| H.I.M. frontman Ville Valo said in interview that the band's upcoming album, "Venus Doom", is a darker and heavier effort than its previous CD, 2005's "Dark Light". Valo explained, "There's...a lot of SABBATH and old-school METALLICA (in there). I wanted the album to be more aggressive, heavier and more out there." The new direction also allowed Valo to switch up vocally. "I wanted to sing lower — use my baritone a lot more," he said. "When all those influences come together, it's like, 'I wanna do that [Mark] Lanegan, Leonard Cohen-y type of vibe.'" Valo added that the disc's tentative first single, "Kiss of Dawn", was inspired by the suicide of one of his best friends. Valo said, "The whole song is a tribute to him. It's also a love song. I love that dude. He was a great friend of mine. We hung out and had great f***ing conversations. It's a celebration of life, rather than death." H.I.M. will have a chance to see how the new stuff stacks up with METALLICA when they open a few dates in Europe for the metal gods. "It's going to be fun," Valo said. "I grew up with 'Master of Puppets'. For us it's kind of scary to play such big places. Wembley [Stadium] is like 70, 80,000 people. It's a totally new experience." "Venus Doom" is due out on September 18. A new H.I.M. track called "Passion's Killing Floor" can be heard on the soundtrack of the movie "Transformers", which arrives in stores on Tuesday (July 3).
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