RANKING: Type O Negative
A band that truly delivered a goth aesthetic, mixed with the doom and gloom nature soaked in green sludge was Type O Negative. Formed in 1990 in New York, the band was formed from the ashes of underrated crossover thrash act Carnivore. Led by the band’s imposing, deep voiced bassist and vocalist Peter Steele, the band would leave a lasting legacy soaked in brooding and depression that would not only make the band’s unique goth/doom sound into the mainstream, but would popularize the band’s image and brand of humor. From Steele appearing on Jerry Springer and appearing in Playgirl magazine, to the band’s sarcastic and dark humor that they would show in the media and to their fans.
In 2010, Steele would pass away from sepsis, permanently ending the band. Though the band members would continue the band’s dark and foreboding sound of dread and hopelessness in their own projects after the breakup (see A Pale Horse Named Death), the band’s music still lasts as an influential sound that helped spawn countless acts in its wake that would pay homage to the band’s sound and mix of gothic metal. With it being October, and a band that fits the Halloween sound pretty on the nose, I wanted to look back at the band’s discography. Re-listen to their evolving sound, hearing the band’s musical direction with each record, and truly looking back at one of metal’s most unique and impactful acts in the gothic and doom metal genres in the last thirty years.
7) The Origin of The Feces (Not Live at Brighton Beach) (1992)
Following controversy, the band faced touring in support of the debut in Europe, the band’s second album was a weird experimentation in being a studio album made to sound like a live album. With re-working of songs that appeared on the band’s debut, the album was creatively done to mimic the feel of either early demos or rough live recordings. Even featuring a mock fire-alarm being pulled, fans chanting “You Suck” and banter from Steele to the crowd. The band also dabbled in their first take on Type O’n classic songs, with the band covering “Hey Peter”, a re-imagining of the song “Hey Joe” The Jimi Hendrix Experience famously covered, as well as a bonus track covering Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”. Though songs like “Are You Afraid?” and “Gravity” are strong standout tracks off this so-called “live” album.
6) Slow, Deep and Hard (1991)
On their debut album, the album opener “Unsuccessfully Coping with The Natural Beauty of Infidelity” is a twelve-plus minute epic piece of thrashy and up-tempo thrash akin to the band that pre-curses Type O Negative w/ Carnivore but also shows the band’s early hybrid of sludgy/doom elements with tinges of goth metal as well. Adding industrial and goth synergy on “Der Untermensch”, before adding a southern metal/doom amalgamation on “Prelude To Agony”. A strong debut with the band not fully establishing their full gothic/doom potential, but you can see that the path was starting to develop, and the band was leaning into that sound more heavily as the longer the songs would progress.
5) Life is Killing Me (2003)
Leading with the album’s lead single “I Don’t Wanna Be Me”, the band came roaring back after a four-year gap between releases. With intense, punk energy, the single got fans excited for new Type O and hopefully a more return-to-form from the bleakness of World Coming Down. Steele joked that Life is Killing Me was his “midlife-crisis” album, which could explain a more youthful sound and production. “Less Than Zero (<0)” and “Todd’s Ship Gods (Above All Things)” sounds like it came right off Rust with it’s alternative, spacy and wall of sound production. While “I Like Goils” brings back the high-energy tone and delivery in the vein of “I Don’t Wanna Be Me”, the album’s title track brings back that sludgy tone and deep voice of Steele.
4) Dead Again (2007)
The band’s final album, Dead Again would be the band’s swansong as the band would break-up following Steele’s death three years later. The album opening title-track gets you pumping your fist along and bobbing your head along throughout the song’s almost uplifting energy, despite the dark lyrical tone. “The Profit of Doom” delivers that ominous, foreboding doom-and-gloom tone that the band is known for right out the gates and doesn’t let up for the full ten-plus minute runtime. The beautiful opening piano on “September Sun” Is a beautiful addition, along with pipe-organ on the song. With the band playing tribute to the late Dimebag Darrell on “Halloween in Heaven”, who had died three years earlier. A solid record and has moments and soundscapes that pays homage to the band’s sound throughout the years and a dark and beautiful close to the band’s eighteen-year career.
3) October Rust (1996)
Following the breakout success of Bloody Kisses, the band traveled deeper down their own darkened rabbit hole with October Rust. With a more ballad approach compared to the heavier doom and gloom sound from the previous album, the sound was lighter and more piano driven. “Love You To Death” captures that dark, brooding and melancholic sound, but had more up-tempo guitars and Steele’s vocals being higher compared to his vampiric bass lows in past releases. The gritty bass tone on “Be My Druidess” adds an industrial undertone to the band’s sound. Songs like “Red Water (Christmas Mourning)” would appease to the fans craving a dirge-like, sludgy delivery that fans loved from the previous album. While “My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend” had that catchy, alternative metal/post-grunge tone that was popular following the end of grunge in 1994. And the band’s cover of Neil Young’s “Cinnamon Girl” does sound heavy with Type O’s re-imagining and spin on it.
2) World Coming Down (1999)
The band would write would some fans consider their darkest record with 1999’s World Coming Down. Following a series of tragedies that befell Steele, the lyrical content shifted heavily into loss, tragedy and death and away from the seductive and dark nature the band had grown known for. Returning more towards the doomier sound of pre-Bloody Kisses, songs like “White Slavery”, “Everyone I Love is Dead” and the eleven-plus minute title track just gave off a depressing, bleak and dreadful vibe. Matching the sheer unhappiness and darkness that Steele was dealing with at the time of recording. Following the release, the band would go on to be divided on the music in hindsight with very few songs from the album being played live. It is truly a sad journey through the sadness and deep chasm of loss that Steele went through; it embodies the Type O Negative sound with an almost beautiful mix of styles from both Kisses and Rust.
1) Bloody Kisses (1993)
The album that truly broke the band into the mainstream, as well as introduced the world to the band’s gothic-soaked doom metal sound. With the band’s biggest songs “Christian Woman” and the hit single “Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)”, establishing the defining sound for the band and becoming the first Roadrunner Records album to be certified gold and going platinum in 2000. The band returns to their thrashier/punk roots with songs like “Kill All The White People”, to even making a more brooding and ominous cover of Seals & Crofts “Summer Breeze”. Even dabbling into alternative and shoegaze with “Set Me on Fire”. The album is the band’s magnum opus and is not only one of the most defining records of the 90’s, but one of the most evolved and dynamic sounding albums in metal.
