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Type O Negative: Bloody kisses

16/07/09 || Smalley

Type O Negative formed in the early 90’s after Peter Steele left his thrash group Carnivore, and while their debut, “Slow, deep and hard”, still bore a good deal of Carnivore’s nihilistic aggression, TON managed to put a much more distinct sound on the gothic flavored follow-up “Bloody kisses”. This album set the basic tone for everything the band has released since, and unexpectedly became the first Gold and Platinum record released by Roadrunner; it’s too bad Type O hasn’t been able to maintain that kind of popularity, especially considering how consistent they’ve been (I consider almost every single album from them to be at least good), but “kisses” still remains a unique, darkly exhilarating record in its own right to this day.

Intro skit “Machine screw” is pretty much exactly what you think it is, then the creepy-ish “Christian woman” tells of a woman caught between faith and her urges, with a lamentful back-up chorus (thank you, Bensonhoist Lesbian Choir!), and Peter’s ultra-deep, ultra-gloomy vocals. Unfortunately, it also takes a pretty weird turn about four-and-a-half minutes in (you’ll see what I mean) and drags on for too long, so even though I still think it’s decent, “woman” is definitely my least favorite song on the record (not counting the skits), and a somewhat awkward entrance point for the band. Truth be told, I wouldn’t mind had they just left “woman” off the record entirely…

“Black no. 1”, on the other hand, would’ve been an excellent introduction for Type O here; beginning with off-kilter keyboarding by Josh Silver and a seductively low bass line from Steele, the latter (with some very good lyrics) starts singing about a certain lady who just has to be the gothiest one of them all. By the time that the excellent chorus has started up, you’ll probably agree “Black” is one of TON’s strongest songs, and an almost perfect example of the unique appeal that this band has cultivated. Like “woman”, “Black” wears out its welcome (I actually prefer the single version, since it’s a concise four-and-a-half minutes instead of the album version’s eleven!), but even then, there are much, much worse songs you could be spending your time on.

The oddly catchy skit track “Fay wray come out and play” is again, pretty much exactly what the name implies (if you’re familiar with King Kong ’33, that is), then the bitingly sarcastic “Kill all the white people”, a response to those who labeled “Der untermensch” off of “Slow” as pro-Nazi, turns up the album’s intensity with a fast, punk-ish tempo, Peter’s screams of “Kill all the white people!/Then we’ll be free!”, and the rest of the band responding like blindly loyal followers. It’s a great answer to the critics by virtue of sheer irreverence, and is followed by a cover of “Summer breeze”, a track certain people may also consider to be irreverent, due to its glumification of the chirpy original (Peter here sounds like if Eeyore decided to start singing). Me? I don’t even think about Seals And Crofts’ version anymore, the one here is that much cooler.

Ironically, the Type O-penned “Set me on fire” is actually the more upbeat song, with its flower power keyboarding and positive lyrics about a woman, a rare thing to hear on “kisses” indeed. “Dark side of the womb” is another skit track (and a pointless one too; lay off ‘em already!), then “We hate everyone” goes back to the pro-Nazi controversy in the same basic style as “Kill”, but with much more direct lyrics this time: “Riots, protests, violence just makes us famous/TV interviews, free publicity/Increase record sales dramatically”. Yes, it is a bit redundant, but again manages to be enjoyable just through sheer, fuck-you irreverence (by the way, avoid the digipack version of “kisses” since “Kill”/“We hate” are both no where to be found).

The title track is a mournful dirge about a woman’s suicide, and her lover deciding to follow the same way, with one section having the entire band cutting out (save for Sal’s sparse drumming), pain-wracked sobs from a woman starting in the background, and Steele narrating a tale of afterlife reunion in this haunting atmosphere. The song really is more in line with the darker material of TON’s future albums than it is with “kisses”, but is an enjoyably depressing listen nonetheless, with Josh’s best keyboarding of the album to boot. “3.0.I.F.” is another useless skit track (argh!!!!) but the relatively upbeat “Too late: frozen” and “Blood & fire” almost manage to make up for that. Almost. Finally, “Can’t lose you” takes the record out with Peter giving us slow, steady repetitions of the song’s title, backed up by stereotypically mystical (but still very cool) sitar playing from… someone. I don’t know who. Anyway, it’s a fine track to close this album out on…

So overall, “Bloody kisses” is a very good example of a band managing to develop their own unique sound, while also keeping the listener entertained as they do, instead of just becoming lost within themselves. Yeah, the track lengths here often get to be bloated, there are way too many useless skits, and I definitely don’t think this is TON’s best-written material as a whole (try “October rust” if you want that), but like I said before, I enjoy almost every one of their albums, and “kisses” is no exception. For being the platform off which Type O would reach new heights, and for just being a good album (of course), “Bloody kisses” gets…

8 ruined collars out of 10.

Information
Released: 1993
Label: Roadrunner
Website (NSFW!!!): www.typeonegative.net
Type O Negative
Peter Steele: vocals, bass
Kenny Hickey: guitars
Josh Silver: keyboards
Sal Abruscato: drums

Tracklist
01. Machine Screw
02. Christian Woman
03. Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)
04. Fay Wray Come Out and Play
05. Kill All the White People
06. Summer Breeze
07. Set Me on Fire
08. Dark Side of the Womb
09. We Hate Everyone
10. Bloody Kisses (A Death in the Family)
11. 3.0.I.F
12. Too Late: Frozen
13. Blood & Fire
14. Can’t Lose You

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