Dark Light

Dark Light is Finnish rock band HIM’s fifth full length album. This album was released on 26 September 2005 internationally and on 27 September 2005 in the USA with a limited edition pre-release of 20,000 some days before. This limited edition came in a tin case with a 24 page booklet with hand written lyrics by the band’s lead singer, Ville Valo, a certificate of authenticity and a key chain flash light that flashes the Heartagram, the bands logo. It debuted in stores, however, with a glossy black plastic wrap covering the front, so in order to see the real cover one needed to purchase it. This album was originally supposed to be produced and mixed by Andy Wallace, an accomplished American producer, but vocalist Ville Valo said he made HIM sound too ‘American’ and they fired him, hiring Tim Palmer with whom they had worked before on Love Metal and And Love Said No.
The writing of Dark Light was inspired by a Finnish book with the same title and a collection of ancient mythologies and religions (mainly Christianity). Songs including mythological references are “Wings of a Butterfly,” “Venus (In Our Blood),” “Drunk on Shadows,” and “In the Nightside of Eden.” “Wings of a Butterfly” is a reference to a Greek myth in which two souls destroyed something beautiful to live forever, and “Venus (In Our Blood)” has the line “Venus denies your seven towers,” referring to another Greek myth portraying hell as seven towers protruding from dark waters. In the song “In the Nightside of Eden,” there is a line, “we descend to the circle number four,” a reference to The Divine Comedy’s adaptation of hell, an adaptation that many mistake for an actual part of the Bible.