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Type O Negative: Life is killing me

28/10/11 || Smalley

While the popular image of Type O Negative may be of a band that wallowed in gloomy lyrics about death, bad relationships, and general gothiness, TON actually liked to balance that with a strong sense of humor; I mean, fucking with their record label and recording a fake live album with a pic of Pete’s asshole on the cover (Beta version of Goatse?) called “The origin of the feces” (the album name that is, not Pete’s asshole)? Having a short album intro of nothing but intentional skipping-music and a member calling the listener a “sucker” as loud as he can? Releasing a best-of collection titled “The least worst of Type O Negative”…?

All ways for the Drab Four to show off their inner jesters, though that side of the band was mostly missing on ’99’s “World coming down”, due to some personal issues Mr. Steele was going through at the time. Fortunately, ’03’s “Life is killing me” sees the band lighten up a lot from their previous doom ‘n gloom, and while ”October Rust”
still represents their best-balanced effort overall, the relative levity of “Life” makes it a highly enjoyable, entertaining offering, and one of TON’s finest moments.

Opening intro track “Thir13teen” (Pete’s estate should get about to suing Megadeth, eh?) sets the lighter tone here nicely with mock, woe-is-me riffing, which segues seamlessly into “I don’t wanna be me”, a fun, poppy, up-tempo little ditty that could almost work as one of the happier cuts on a John Hughes soundtrack. Lyrics like “Please don’t dress in black/When you’re at his wake/Don’t go there to mourn/But to celebrate” give a sharp contrast to something like “The break of day/I rot away/With every breath/I pray for death” (off “World coming down”‘s “White slavery”), and demonstrate how TON has dropped a lot of their previous baggage, and decided to have some more fun on “…killing me”.

The slower “Less than zero (<0)" isn't as memorable, but still pretty good, and I do dig the distorted vocals Peter has here, as well as the clever use of a sitar, and "Todd's ship gods" then gives the record its first real emotional weight with softer vocals from Pete, and lyrics about the pressure he received as a child from his dad to "be a man". Weightier stuff, yes, but the band keeps it from becoming so laden with baggage that it clashes with the overall tone of the album, and the jeering, acidicly funny "I like goils" proves the perfect balance, with faux-homophobic lyrics making fun of Peter posing nude for Playgirl in the mid-90's (a magazine who's readership is majority male). It may seem mean-spirited at first, but brush up on the band’s sense of humor and get a lil’ thicker skin, and you’ll enjoy it just fine.

I’m not too crazy about the draggy, overly-serious “…A dish best served coldly”, even though it does fit in better with the band’s more traditionally-gothy moments, but the title track gets us pointed in the right direction again with its generally louder, heavier approach, and clever anti-physician lyrics (“What is the link/Between these crafts?/Doctors and thieves, they both wear masks/Overpaid/Meat magicians…”). The soothing “Nettie” then returns to the topic of Pete’s parents, his mom this time, and this time, momma’s boy actually has something nice to say about a person who raised him; aww, how schweet! I particularly like the more classic, melodic tone Steele takes for his vox here, very nice work indeed.

Okay, time to hurry this up, ‘cause Type O did overload this one a bit, despite its basic goodness; “(We were) electrocute” is an enjoyably nostalgic look at the past, “IYDKMIGTHTKY (gimme that)” is pretty fun, but drags on too long, and “Angry inch” is a killer, funny metalization of the title track off that East German sex-change musical (bet you can’t guess which one!!!). “Anesthesia” deserves some extra text as it’s one of my favorite Type O tunes, with its beautiful intro, poetically jaded lyrics, superb integration of piano, and visceral, overall mood of despair. Fucken incredible stuff. Finally, “Drunk in paris” is another fun little lead-in track ala “Thir13teen”, heading into album closer “The dream is dead” is a good-natured rumination about being alone on Valentine’s Day, and while it isn’t really a stand-out track, it’s still a more than satisfactory way to cap off the album.

So, while “Life is killing me” may be a little more light-hearted than Type O is generally known for, really, every album in the band’s overall perfect body of work (besides that joke album) sounded different from the others, so “Life” was just another twist in their evolution. If you require everything to sound like ”Bloody Kisses”, then too bad for you. It has catchy, clever, compelling songwriting, genuine emotion (without becoming overwrought), and a good sense of humor/generally lighter mood, even in the more serious songs (a very good thing), so what’s there to complain about? Nothin’, that’s what…

8,5

Information
Released: 2003
Label: Roadrunner
Website: www.typeonegative.net
Band
Peter Steele: vocals, bass
Kenny Hickey: guitars
Josh Silver: keyboards
Johnny Kelly: drums

Tracklist
01. Thir13teen
02. I Don’t Wanna Be Me
03. Less Than Zero (<0)
04. Todd’s Ship Gods (Above All Things)
05. I Like Goils
06. …A Dish Best Served Coldly
07. How Could She?
08. Life Is Killing Me
09. Nettie
10. (We Were) Electrocute
11. IYDKMIGTHTKY (Gimme That)
12. Angry Inch
13. Anesthesia
14. Drunk In Paris
15. The Dream Is Dead

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