HIM Remix Gives Fans a New Look at Screamworks

Tuesday saw the release of Finnish band HIM's SWRMXS-a remixed version of their seventh studio album Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice.

The Sire Records release marks the first time the band has released a full-length remix album.

It features collaborations with some of the biggest names in electronic music today as well as with new stars on the electronic scene and remixes from HIM frontman Ville Valo.

SWRMXS is now available from all digital service providers, while a physical CD is available exclusively from Hot Topic retailers in the U.S.

Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice debuted at No. 1 on the Hard Rock chart, No. 2 on both the Rock and Alternative charts, and at No. 25 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart.

Recorded at The Lair in Los Angeles, the album was produced by Matt Squire (Taking Back Sunday, The Used, Saosin) and mixed by Neal Avron (Linkin Park, Weezer, Fall Out Boy).

SWRMXS was conceived by Valo while the rest of the band was off working on various side projects.

Before the release, Valo was quoted on heartagram.com about putting together the album cover art, which features a unwound VHS tape moved into the band's signature heartagram symbol, "I dreamt the image one night, opened up the toolbox in the morn and started smashing the vhs tape to a gazillion tiny bits with a hammer. After its guts were splattered on my kitchen floor, I rather delicately forced the tape to form a heartagram. Not too different than creating a remix, see?"

The remix album includes remixes by Dutch musician/record producer Tiesto (on "Love, The Hardest Way"), L.A.-based electro house DJ Morgan Page (on "The Foreboding Sense of Impending Happiness"), Michigan band Salem (on "In The Arms Of Rain"), and Finnish electronic music producer Huoratron (on "In Venere Veritas"), among others.

The album has seen some criticism from HIM fans who are unhappy with the sharp contrast to HIM's usual brand of gothic rock but if those critics would take a moment and listen to the album as a whole I think they will come to enjoy and appreciate the new direction.

The whole point of a remix album is to step outside of the norm and allow listeners to discover some of their favorite songs in a new way. It also allows the original artists to branch out and play around with ideas and different genres that they normally would never attempt or look at.

SWRMXS definitely does all of the above. Not all of the tracks are stand outs but most of them do a good job at bringing something new and unique to the songs.

From front to the back the album flows with a upbeat rhythm that is perfect work out and dance music.

Salem's "In The Arms of Rain" remix does a great job of taking the track's original wonderous feel to new heights while Gavin Russom's remix of "Ode To Solitude" actually softens the song a bit.

Disarm Me (With Your Loneliness) was one of the standout tracks on the original album and it remains the best track on the remix album as well taking it from a powerful ballad to a stunning dance track.

The album ends with a megamix of "Acoustic Funeral", "Like St. Valentine" and "Katherine Wheel".

Apart the tracks are very different but they somehow seem to flow together well on the remix track allowing SWRMXS to end on a high note while staying true to HIM's dark side.