In December 2010, HIM released a companion album to Screamworks, titled SWRMXS, featuring remixes done by various different artists, such as Tiësto and Morgan Page.

[3][4] Screamworks was also the band's first album that vocalist Ville Valo worked on completely sober following his time in rehab, which also played a part in the group rehearsing more than ever before.

[5] According to Valo, he set out to prove all he could do with Screamworks, but he later remarked that in hindsight the excessive rehearsing wore much of the band out, particularly drummer Mika "Gas Lipstick" Karppinen, who had recently become a father.

[7] The album's title was partly inspired by the book Magick in Theory and Practice by Aleister Crowley, DreamWorks, and The Scream by Edvard Munch.

[19] "Scared to Death" was described by Valo as lyrically being a simplified version of the album's theme about "trying to get back to life, have a bit of hope in yourself".

[22] Valo singled the song out as one of his favorites from Screamworks, and lyrically talks about "teasing people into believing that you still have that much hope for something life-changing, and at the very last minute the carpet's being taken from underneath you".

[22] Valo described "Love, the Hardest Way" as being "retro HIM", with a "Billy Idol -vibe", while the song's chorus also mentions French poet Charles Baudelaire and lyrically deals with "the illogical in relationships in general".

[23] "Katherine Wheel" was partly inspired by the Christian saint Catherine of Alexandria, and lyrically deals with "the submissive nature of a relationship".

[25][26] "Shatter Me with Hope" makes mention of the mythical figures Damocles and Cassandra, and King Solomon, while the line "turn to page 43, and you'll know how I feel" was meant as a direct message to Valo's "muse" for the album.

[33] At the 2009 edition of HIM's New Year's Eve festival Helldone, the band debuted three song live from Screamworks; "Heartkiller", "Scared to Death" and "Love, the Hardest Way".

[48] The album was done in collaboration with several different artists, including Tiësto, Salem and Morgan Page, and was physically released in the US exclusively through Hot Topic.

"[52] Alternative Press described Screamworks as "ultimately successful in its blending of melody and muscle", while Billboard called it "a mixed bag, but an appealingly bold one".

[50] Marko Säynekoski of Soundi gave Screamworks three stars out of five, and stated that the album "brings forth plenty of memorable moments and the whole is skillfully constructed".

[1] John Dolan of Spin gave Screamworks six out of ten and described the album as sounding like "a pro forma emo-fed hard rock band with some likably silly Euro-doom flourishes.

"[53] Dom Lawson of Classic Rock was even less positive and described the album as "too fey for the metal crowd, too knowingly accessible for hardcore goths and just a little bit too far from the mainstream radar to reach the pop fans [Ville Valo's] melodies seem to pursue".

"[55] On the other hand, Kaaoszine ranked the album as HIM's best record, stating that "Screamworks is irresistibly catchy pop metal, that still hides a strong dose of HIM's trademark dark melancholy beneath the surface".