TYPE O NEGATIVE — The Origin of the Feces (review)

TYPE O NEGATIVE — The Origin of the Feces album cover

Live album · 1992 · Gothic Metal

2/5 · 2015-05-06
siLLy puPPy

TYPE O NEGATIVE was a strange band indeed. After releasing only one album they did something very bizarre and released their second album which was basically a faux live performance where they recorded it in the studio but presented it as if it were in front of an audience like perhaps in Brighton Beach! They went so far as to add crowd noises and interact with fake audience members and even stop the venue because of a bomb threat. This is all the doings of Peter Steele the crazed vocalist, bassist and lyricist who had a knack for rubbing everyone the wrong way and he succeeds again with THE ORIGIN OF FECES, which admittedly is a clever play of words on Charles Darwin’s “Origin Of Species” and to top it off the original album cover donned Steele’s anal sphincter. Luckily i picked up the remastered version that has the much better green skeletons dancing, in fact it is a painting by Michael Wolgemut called “The Dance Of Death” from 1493.

Many of the tracks were on their debut album “Slow, Deep And Hard” but here have been deliberately renamed, i guess to fuck with out minds or something.

- "Unsuccessfully Coping With the Natural Beauty of Infidelity" is renamed "I Know You're Fucking Someone Else" - "Gravitational Constant: G = 6.67 x 10-8 cm-3 gm-1 sec-2" is renamed "Gravity" - "Prelude to Agony" is renamed "Pain" "Xero Tolerance" is renamed "Kill You Tonight"

Ugh. What can i say about this one? I can’t say i really like it. All the smoothness of the band’s studio albums is missing here and this does indeed sound like a live recording and that’s part of the problem right there for me. I tend not to like live recordings unless they are absolutely spectacular and this i’m afraid is not. It sounds more like a punk band most of the time and the gothic touches are not as strong as i would like. I really don’t find the material here extremely interesting either. The songs are fairly generic and Peter Steele comes off as a drunken buffoon who lives in his own universe. I have to admit that the whole is a laugh the first time around but i don’t find this one to have much staying power. On the newer copy there is an excellent gothic doom version of “Paranoid” by Sabbath and it only rubs it in how un

more than 2 years ago
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siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Maybe i need to hear the debut before this. That might put more in context

This edition with the other cover and the "Paranoid" cover make it worth owning
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/type_o_negative/the_origin_of_the_feces_f1/

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

It´s a mix of hardcore, doom, and industrial metal, with a few (very few here) goth leanings. I think you´ll find it interesting.

Bosh66 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I don't know the album, but what a beautiful cover it has.

(not sure this comment works without a sarcastic smiley ;-) )

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Well it´s basically the same songs, but the versions on this "live" release of course don´t feature the studio overdubs and other details. It´s sort of a concept album too.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I know how that is. I tend to like underappreaciated debut albums more than later popular releases. Truth be told i haven't yet heard the debut by TONeg, so gotta check that out. Might like it better than this one

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Oh well to each his own. I enjoy both Bloody Kisses and October Rust more myself too, but that odd and twisted sounding debut has a special place in my Collection too :-)

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Doesn't do it for me like "Bloody Kisses" and "October Rust."

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

It´s been quite a few years since I last spun this one, but I remember it being pretty great. But I´m a great fan of their first album, so that probably helps.