I bought this for my daughter who has been an admirer of HIM for 9 years, and after the release of the fantastic "Venus Doom" there were high hopes for this CD/DvD release. To begin with the CD is brilliant, the recording is crisp and clear, plus the live playlist is a masterpiece a mixture of classic and new songs from "Your sweet six six six", "It's all tears" and "Killing Loneliness" to fresh songs such as "Passions killing floor", "Dead lovers lane" & the epic "Sleepwalking past hope" which sounds excellent live.Ville, Burton, Gas, Linde and Mige provide fantastic performances throughout every song.
The DVD is surprisingly good, with a full live concert of all songs listed on the CD with the additional extra of "Right here in my arms" and some added humor from Valo and Co.
The bonus material includes an in depth interview with Valo which is quite interesting to see the Man behind the music.
The entire set is a masterpiece, for HIM are the type of band that sound best live. Worth every penny and my daughter was certainly pleased as well.
The full set includes:
"Passions killing floor": Brilliant performance, as soon as Ville comes on stage during the intro the entire concert hall is buzzing.
"Wings of a butterfly": A great song, equally good live.
Buried alive by love: A classic and a popular favorite, a real rock and roll song that is wonderful live. Ville uses his lungs to the full extent here.
Wicked Game: Fantastic, Linde really produces some good riffs here.
The Kiss of Dawn: A spooky, dark and heavy number, with a floor shaking performance by drummer Gas and low vocals by Valo.
Vampire Heart: excellent intro by Burton, another great song.
Poison Girl: An amusing pause while Valo lights up and encouraged by the crowd who fill in for him in the chorus. This is one of the best songs composed by Valo and here it is performed to perfection.
Dead lovers' lane: Excellent performances by Mige and Linde here, a great song.
Join me in death: A classic and perhaps the best live recording of this song ever.
It's all tears: This song is meant to be played live and only live. The recording in the "And love said no" album really doesn't do it justice. Fantastic performance by Valo and Co here. 10/10
Sleepwalking past hope: This is just epic. Ten minutes non-stop of guitar riffs and thunderous drum beats. The solos are performed to perfection by Linde and Mige who really do this song justice live. The Venus Doom CD recording is good, but this song live is a whole different experience.
Killing Loneliness: After sleepwalking past hope this provides a great little interval. A brilliant song sung beautifully by Valo.
Soul on fire: Even the word excellent seems like an understatement for this performance, HIM really put 100% effort into this song.
Your sweet six six six: Another classic, a nice mix after "soul on fire".
Bleed well: The studio recording is good, but live it's 100% better. Valo puts his all into this song with equally great performances by the rest in this song.
Right here in my arms (on DVD only): Awesome, just watching them perform this number is a joy in it self. 10/10
If you have even been to see HIM live this will bring back memories for you.
10/10.