In Venere Veritas

This track opener is introduced with the phrase, "Let's fall apart together now," before vocalist Ville Valo croons, "We're zipping Cupid in a body bag well worn, next to the mausoleum he was born in." Kerrang! magazine January 2, 2010 asked Valo how humorous he considers Screamworks to be. The HIM frontman replied: "There is humor in there, as always. The first line of the album is 'We're zipping Cupid in a body bag well worn, next to the mausoleum he was born in.' Obviously you can take that seriously but I'm not sure whether you should. It's about the end of a relationship and it being time to start something new. It's about reaching the end of something, burying the hatchet, and realising that's a positive thing. It's cathartic to let things go, especially when you remember the bloody, f---ing carnage they were."

Valo told the story behind this song to Artist Direct: "That's one of the first songs that I started working on for the album. It's also one of the songs that didn't change a gazillion times. I used to be a big Charles Bukowski fan. I was such a big Bukowski fan that I became a drunkard myself. I was in a pretty bad place. Obviously, the old Latin phrase 'In vino verities' means, 'In wine there is the truth.' When I quit drinking, I was laughing about the phrase because 'Vino,' as in 'wine,' sounds pretty close to 'Venus.' I was thinking of the phrase, 'In love there is the truth.' For me, the point is you can say something pretty mundane, direct and straightforward but when you put it into Latin, you can say nearly everything and it always feels so f---ing highbrow [Laughs]. I was laughing at myself because all of sudden it sounded so pretentious and pompous in an entertaining way. I asked the question, 'Should we keep the Latin part in the song or is too techie?' It just happened. You write a song, you play it on an acoustic guitar, bring it to the rehearsal space, jam it with the guys and here we are with the album. There are so many tiny pieces of the puzzle and so many things that happen along the way. Given all that, it'd be possible to write a book about each and every song. There are always so many changes and little things going on that even I can't remember all of the stuff that caused the song to be exactly what it is now."