''Dead Letters'' is the fifth album by Finnish band

The Rasmus The Rasmus is a Finnish rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were in upper comprehensive school.Main source of the band's history: The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (lead singer-songwriter), Eero Heinonen ...

released in 2003. It was released later in 2004 in the US, UK and Australia. Their previous album, '' Into'', had seen some success in some parts of Europe, particularly Scandinavia and Germany, but ''Dead Letters'' signified the band's major break-through. The album received 8 Gold and 6 Platinum music certification awards. Lead single " In the Shadows" received 6 gold and 2 platinum awards, selling over 1 million copies and breaking the record for

performance royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...

received abroad on a Finnish composition (overtaking the works of

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest com ...

Making of the album

The Rasmus recorded ''Dead Letters'' in June–December 2002 at Nord Studios in Sweden, reuniting with Mikael Nord Andersen and Martin Hansen, who had produced their Scandinavian hit album ''Into''. Lead singer

Lauri Ylönen Lauri Johannes Ylönen (born 23 April 1979) is a Finnish singer-songwriter, best known as the co-founder and frontman of the Finnish alternative rock band The Rasmus. Biography The Rasmus When he and Heinonen started at Suutarila high school ...

explained the title of the album on the band's website. "Each song is a letter to somebody. It could be an apology, confession or cry out for help". The back side of the album booklet reads:

Critical reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

rated the album 3 stars out of 5. The review said "This Finnish group is more than capable of presenting dark and moody yet very finely tuned rock songs". It rated the best tracks as "Time to Burn", "Not Like the Other Girls" and the re-recording of "

F-F-F-Falling "F-F-F-Falling", sometimes shortened to "Falling", is a song by Finnish rock band the Rasmus, originally released on the band's fourth album '' Into'' on 29 October 2001. The single was released on 2 April 2001 by the record label Playground Mu ...

", of which the original version appears on the '' Into'' album, and was added to the UK release as a bonus track.

Commercial performance

''Dead Letters'' was released in Europe in early 2003. It reached the top of the album charts in Germany,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

as well as in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, where it stayed in the Top 20 Album chart for over a year. The album was released in the UK in 2004, being the first record to be released in the country by the band, and was one of the Top 50 best-selling albums of 2004. Commercial success in Europe led to the release of the album in other parts of the world. ''Dead Letters'' and lead single "In the Shadows" both reached the Top 50 of the Australian

ARIA In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

charts in 2004, as well as the Top 20 of the American Billboard Heatseeker charts. The Rasmus received numerous music awards across Europe, winning the 'Best Nordic Act' category in the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards, and five Finnish EMMA awards for Best Group, Best Album, Best Video (In My Life), Best Artist and Export in 2004. The band also won an

ECHO award Echo Music Prize (stylised as ECHO, ) was an accolade by the , an association of recording companies of Germany to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The first ECHO Awards ceremony was held in 1992, and it was set up to hono ...

for best international newcomer and were awarded "Best International Artist" at the 2004

MTV Russia Music Awards The MTV Russia Music Awards made its debut in 2004 and have celebrated local Russian talent as well as International. The MTV Russia Music Awards (RMA) features local and international acts and music celebrities being honoured by Russian viewers. ...

. "In The Shadows" was on the nominations list for the 2004

Kerrang! Award for Best Single The Kerrang! Award for Best Single is an honor presented at the Kerrang! Awards, an annual ceremony established in 1993 to recognise achievements in rock music. The award was renamed 'Best Song' for the 2018 ceremony onwards, but serves the same pu ...

Track listing

Personnel

The Rasmus *

– vocals *

Pauli Rantasalmi The Rasmus is a Finnish rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were in upper comprehensive school.Main source of the band's history: The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (lead singer-songwriter), Eero Heinonen ...

– guitar *

Eero Heinonen The Rasmus is a Finnish rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were in upper comprehensive school.Main source of the band's history: The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (lead singer-songwriter), Eero Heinonen ...

– bass *

Aki Hakala The Rasmus is a Finnish rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were in upper comprehensive school.Main source of the band's history: The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (lead singer-songwriter), Eero Heinonen ...

– drums Additional musicians * Rutger Gunnarson –

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

* Ylva Nilsson, Håkan Westlund, and Anna Wallgreen –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

s * Jörgen Ingeström – additional keyboards Production and design * Mikael Nord and Martin Hansen – record producer, mixdown, programming, keyboards, and additional sounds * George Marino – mastering * Lars Tengroth – A&R * Seppo Vesterinen –

business management Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

* Dina Hovsepian –

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

* Henrik Walse –

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

* Henrik Walse and Nela Koenig – photos

B-sides, outtakes and non-album tracks

Release history

A list of countries and the date when the album was released.''Dead Letters'' album release history
The Rasmus – HellofaSite

Music videos

* In the Shadows – Finnish "Bandit" version (2003) Video directed by Finn Andersson for Film Magica Oy in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland. * In My Life (2003) Video directed by Niklas Fronda and Fredrik Löfberg, Baranga Film/Topaz. * In the Shadows – European "Crow" version (2003) Video directed by Niklas Fronda & Fredrik Löfberg, Baranga Film in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden. * First Day of My Life (2003) Video directed by Sven Bollinger and produced by Volker Steinmetz (Erste Liebe Filmproduktion) in

Lausitzring The Lausitzring (formally known as the Dekra Lausitzring for ownership reasons) is a race track located near Klettwitz (a civil parish of Schipkau, Oberspreewald-Lausitz district) in the state of Brandenburg in northeast Germany, near the bo ...

, Germany. * In the Shadows – US/UK "Mirror" version (2004) Video directed by Philipp Stöltzl in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, Romania. * Funeral Song (The Resurrection) (2004) Video directed by Niklas Fronda and Fredrik Löfberg, Baranga Film in

, Sweden. *Guilty (2004) Video directed by Nathan Cox in Los Angeles.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

''Dead Letters''
on

Playground Music Playground Music Scandinavia AB (PGM) is Scandinavia’s biggest independent record company and distributor founded in 1999. The company operates in Scandinavia with offices in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and with local distribution partne ...

''Dead Letters'' review
at

{{Authority control The Rasmus albums 2003 albums