TYPE O NEGATIVE - Bloody Kisses

“The Moor has done his duty, the Moor can go!”

Peter Steele went away, this time for real, 6 days ago. That saying “don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone” is pathetic, but they say you only really die when the world has forgotten about you. So, as I’m listening now to Type O Negative, the Green Man lives on, at least a bit, not that it matters too much.

What I regret the most, and I am somehow ashamed of, is that I got the idea to write about Bloody Kisses (which I claim to be among my top 5 albums) only now, in the shittiest possible moment. This probably says something about me, but I don’t believe it’s a direction I would like to go with this.

So, I heard this album for the first time in 1994, at some party, in its entirety, and I only remember that it seemed rather dodgy to me. And then I forgot about it. Then I got to college and met a man who went to Cluj in 1995 and brought a tape with Bloody Kisses (colour photocopied cover, full lyrics – I almost said booklet). As we were listening on the tape recorder, we were very much surprised by Peter Steele’s breathing, sighing and moaning on the songs, something previously unheard, which seemed extremely cool to us at the time. 

What is certain is that the album got a solid 10 from us in the end, because we had the habit of scoring albums and bands and make charts, not knowing how much we were foreshadowing our own future, because we both had something to do with the site metalfan.ro, one way or another. Ah, and lest I forget! It was a hell of a job to determine what genre the band was playing, another professional habit. Well, we ended up saying it was doom/gothic, more or less, and that it was rather atypical for an American band, assertions I still stand by, despite the fact the songs like Kill All the White People and We Hate Everyone would prove otherwise, being pretty much typical to the New York HC/thrash, from which Type O Negative draws its roots (I hope to speak of Carnivore, the band from which Peter Steele and with whom he released 2 demos, 1 EP and 2 full-length albums, on a different occasion). 

I should also mention that I did not hear their discography in chronological order, I only got to listen to Slow, Deep and Hard (1991) and The Origin of the Feces (1992) after Bloody Kisses (1993) and October Rust (1996). Personally, I think it was better this way, both as regards relevance and attraction to the band’s music.

This record took the band forever out of the underground and meant for Roadrunner both their first golden record release (later platinum, with over 1 million units sold), and their first radio hit. I don’t know if Monte Conner (vice-president) only said it because Peter Steele died and he wanted to say something nice, but it is certain that the platinum record is for real. And deserved, I would say, considering the originality and the quality of the material and its influence on the worldwide metal scene.

The album does indeed include songs that are better (or, if you’d prefer, more inspired) than the others, but it would be a mistake to speak of a record containing filler or an uneven one, as Bloody Kisses is very compact both in lyrics and in song writing. Black No.1 and Christian Woman are of course the highlights of the album, and being chosen to be made into videos to promote the album was a natural consequence. We have two sensual, dark, gothic, catchy and, last but not least, rather unexpected songs, which are a very good choice to open the album. The chances of having an unpleasant surprise with this record are rather negligible, especially after being hit with the above two songs. 

The woman is omnipresent on this record, as a teenager having fantasies with our sweet lord J.C. (Christian Woman), as a gothic witch meeting our other sweet lord, S., at midnight (Black No.1), about the girl who lit up Mr. Steele (Set Me on Fire), about Fay Wray, chased by King Kong (Fay Wray Come Out and Play), or about the one who dumped him and he’s not ready to lose for good (Can't Lose You). About all of them, only good things, especially since Peter Steele seems to be in a better mood about the opposite sex, having apparently gone over the phase of “Hey, Pete, where are you going with that axe in your hand?”

Musically wise, the pair Silver/Steele did an impeccable job and acted as the 2 hemispheres of the same brain, one with the bass and baritone, imposing and very expressive voice, and the other supporting him with quasi-symphonic, dark and hypnotic keyboard parts. In turn, Kenny Hickey’s guitar is exactly where it should be and sounds awesome, while Sal Abruscato manages to get a drum sound that is slightly rough but very appropriate for the album’s overall atmosphere.

I think that we can safely speak about the Type O Negative recipe starting with this album. Dark and almost dance-y songs, gloomy atmosphere laden with depressive romanticism, not quite enough to kill yourself, but just enough to be said and feel good for it, mystical keyboards, personal and sincere lyrics, naturalness.

The rest is history!

Sake Nota: 10