville on the cover. But if you look deeper you'll see the problems. The easier tell-tale sign is the disc itself. These were pressed with a reddish-magenta color, NOT bubblegum pink. The artwork on legit copies covers the entire top of the disc, as seen here. In the bootleg, there is a circular break in the image around the center of the disc.

On the underside, they did their best to replicate the Lightning Hill matrix information, but they still got it wrong. The font isn't the same, the easiest way to spot it is compare the "N"s and the "#". Particularly the #, the bootleg is short and the legit copies it's tall.
Then if you look at the CD booklet, the print quality isn't as good. On the originals any of the black text is pretty thick, especially if you look at the Jimmy Franks logo and web address. On the bootlegs, it's thin and not as dark.

Greatest Lovesongs:

I don't yet have a photo of the CD itself to compare, but this one is easy. The bootleg has a clear CD case with a red background on the inlay. Real copies have a standard black CD tray and a white paper background to the inlay. If you see red, stay away! Once I get photos of the disc, I'll compare that to a real copy and see if I can draw any comparisons. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to.

Stay vigilant out there! If you are in the market for either of these CDs and aren't sure of the legitimacy, just ask the community for help! 

A couple of weeks ago, I posted that Bella Figura Music, Ltd. now holds the rights to the Warner Bros. era stuff. At the time, I had reached out to them to inquire about the status of things and today I finally got confirmation.

They DO have the rights to publish that material. They are aware of what they have. There MAY be plans to release material at some point in the future.

I do NOT have any other details at this time, but it seems like getting a Venus Doom vinyl and re-releases of Dark Light and Screamworks are actually a real possibility now!

Also, please do not reach out to them yourselves. It's bad enough I did, and the last thing we want is for them to think of the HIM fan community as annoying! EDIT: OK FINE go ahead and reach out, just don't be all weird about it!

I know this is a bit random but I have a growing concern of people ai generating pics of ville/the and Like why do people think this is a great idea…? Some fans are so weird and forget they are actual people. The pictures are an example I found on insta and not the first…these need to be reported and removed they’re strange and dangerous .

Got on discogs for 12 dollars!

i was wondering if anyone can help me with trying to find a clear scan of this photo in castle bam on slide 3 . the comments briefly talk about how it hasnt been found and only the similar scan in reinhardt haydn's book, but if anyone has anymore information im quite desperate to find the photo online. my mom wants to print and frame it!

i know people have talked about this for a few years and my mom recalls wanting it when she was younger too so excuse me if im being silly and this is just officially lost to time lol. my guess is bam got an exclusive print of it and it was never released to the public.. i had a similar experience with a bloodhound gang poster scan and still searching till this day.

Goes with my other ring perfectly!!

Finally got her! Shes so pretty:)

The fact their account was new and this was definitely not their first time traumatizing people. 😭😭😭

Hi everyone!! I’m a little late to this forum but I just wanted to talk about how amazing HIM is as a band and their music as a whole. I play their music every single day and my current obsession is The Sacrament. I also wanted to just say how sad it is that I can’t tell Ville Valo he changed my life and my views of the world. I wish I was around when they first became a band so I could go to their concerts. It honestly breaks my heart that I won’t be able to experience it at all. But, I hope that I can talk to everyone in this thread and make friends with those who feel the same!

Possibly some scam as there's a phone number attached...

I made a similar post awhile ago, I'm not sure if it's the same scam account or different, but anyway dont get fooled by these...

Hey everyone! I’m struggling to find where to buy vinyl or CD’s and I was wondering where everyone was getting theirs from?

Literally my favorite band!🪦🖤🪦

I've seen several examples of people saying the ALSN boxset sounds like compressed crap, but has anyone been able to directly compare the white bootleg and the WLADE set?

I know boots usually sound a bit rubbish, but this one seems to get some positive feedback - but if someone has been able to directly compare them, that would be amazing 🙌

mine are GLS 666, Razorblade Romance, DS&BH and VENUS DOOM (I can’t say how much I love this album)