TYPE O NEGATIVE — Bloody Kisses (review)

TYPE O NEGATIVE — Bloody Kisses album cover Album · 1993 · Gothic Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Negoba
The Beginning of Goth Metal...At Least for Me

I write this review only a few days after the announcement that Peter Steele is dead at age 48. R.I.P. Big guy. Loved the humor, loved the fun. Hope you have some burdens lifted.

From the first low crooning of "Unsuccessfully Coping" there was something about this band that was unlike any band I'd heard before. When Bloody Kisses came out, the band had clearly figured out where their appeal was going to be. Catering to the vampire / goth element, the album features the sex / morbid depression / and plenty of black (and green) imagery to the extreme. There was plenty to dig about the band, but what I dug was the low vocals (as a baritone myself, I certainly envied Steele's ability to hit the low notes.)

At one level, the lyrics and the whole schtick are incredibly bad. But what makes this work, is that Steele is the first one who'll tell you that they're bad. He clearly has said from the beginning that it's a stage act, but at another level, there are plenty of indications that some of the black feelings are real. The double edged emotional delivery allows for some tension and energy in a slow, plodding music.

The biggest songs of the band's career "Black No. 1" and "Christian Woman" are on this one. They're not their best songs, but "Black No. 1" is probably their catchiest, and "Christian Woman" combines all the images into one hilariously over the top whole. There are some other good moments on this album too, but there are some very overlong fuzz bass sections too.

Though this was the breakthrough album, the follow-up, October Rust, is a much better album. But like many innovations that are rough, the power here is that there was virtually nothing else like this out when it was released. The sound has long ago been assimilated into history and the general goth metal sound, but in 1993 this was really quite fresh.
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