H I S T O R Y

DON'T MISTAKE LACK OF TALENT FOR GENIUS.

In the year 1991 A.D., Type O Negative arose from the decaying remains of the neo-barbaric thermonuclear warriors known as Carnivore. Together once again were bassist/vocalist Peter Steele and keyboardist Josh Silver, who had not stood on the same stage since the death of Fallout. This time, they were joined by guitarist Kenny Hickey and drummer Sal Abruscato. Their first release was 1991's Slow Deep & Hard, an angry cry from Peter Steele to the cold world. I don't care what anyone says, I love this album and it's quite possibly their greatest. Steele's lyrical contents included such topics as infidelity, public opinions, women [big surprise], suicide, and more. With most bands, the first album gets to be real boring after a while or in some cases is the worst talent-wise; but I could say no such things about this album.

One year later, the band supposedly recorded live at Brighton Beach, the release was titled The Origin of the Feces [with quite an appropriate cover, it's out of print now...for obvious reasons; what a shame!]. Just so you know, this album is not a live record. In fact, that's a pretty well-known thing by now. Obviously, this is why the original version said NOT LIVE AT BRIGHTON BEACH at the bottom of the cover. The band was asked to do a live album by Roadrunner, and to save money they recorded in a studio and put the voices/crowd in afterwards... is that genius, or what? Frontman Steele did all the talking, and between the songs it was made quite clear that Peter had a personality to match his ominous stature and angry lyrics as he threw insults back at the rude crowd. Tough guy, he's even been stabbed (probably more than once). Half-way into the show, as they led from "Gravity" into "Pain" [part of "Prelude to Agony"], Peter got word of a bomb threat [heh heh] and asked the crowd to leave the club. Obviously, the show eventualy continued. Personally, I used to prefer this album over the previous one because the "live" cuts of the songs seemed so much kooler, but lately I have been listening again to the original Slow Deep & Hard material more.

Somewhere between The Origin of the Feces and 1993's Bloody Kisses, Peter was transformed. I don't mean to speak on behalf of him, but the musical style and lyrical content began to shift. The songs became more tragic, and Peter's anger was diminishing as he became more like a victim with a broken heart than the enraged man he was. The band's first big hits were from this release. "Black Number One" and "Christian Woman" [both with videos] finally got Peter and company on the airwaves...of course, it took a great deal of censoring first [on account of lengths and content of the songs]. Unfortunately, drummer Sal Abruscato split with the band to join Life Of Agony; a venture he obviously saw as more profitable [his loss]. Johnny Kelly fell off a bar stool and took over drums for the Bloody Kisses shows. The Lords of Flatbush finally made it big; and toured with such bands as Motley Crue, Nine Inch Nails, God Lives Underwater, Queensyche, and other bands.

Another version of Bloody Kisses was released...this time in digipak [cardboard] version with a bonus track "Suspended in Dusk." Not only was an extra song added, but a few were cut such as the ingenius "We Hate Everyone" and many little non-musical bits which were scattered between the tracks on the previous version such as "Machine Skrew" and "Fay Wray Come Out and Play." Luckily, I stumbled upon an import from Germany called Live, Rare, & Hard which had "Suspended in Dusk," perverse/humorous version of "Summer Breeze," the radio edits of "Black No. 1" and "Christian Woman," and some live Carnivore material. [supposedly there are only 300 copies of this release in existence, don't ask me how I got lucky enough to get one]. The Origin of the Feces was also re-released with a new cover [obviously the old one was not suitable especially since circulation of this album to record stores increased, too bad] and a bonus track, Black Sabbath's "Paranoid," however it has a touch of "Iron Man" in it too.

After plenty of touring, Type O Negative released October Rust in 1996. It was a long-awaited follow-up to Bloody Kisses...and far from a disappointment! The material on October Rust is a far cry from any Carnivore material [well except for "The Glorious Liberation of the People's Technocratic Republic of Vinnland by the Combined Forces of Europa" which might fit on a Carnivore album if it were 'roughed up' a bit]. Type O Negative's sound may have fully-matured with this latest release. It's very romantik music in a dark way. There's still some sarcasm mixed in there...would it be a Type O Negative release without it?? October Rust subjects the listener's mind to tragedy, romance, deviance, and darkness. So far there are two videos: "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend" and "Love You To Death"... although I have not seen MGG yet. Type O fans, please don't sit around waiting for MTV to play them. Since the release of October Rust, i have become fairly disenchanted with the album. For some reason, it didn't hold my interests the way their other releases have.

Fortunately, the Fall of 1999 brought with it the release of Type O Negative's fifth album, World Coming Down. This album is everything that October Rust should have been. World Coming Down is Type O Negative's sound, aged to perfection. The band returns to their riff-oriented, deep, droaning style. Steel, Silver, & Company have put together a masterpiece of tragedy. It seems apparent that Peter is going through a difficult and lonely time in his life, which may be unfortunate for him, but it does wonders for their sound. This album even includes some short, mysterious interludes; however i would have liked to hear something more abstract, much like the short bits done on Bloody Kisses or even S,D,&H's "The Glass Walls of Limbo" but every album has it's own theme, i suppose. The most apparent theme to World Coming Down seems to be the tragic and empty feeling of loss. Let's face it, it's pretty obvious with songs like "Everyone I Love is Dead" and "Everything Dies"... but despite the tragic nature of this album, the sound is very bright and powerful. Songs such as "Who Will Save the Sane", "Creepy Green Light" have some kind of bright charisma to them, though it's difficult to put a finger on it. The band grooves out on "Pyretta Blaze" and "Daytripper." While you might say this album has a sophisticated melancholy to it, the heavy riffs give it that rough, dark, familiar edge.

The summer of '03 has brought with it the release of Type O's, Life Is Killing Me. This album has its hits and misses, but overall I have grown to really dig this work. Maybe I should apologize for kind of butchering it in my initial reviews, but nah.

It is now 2007, and once again I'm a little behind on my updates. Type O just released a brand new album, Dead Again, through the German label, SPV. Peter has escaped the clutches of RoadRunner Records, been to jail, and battled with addiction, but the man has persevered to keep this band alive.. or rather, dead again. I will say that this material gets back to the roots of the band, as you can hear a lot more Sabbath and Beatles leaking through than ever before. I'm glad to report that Kenny's got some great vocal parts on this disc. I also hear some nostalgic moments here and there that echo earlier Type O (pre-WCD) work. Unfortunately for me, this album still maintains that maturing Type O "rock and roll" sound that I'm not thrilled with, but this band has never been about pleasing anyone. But like all of the newer discs, the more I listen, the more tolerable it becomes. See the video for "The Profit of Doom" here.

If you get a chance to see the band live, I suggest you take advantage as they put on quite a show. No, they don't wear giant halloween costumes or spit fake blood everywhere or have sacrifices on stage...as Peter puts it "We're one of the most uncool bands around." As you can imagine, the band has quite a stage presence, not just because Pete and Josh tower on the stage. I give them lots of credit for their minimal, but effective decoration... my favorite of which being the twilight forest canvas backdrop, not to mention their instruments sprayed flat-black with green frets. The show is just unbelievable, especially for their hordes of obsessive fans. In my opinion, Type O Negative is one of the greatest real bands that are left.