Type O Negative
Doom Metal
New York, USA
Active
A Darktronica favorite, Type O Negative is one of the pioneers of gothic metal. Formed in 1990 by four childhood friends in Brooklyn, the band has always stayed true to their roots, delivering a solid blend of doom-infested, punk-influenced rock ground down to a sludgy pulp.
A number of trademark elements comprise Type O Negative's signature style. Perhaps the most notable is Peter Steele's unmistakable voice, a hauntingly dramatic bass. While most known for the booming timbre of his lower register, Steele nonetheless has a remarkable range, and occasionally spans three octaves in the same song.
Musically, the group's influences span from The Beatles to Siouxsie And The Banshees, but they have parlayed these impressions into a sonic cocktail all their own. Downtuned instruments, distortion, and slow droning guitar and bass lines lend a gloomy atmosphere to lyrics touching on depression, death, sex, and isolation. Type O Negative is at its most sombre on World Coming Down, which Steele wrote in an alcoholic haze shortly after the death of several family members. The title of their debut album, Slow, Deep and Hard, is an apt description of their typical sound, though the guys frequently spice up the darkness with faster, driven rock songs like "Kill All The White People" and "I Don't Wanna Be Me." This more upbeat tempo is most evident on Life Is Killing Me.
For all the gloom and doom, Type O is also known for their sense of humor. Other than the genuine melancholy of World Coming Down, each album is marked by some tongue in cheek or ironic element tucked away in the track list or liner notes. One of their biggest hits, "Black No. 1," gets its name from the jet black hair dye ubiquitous among 90's goths and is a sharply satirical commentary on the requisite trendiness of gothic culture. When their recording contract called for a live album, the band recorded their material in Josh Silver's basement and dubbed in crowd noise, even including a staged interaction with their angry audience. On Life Is Killing Me, the group covers a song about a botched sex-change operation from the musical Hedwig And The Angry Inch. And on all of their albums, the backup vocals, performed by other members of the band, are credited in the liner notes to The Bensonhoist Lesbian Choir.
Commercially, Bloody Kisses and October Rust are Type O's most successful albums, with Bloody Kisses being one of the few platinum albums reviewed on this site. Darktronica favorites are "Red Water (Christmas Mourning)," "Haunted," "World Coming Down," and "Green Man."
Members
Johnny Kelly - drums, backing vocals
Josh Silver - keyboards, backing vocals
Kenny Hickey - guitar, backing vocals
Peter Steele - lead vocals, bass
Former members:
Sal Abroscato - drums, backing vocals
Band Links
Official website
MySpace profile
Type O Negative Discography
Slow, Deep And Hard
(1991, Roadrunner)
1. Unsuccessfully Coping With The Natural Beauty Of Infidelity
2. Der Untermensch
3. Xero Tolerance
4. Prelude To Agony
5. Glass Walls Of Limbo (Dance Mix)
6. The Misinterpretation Of Silence And Its Disastrous Consequences
7. Gravitational Constant: G = 6.67 x 10-8 cm-3 gm-1 sec-2
The Origin Of The Feces
(1992, Roadrunner)
1. I Know You're Fucking Someone Else
2. Are You Afraid
4. Pain
5. Kill You Tonight
6. Hey Pete
7. Kill You Tonight (Reprise)
8. Paranoid
Bloody Kisses
(1993, Roadrunner)
1. Machine Screw
2. Christian Woman
3. Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)
4. Fay Wray Come Out And Play
5. Kill All The White People
6. Summer Breeze
7. Set Me On Fire
8. Dark Side Of The Womb
9. We Hate Everyone
10. Bloody Kisses
11. 3.0.1.F.
12. Too Late: Frozen
13. Blood And Fire
14. Can't Lose You
October Rust
(1996, Roadrunner)
1. Bad Ground
2. Love You To Death
3. Be My Druidess
4. Green Man
5. Red Water (Christmas Mourning)
6. My Girlfriend's Girlfriend
7. Die With Me
8. Burnt Flowers Fallen
9. In Praise Of Bacchus
10. Cinnamon Girl
11. The Glorious Liberation Of The People's Technocratic Republic Of Vinnland By The Combined Forces Of The United Territories Of Europa
12. Wolf Moon (Including Zoanthrobe Paranoia)
13. Haunted
14. Untitled
World Coming Down
(1999, Roadrunner)
1. Skip It
2. White Slavery
3. Sinus
4. Everyone I Love Is Dead
5. Who Will Save The Sane?
6. Liver
7. World Coming Down
8. Creepy Green Light
9. Everything Dies
10. Lung
11. Pyretta Blaze
12. All Hallows Eve
13. Day Tripper Medley
The Least Worst Of
(2000, Roadrunner)
1. The Misinterpretation Of Silence And Its Disastrous Consequences (Wombs And Tombs Mix)
2. Everyone I Love Is Dead (Edit)
3. Black No. 1 (Edit)
4. It's Never Enough
5. Love You To Death (Edit)
6. Black Sabbath (From The Satanic Perspective)
7. Christian Woman
8. 12 Black Rainbows
9. My Girlfriend's Girlfriend (Cheese Organ Mix)
10. Hey Pete (Pete's Ego Trip Version)
11. Everything Dies (Edit)
12. Cinnamon Girl (Depressed Mode Mix)
13. Unsucessfully Coping With The Natural Beauty Of Infidelity
14. Stay Out Of My Dreams
Life Is Killing Me
(2003, Roadrunner)
Disc 1
1. Thir13Teen
2. I Don't Wanna Be Me
3. Less Than Zero (<0)
4. Todd's Ship Gods (Above All Things)
5. I Like Goils
6. ... A Dish Better Served Coldly
7. How Could She
8. Life Is Killing Me
9. Nettie
10. (We Were) Electrocute
11. IYDKMIGTHTKY (Gimme That)
12. Angry Inch
13. Anesthesia
14. Drunk In Paris
15. The Dream Is Dead
Disc 2
1. Out Of The Fire (Kane's Theme)
2. Christian Woman (Butt-Kissing Sell-Out Version)
3. Suspended In Dusk
4. Blood & Fire (Out Of The Ashes Mix)
5. Black Sabbath
6. Cinnamon Girl (Extended Depression Mix)
7. Haunted (Per Version)
Dead Again
(2007, Steamhammer)
1. Dead Again
2. Tripping A Blind Man
3. The Profit Of Doom
4. September Sun
5. Halloween In Heaven
6. These Three Things
7. She Burned Me Down
8. Some Stupid Tomorrow
9. An Ode To Locksmiths
10. Hail And Farewell To Britain
Last updated August 15, 2007.
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