Type O Negative
Bloody Kisses

September 2003
Released: 1993, Roadrunner Records
Rating: 4.8/5
Reviewer: Lord of the Wasteland

Type O Negative are perhaps the most serious-looking bunch of jokesters to ever grace the music scene. While some musicians become cartoons of themselves unintentionally (Marilyn Manson, Fred Durst), the boys from Type O have always had a sense of humour under their doom & gloom exterior. From the mock-live album, ORIGIN OF THE FECES, featuring a closeup of singer/bassist Peter Steele’s asshole, to their best known work on BLOODY KISSES, Type O Negative have never taken themselves as seriously as their fellow Goth and Doom metal counterparts. With BLOODY KISSES, the band kept their tongue-in-cheek approach but moved away from the hardcore/punk influence of the first 2 albums in favor of a melodic sound and better-crafted songs.



“Christian Woman” is an absolute masterpiece! Even at nine minutes in length, it does not go on too long and is broken up into 3 sections: a) Body of Christ (Corpus Christi), b) To Love God, and c) Jesus Christ Looks Like Me. Listening to Peter Steele’s baritone thunder through this song with the “Bensonhoist Lesbian Choir” (which is actually the band themselves) on background vocals is haunting. The song is so blasphemous, Steele will probably spend eternity in Hell being forced to listen to Yanni, but his take on religion has to be admired. The best-known Type O Negative song is “Black No. 1”, an ode to Goth girls. Another lengthy track at over 11 minutes, this one showcases Kenny Hickey on vocals and doing a blistering guitar solo and Sal Abruscato on drums near the end of the song. Again, “Black No. 1” is a masterpiece that showcases the many sides of the band as the song shifts from the haunting bass line opening to a more Goth/doom dirge. The oddly-titled segway, “Fay Wray Come Out and Play”, features what sounds like a Pagan ritual of sacrificing a virgin?! “Kill All the White People” is a return to the early punk sounds of Steele’s former band, Carnivore, with the lines “Kill all the white people/ Then we’ll be free” repeated over and over for three and a half minutes. “Summer Breeze” is a cover of a hippie song from the early 70s with the smile turned upside down as only Type O could. “Set Me on Fire” is a lighter tune--at least as “light” as Type O Negative gets--with a nice melody and everything! “We Hate Everyone” is another humorous classic with the band stating their misanthropic viewpoint of their critics and claiming that the more they protest and speak out against the band, the more records the band sells and publicity they receive. “Bloody Kisses (Death in the Family)” is a long, creepy song about suicide and the effect it has on one’s lover. The lyrics are very chilling and you can almost feel his pain as Peter Steele groans through the song. “3.0.I.F.” (don’t ask me what the title means?!?!”) and “Dark Side of the Womb” are a pair of bizarre interludes that offer nothing other than ambience. “Too Late: Frozen” is another happy song about infidelity that breaks into a weird, almost psychedelic four minute section at the 2:38 mark with distorted vocals before returning to the original tempo of the song for the finale. “Blood & Fire” and “Can’t Lose You” (featuring a sitar!!) are the only really inferior songs to the rest of the material on BLOODY KISSES. “Blood & Fire” is the better of the two and is still a good song (and better than almost anything on their follow-up, 1996’s OCTOBER RUST), but just not up to par with the brilliance of the rest of the album.



***At all costs, avoid the “limited edition” digipack release, which leaves off 6 tracks (including “Christian Woman” mislabeled as the forty second “Machine Screw”, “Fay Wray Come Out and Play”. “Kill All the White People”, “Dark Side of the Womb”, “We Hate Everyone” and “3.0.I.F.”) and has the shorter 7 minute version of “Black No. 1”.