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Type O Negative: World coming down

25/09/09 || Smalley

Type O Negative frontman Peter Steele never was what you’d call a cheerful kind of guy (you’d be upset too if you showed your dong to a bunch of guys you thought would be girls), so the deaths of a few close family members, and a descent into the bottle to numb the grief from that, certainly didn’t give him a sunny disposition for “World coming down”. Fortunately, the reliable TON songwriting chops still managed to shine through all the glumness Peter gave the album, if not become a bit dimmed by it in the process…

“Skip it” first provides us with some levity (the only such we’ll be getting for a while), with a short sample of Type O music skipping, and guitarist Kenny Hickey shouting “SUCKAHHHH!!!“. After that bit of comedy, it’s right into the depressing fray with “White slavery”, which comes off like a funeral dirge, with gothic, pure-Transylvania keyboarding, a tempo that just crawls, and despair-ridden lyrics about cocaine addiction, perfectly delivered by Peter’s drained tone. It’s an enjoyable song, if extremely depressing, then comes “Sinus”, the first of three soundscape tracks here, on which the band, through the appropriate sound effects, conveys to us ways in which they might die (yes, morbid album indeed). “Sinus” consists of ambient effects and the sounds of someone cutting up and snorting cocaine (hence its title), followed by a death scream, and while it isn’t enjoyable in the traditional sense of the word, I do appreciate Type O doing something different here.

Despite the name, “Everyone I love is dead” is actually less morbid than “slavery”, but it also isn’t as good; the songwriting falls a bit flat, especially during the chorus, and while I don’t dislike it, “Everyone” is still somewhat of a disappointment. “Who will save the sane?” is a definite improvement, with a surprisingly catchy, playful rhythm, and somewhat sardonic lyrics, refreshing after all the talk of addiction and death. Speaking of death, “Liver” is our 2nd soundscape track (about a band member dying of alcoholism, naturally), then comes the title track, which lasts over 11 minutes, and you’ll feel every second. While it does start off well enough, it eventually starts to be draggy, and almost a chore to sit through (though it is nice to hear that sitar player from “Bloody kisses” again). Disappointing to see TON fall into that same old trap, since they had gotten their track lengths almost perfect on “October rust” after the excesses of the first two albums, but eh, what can you do? I still sorta enjoy it, at least.

“Creepy green light”, like “sane”, offsets the downbeatness of the previous track by being a lighter, catchier song, and is one of the better tracks on the album, with a nice, driving tempo, which comes as a relief after some of the slogs we’ve had to sit through so far. Up next is “Everything dies”, which you might expect to be another downer like “Everyone I know” was, and while the lyrics do talk about the same thing, TON managed to keep the spirits higher here by upping the sense of melody; this really is the kind of “depressing” sound that Steele should’ve given to us on the other songs. “Lung” is the final soundscape (about dying from smoking), and yaddayaddayadda, you know what’s gonna happen, let’s move on already.

“Pyretta blaze” is the very best song here, recalling “Be my druidess” somewhat in its tone/subject matter, and also providing a sharp contrast to the rest of the album, since it’s about an intense, passionate relationship, instead of the 15,789,978,542nd way you could die, or about losing your aunt, or your girlfriend, or your girlfriend’s aunt’s Yorkshire Terrier or whatever the hell else. A very good spirit-lifter on a downbeat album, then “All hallows eve” also recalls an “October rust” song, “Wolf moon” this time, by giving us the same dark, seductive rush, that rush only Type O seems capable of. Sure, the lyrics are about Peter selling his soul to the devil to bring his dead girlfriend back to life, but at least it doesn’t get down and in-the-gutter on us like much of this album. Finally, “Day tripper” wraps things up with a medley of Beatles songs, covering sections from “Day tripper”, “If I needed someone”, and “I want you (she’s so heavy)”. I’m not currently familiar with The Beatles (but will be someday!), so I don’t know how it compares to the original versions, but I at least know it’s a good (and very unexpected) song to end this album with.

So, the depression Peter was in at the time sullies “World coming down” somewhat (along with the relatively weaker songwriting), and this is my least favorite of TON’s post-‘92 records, but it still remains a solid album despite all that (and almost squeaked by to an 8 for me, but nevermind). Oh, and the guitar tone here is more static-y than ever before, if you get off on that sort of thing (you great, bloody perv). Anyway, if you’re already into Type O, then crawl in the nearest bed, turn off the lights, pull the sheets over yer head, and grab hold of some crippling depression with this one; if you aren’t, then proceed with some caution.

7,5

Information
Released: 1999
Label: Roadrunner
Website: www.typeonegative.net
Band
Peter Steele: vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards
Kenny Hickey: guitar
Johnny Kelly: drums
Josh Silver: keyboards

Tracklist
01. Skip It
02. White Slavery
03. Sinus
04. Everyone I Love Is Dead
05. Who Will Save the Sane?
06. Liver
07. World Coming Down
08. Creepy Green Light
09. Everything Dies
10. Lung
11. Pyretta Blaze
12. All Hallows Eve
13. Day Tripper

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