Artist: Type-O-Negative Title: “October Rust” Label: Roadrunner Records Release Date: 8/20/1996 Genre: Gothic Metal Rating: 4.5/5
The hurricane level of popularity found with “Bloody Kisses” had slowed down enough for Brooklyn’s own Type O Negative to record its eagerly anticipated follow up October Rust. For those who had been following the band since the beginning, you could not argue that they had morphed into something a little more interesting after “SD&H” with “Bloody Kisses” and now they were going to set us on our ear again with “October Rust”. The album brought us a solid recording but it was to date the most musical and definitely the most “atmospheric” of their catalog. Before delving into the tunes that made up this masterpiece we have to address the funny introduction the listener gets. The album begins with “Bad Ground” which is not a song at all but instead a soundscape from Josh that sounds like a misconnected speaker wire. If you’re not paying attention there is actually a chance that you will check your speakers to see what’s the problem. It’s followed by the band who introduce us to the upcoming music and then its onto the music. The themes of this recording were not as heavy and dismal as that which we found on “Bloody Kisses” but instead were more related to that of Dark Romance and mythological adventuring. It also brings new drummer Johnny Kelly to the fold replacing Sal Abruscato who joined Life Of Agony after the last TON record. Kelly’s playing fits right in with the music Steele, Silver & Hickey are doing and none of the progression in music being offered up on the album is lost with his becoming a part of the roster. In fact I think he is a compliment to the band. “Love You To Death” will call to mind a mixture of Cocteau Twins meets The Beatles influences done up with some gloomy Gothic feel and yet it works very well despite all of the odd different mixes. Its as early as this tune that we find the band is going to give us a very different listening experience. This particular tune sounds great in the live sense and initially made me feel that “Black #1” had a sequel. Continue reading “October Rust” by Type O Negative→
Artist: Seventh Void Venue: Highline Ballroom (New York, NY) Opener: Suicide City, Acey Slade, Pui, The Party Death Date: 2/11/2010 Label: Big Vin Records
I think that that it was still summer when I last attended one of the Cirque du Rock events over at the Highline Ballroom and here we were again at their event entitled “Hypothermia”. It was the perfect name for the show when one considers how the city had just been hit by a reasonably powerful blizzard. There was about a foot of snow piled up in the city and thanks to the snow plows people were able to get out and do some rocking at the venue with all the talented people that were involved tonight. This was a loaded menu to say the least and it would once again feature CDR acts and these would come between a seemingly endless roster of bands that would be playing their Metal and Punk Rock hearts out. Delivering the musical goods tonight would be Seventh Void, the crushing Heavy Metal band that features Johnny and Kenny from Type-O-Negative, Suicide City, Acey Slade and the Dark Party, Pui and The Party Death. That’s one hell of a lineup and the evening would also be slightly historic for it was reported earlier in the week that tonight’s show would be the final Suicide City performance ever. Our musical program would start off with The Party Death and while the doors for the show opened at 7pm, the event would not be rolling along until after 8pm. Here is how everything went for those who sadly missed out. Continue reading Seventh Void & Suicide City @ Highline Ballroom (2/11/2010)→
Seventh Void is a band that features two members of the mighty Type O Negative and tonight the band would be opening up for themselves in a sense. I discussed that show in full on THIS LINK. Now please enjoy the photographs that were captured during the permitted time.
If you live in New York City and Halloween is coming, you know that there is nothing like a visit from Brooklyn’s own Type-O-Negative to get you into the proper mood. It’s been some time since we have seen these Lords Of Flatbush doing a show in the Big Apple so when they announced this visit we made sure to be around. The exciting bill would also feature both Destrophy and Seventh Void and fall right in the middle of CMJ week. That meant there was a lot of music to enjoy at almost every turn. You can learn about this gig and see all of the photos below the logo.
Artist: Type-O-Negative Venue: Nokia Theatre (New York, NY) Opener: Destrophy, Seventh Void, Dead Men Dreaming Date: 10/22/2009 Label: SPV Records
Given the fact that it was CMJ week in NYC the whole Big Apple was buzzing with musical activity and earlier this evening I had found myself at one of its functions where the entertainment came care of the Texas Hippie Coalition. That was a fun time and is documented in full elsewhere on the site, but the timing of their sets completion compiled with the need to get uptown and a hundred feet down into the bowels of Times Square for the performance being held deep inside the recesses of the Nokia Theatre found me missing the first band and most of the second. Oh well, that does happen from time to time and as long as I was on point and in time for Destrophy and the mighty Type-O-Negative all was good in my evening. Here is how the larger part of the show took place to get you up to speed in case you missed it.
Artist: Type-O-Negative Title: “World Coming Down” Label: Roadrunner Records Release Date: 9/21/1999 Genre: Gothic Metal Rating: 4.5/5
Released about three years after “October Rust”, the “World Coming Down” album by Brooklyn’s own Type O Negative finds the band getting back to a heavier line of business and doing so with a much darker sense of purpose than was found on the previous effort. I will touch upon this a little later but first the bands dry sense of humor comes into play as soon as you put the album into your CD changer with “Skip It”, this is a quick “song” or soundscape that sounds exactly like your CD laser skipping and hence likely unusable. Peter (or is it Kenny) yells “sucker” before the solemn and almost funeral droning Sabbathian riffs of “White Slavery” kick us into the album’s first official music. The song appears to deal with cocaine addiction and while a powerfully driven musical piece is not a happy one at all. The lyrics of “I’ve lost myself again, it’s a nightmare but it’s real” speak volumes to the pains of addiction and despair from such practices. There are three unique soundscapes that reflect the various themes of the album and they are “S.I.N.U.S.”, “Liver” and “Lung”; the first one “S.I.N.U.S.” is probably the eeriest of them all as it’s the most realistic. “Everyone I Love Is Dead” is a kick ass riff monster with crunching grooves that get layered with a bright overlay of keyboards but again a not too happy message as Peter muses aloud how those who matter most in his day are now gone. While “Who Will Save The Sane” is not as morose, “World Coming Down” finds the man of Steele lining out how he feels more pain than he speaks of. This is the most epic of the albums output as well and runs almost eleven minutes. It always surprised me at how often they would play this one live when one considers its overall length. I love the use of the chanting Monks in it as it adds to the atmosphere for sure. Continue reading “World Coming Down” by Type O Negative→
