Initial Impressions: Type O Negative: Slow, Deep, and Hard

As I said, the other day I was filling in some holes in my album collection. One of the cheap albums I came across was this album from the great Type O Negative. This is the band's debut album. The band formed soon after the breakup of underground crossover band Carnivore.

I was very familiar with most of these songs, as I do own a pirated copy of The Origin of the Feces which I recorded after borrowing it from an ex girlfriend. These songs are virtually exactly the same as those on the other album. Origin was a fake live album and the songs were re-named on it. At any rate, I decided to finally purchase the original versions.

Now, people who like the most recent Type O Negative albums probably will not enjoy this one as much. The band had not gone off the deep end with their gothic tendencies at this point. This album is much closer to the sound that Carnivore displayed. That is to say, this is more of a crossover metal album than the band's more recent journeys into sadness and depression. This one is faster and angrier.

The band kicks things off with the hilariously titled "Unsuccessfully Coping with the Natural Beauty of Infidelity", or as it is better-known "I Know You're Fucking Someone Else". The song is over 12 minutes long and deals with Peter Steele's frustration with a girlfriend's cheating ways. The album also includes "Xero Tolerance" which features a rollicking climax. The other big joke is the track "The Misinterpretation of Silence and Its Disastrous Consequences" which was designed to make the listener turn up their stereo to hear feedback only to be met with shocking noise at the beginning of the next track.

Type O Negative have always had the interesting ability to make the most unlikely things catchy as hell. They display this well even on this, their debut album. This is an essential listen for metalheads.