HIM's 'Tears On Tape' Cracks U.S. Top 15

"Tears On Tape", the new album from Finnish "love" metallers HIM, sold 20,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 15 on The Billboard 200 chart.

HIM's previous CD, 2010's "Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice", opened with 26,000 units to land at No. 25.

The band's 2007 effort, "Venus Doom", registered a first-week tally of 38,000 to enter the chart at No. 12.

"Tears On Tape" was released on April 30 via Razor & Tie in North America and on April 29 through DoubleCross (Cooking Vinyl's specialist rock imprint) in the U.K. and Ireland. The "love metal" act's eighth official album was recorded at Helsinki's Finnvox Studios with longtime producer Hiili Hiilesmaa (APOCALYPTICA, AMORPHIS, MOONSPELL) and was mixed in London, England by Tim Palmer, who previously helmed 2005's "Dark Light" and 2007's "Venus Doom".

In addition to the 13 new tracks, the very exclusive and very limited "fanpack", presented by Metal Hammer magazine and DoubleCross Records features some not-to-be-found-anywhere-else content. Exclusively available from April 29 for four weeks, it comes with a bespoke 132-page magazine edited by frontman Ville Valo himself that plays as the ultimate sleeve notes to the album.

The album's artwork was described by artist Daniel P. Carter as having come about via "a series of strange coincidences involving Lee Dorrian, sacred geometry and the ramblings of a madman."

HIM's North American tour, which was due to kick off in West Hollywood on May 3 at the House Of Blues, was canceled after the band's lead vocalist, Ville Valo, was diagnosed with severe asthma with presumptive pneumonia.

HIM's manager, Seppo Vesterinen of Hinterland, Inc., told BLABBERMOUTH.NET regarding the tour cancelation: "Ville has asthma and he got a pretty serious attack in the backstage at House Of Blues [in West Hollywood] on Friday and there was no way to perform. We got a doctor to the hotel at midnight and he diagnosed signs of pneumonia and prescribed antibiotics. The situation wasn't better on Saturday and we had to decide to cancel these dates to give him time for proper treatment and rest. He's being treated by best doctors in L.A. and we hope to continue the summer and fall as planned. Also he's been under a lot of stress for months recording the new album, artwork and promo for three different labels. Before Ville is fine, we can't make any definite plans for rescheduling these May dates. Ville and all of us feel really sorry for the fans who have bought tickets months ago and traveled long distances from Brazil, Canada and elsewhere."

HIM's current lineup is Ville Valo (vocals),Mikko "Linde" Lindström (guitar),Mikko "Migé" Paananen (bass),Janne "Burton" Puurtinen (keyboards),and Mika "Gas" Karppinen (drums). The band is managed by Seppo Vesterinen at Hinterland, Inc. and represented for U.S. touring by Justin Hirschman/AGI.