Type O Negative Albums (6)
What The Critics Say
Before Type O Negative, there was really no such thing as goth metal. And the group that hails from the bowels of Brooklyn (not Transylvania, as some assume) is still at it, on their sixth studio album overall -- and first for the SPV label -- 2007's Dead Again. Unbelievably heavy sludge riffs are still a main ingredient, as well as singer Pete Steele's ongoing "Kill me, I'm in agony" lyrics, and vocals that sometimes sound quite Bela Lugosi-esque. The album-opening title track may very well be the most melodic song the band has ever recorded, but the Type O we all know and love is lurking right around the bend, especially on such tracks as "The Profits of Doom" (the album's original working title), "She Burned Me Down," and "An Ode to Locksmiths," the latter of which contains a guitar riff so Tony Iommi-esque that it sounds straight off of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. With Dead Again, Type O Negative delivers another album of dark tales and even darker riffs, and will reassure morose metalheads that they can still count on Steele to spread the misery. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide
'Life Is Killing Me'
Release Date 6/17/2003
Tracks 15
Label Roadrunner
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
In the past, Type O Negative dared the listener to sit through aural jokes to weed out the four or five cuts of ghoulish greatness only these Brooklyn boys could devise. At this point, slab number six, everyone knows what to expect from the drab four, and they now know how to deliver it consistently. Ultimately, Life Is Killing Me breaks no new ground, but engages throughout, always touching on the Type O oeuvre. "I Don't Wanna Be Me" easily qualifies as one of the band's best singles. Like the medley on World Coming Down, "Less Than Zero" conjures the Beatles. In fact, the classic rock analogy is apt, because Type O have become so adroit at their goth metal broth they're now true connoisseurs and Life Is Killing Me slickly serves up a specialized feast. Guitarist Kenny Hickey's passages have grown increasingly melodic, and the keys of Josh Silver possess a timeless melancholy, meaning no matter how bleak or odd the lyrical proceedings get, as on the euthanasia of the title track, the playing keeps the songs soaring, even while each dwells six feet under. They mock the '80s in "We Were Electrocute" but then use new romantic influences to solidify their sound. Sure, the famous puerile sense of humor remains ("I Like Goils," "Angry Inch" redux [both left off the clean version], and the cartoon chick litany of "How Could She"), but the surrounding music structures stand so rock solid the lyric sheet is better left behind. Though they never seem sincere, Type O do care. The quartet may profess to hate everybody, but Type O deliver to the fans on this record. Like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath or Agents of Fortune, all the pieces fit; and though Life Is Killing Me may not make great steps forward, for now the ugly universe it unleashes is a great place to be. ~ Whitney Z. Gomes, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Three full years after their last album, Type O Negative finally returned with World Coming Down, a record that might alienate some fans brought on board with October Rust but which actually stands with the best of their work. Many of the songs most closely resemble the dirgier parts of Bloody Kisses -- still melodic, but not as immediately accessible, and taken at crawling tempos that would give Black Sabbath on downers a run for their money. So even if the songs do catch on after a couple of listens, they aren't as bright (relatively speaking, of course) as a great deal of October Rust, in terms of both music and subject matter. That's fine, because World Coming Down seems like more natural territory; even in spite of its many fine moments, October Rust felt like a move toward accessibility that worked in fits but didn't quite achieve everything it wanted to. World Coming Down features most of the Type O Negative staples: sly goth sendups in "Creepy Green Light" and "All Hallows Eve," which happily wallow in their vampire-movie imagery; another catchy, darkly erotic goth-girl fantasy, "Pyretta Blaze," about the blurry lines between sexual submission and self-obliterating obsession; and, of course, a continuation of the odd-cover-choice gimmick with what's actually a pretty appropriate Beatles medley ("Day Tripper," "If I Needed Someone," and "I Want You [She's So Heavy]"). But there are some real surprises on the record, songs when Steele drops his usual knowing wink and expresses real pain and suffering -- still veiled in sarcasm and melodrama, to be sure, but it's obvious that "Everyone I Love Is Dead," "World Coming Down," and "Everything Dies" were written with firsthand knowledge of their subjects, not as ironic goofs. Sincere or not, Steele's work has always addressed grief, depression, and loneliness beneath his habitual ironic posturing, glum apathy, and general misanthropy; this feels like his most genuine attempt yet to cope with it all, a realization that he can drop the mask if necessary and inject a little more real-life experience into the conventions he simultaneously embraces and mocks. That's what ultimately makes World Coming Down a more affecting record than October Rust, and further proof that there's more going on beneath Type O Negative's surface than most give them credit for. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Peter Steele predicted that the follow-up to Bloody Kisses would accentuate Type O Negative's melodic side, specifically for the purpose of making money. Steele's attempt at "pop-goth" actually works well for a while; his cynical take on goth-rock's typical subject matter is in full swing over the first half of October Rust, and the band gleefully wallows in its stated commercialism by personally thanking the listener for purchasing the album at its start and finish...October Rust comes off as a promising concept and a nice try... ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Bloody Kisses was Type O Negative's major step forward, maintaining the long, repetitive song structures of albums past, but adding more atmospheric synths and left-field Beatlesque pop melodies. The quantum leap in songwriting is what really drives the album, but it also coincides with a newfound sense of subtlety. Aside from a couple of smart-aleck rants, Peter Steele's dark, melodramatic songs address heartbreak and loneliness in what sounds at first like deadly serious overkill. But not far beneath the surface, he's also satirizing his own emotional excesses, and those of goth rock in general. Steele's lyrics gleefully wallow in goth clichés -- sex, death, Christianity, vampires, more sex, and death -- and he even sings most of the album in an intentionally vampiric croon straight from the depths of an ancient crypt. Among other things, that delivery lends hilarious irony to a glum cover of Seals & Crofts' soft rock hit "Summer Breeze"; it's also perfect for the deadpan mockery of the goth-girl character sketch "Black No. 1." Hardly any of the songs need to be as long as they are, but that ridiculous excess is all part of Type O Negative's sly, twistedly affectionate send-up of goth rock conventions. Though it sounds like a funeral, Bloody Kisses' airy melodicism and '90s-style irony actually breathed new life into the flagging goth metal genre, and the album is an often overlooked forerunner to alternative metal's limited appropriation of goth style. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
'The Origin of the Feces'
Release Date 1/1/1992
Tracks 8
Label Roadrunner
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Supposedly recorded live at Brighton Beach on Halloween, The Origin of the Feces is actually a poorly played (on purpose) studio record, featuring overdubbed crowd noises that make it sound as though neither the band nor the audience appreciated each other. Most of this material appeared on their first album as sections of longer songs. One exception is a rewrite of "Hey Joe" entitled "Hey Pete," which makes the narrator into an ax murderer. Steele introduces his "vampire" vocal style here. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
