The first two songs to be recorded were "I Love You (Prelude to Tragedy)" and "Poison Girl", which Fryer began mixing early on while the band left to go on tour. When they returned, the band found the initial mixes to be horrible, which they later discovered to be the doing of Per Kviman, who had been instructing Fryer on how to mix the songs. After letting go of Kviman, HIM continued recording, with Valo later remarking that the studio sessions were "all in all incredibly fun" . He stated: "It was damn fun getting out of those familiar circles and just focus on the album, and not worry about anything else. It also felt great that the band was together all the time".