What I love most about music is the atmosphere. Even though I constantly search for new albums to experience new atmospheres and sensations, I can't find one that I like more than I love "October Rust" by Type O Negative. First and foremost, we're talking about melodic gothic, but I must clarify that it isn't the usual clichéd gothic metal; on the contrary, they may not even have that much metal in them. Indeed, they are a very "Strange" and "difficult" group to categorize within a musical genre.
Nevertheless, Type O Negative conveys decadent and psychedelic emotions, funereal yet simultaneously depressed sounds, frustration, moments of exaltation, and dramatic moments, all in a phantasmagorical and mystical air, especially mystical, which perhaps highlights the characteristic of the American band. But beyond particular sounds, like ancient radio interferences and vibrations of high tonalities and a clean and slow bass, one thing is certain: Peter Steele has a voice that no other man has, an extremely low and passionate voice capable, with a low (but high-pitched) tone, of wilting a rose. So imagine a funeral where people cry and despair with psychedelic keyboards and a deep, sensual voice to understand the atmosphere this album exudes. It's simply fantastic, lethal; I discovered it a few years ago, and I have never been able to shake it off. This album is like a drug to me.
We start with the first two songs, which are just an introduction to the album; note that the second track has no title, in fact, the tracklist on the back of the compact disc only says 2) without a name. The third track, "Love You To Death," is the true gem of the album, and it's also my favorite song, a song that seems not to have a skeleton, starting one way, developing in another, and ending in a third, a song with a very decadent and depressive soul, simultaneously macabre and Black, and has many moments of melancholy. I never forget a crappy day with a downpour and me in the rain with this music in my ears; it's wonderful, mystical, and nocturnal. This is followed by the song "Be My Druidess," very beautiful and particular, here the guitars are typically thrash and the sounds quite distorted; the album's atmosphere is almost no longer decadent and melancholic but mystical and grotesque, especially in that moment where Peter Steele uses his voice like black magic, and the musical instruments calm in his presence. We arrive at "Green Man" or rather "Uomo Verde." Some claim that this song is a tribute to Steele, who before being a singer, even before singing in Carnivore, and before becoming a Policeman, was a garbage man, and that's why many times Type O Negative performs live dressed in green, green being an essential color in the bootlegs of their albums. But still, it’s not a moment of leisure or fun, a break; absolutely not, this song is very sad and beautiful, preceded by the nightingale's choir and followed by a lament, almost a cry. After this comes the song "Red Water (Christmas Mourning)," nothing short of spectacular, perhaps a bit Blasphemous but a must-listen, it anticipates "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend," here the style of the songs changes markedly; for the entire duration of this track, which begins with a simple keyboard play on a standard drum to develop in a thrash context, but Steele's voice insists on staying connected to something supernatural as if not to trivialize the listening, and there you have it, after the first chorus, the song starts blending completely with the rest of the album. Four or five more similar songs follow each other, and I speed up to get to no.13, "Wolf Moon," a true goth anthem, it speaks of Werewolves, lycanthropy, and moonlight; hence the song has a fully nocturnal and dark atmosphere, very beautiful when the band starts to howl.
In short, I tried to convey as best as I could that this album is awesome because it makes you travel like even the best drug can't.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
03 Love You to Death (07:08)
In her place,
One-hundred candles burning.
Her salty sweat
Drips from her breast.
Her hips move
And I can feel what they're sayin,
Swayin...
They say the beast inside of
Me is gonna get ya, get ya,
Yeah...
Black lipstick stains
[On her] Glass of red wine
I am your servant,
May I light your cigarette?
Those lips move,
Yeah I can feel what you're sayin, prayin;
They say the beast inside of me is gonna get ya, get ya,
Yeah...
I beg to serve, your wish is my law
Now close those eyes,
And let me love you to death
Shall I prove I mean what I'm sayin, beggin
I say the beast inside of me is gonna get ya, get ya, yet...
Ah,
Let me love you to-
Ah,
Let me love you to...
Death.
To death...
Ah,
Let me love you to-
Ah,
Let me love you to...
Death.
Am I good enough...
For you?
Am I good enough...
For you?
Am I... ah...
For you?
Am I... ah...
For you?
Am I good enough
For you?
04 Be My Druidess (05:25)
Be my druidess
Be my everything
Be my druidess
Be mine
Around the pyre, a circle of thirteen
Throughout these woods, ecstatic screams
I look deeply into your eyes
I smell your hair, caress your thighs
Now we'll make love by fire light
A blaze so high it lights the night
Long fingernails dug in my skin
Yourself so wet invites me in
Our lust increased feeds desire
As we combust, yeah we on fire
I feel you shake so deep inside
Ooh scream my name and squeeze me tight
I'll do anything to make you come
07 My Girlfriend's Girlfriend (03:46)
It's no secret we're close
As sweaty velcro
Like latex, fur and feathers
Stuck together
Now
In their '62 'vette
Sharing one cigarette
In a black light trance then
Go go dance
Then
Go go dance
Then
They keep me warm on cold nights
We must be quite a sight
In our meat triangle
All tangled
Wow
My girldfriend's girlfriend
She looks like you
My girlfriend's girlfriend
She's my girl too
Her and me and her and she and me
An uncrowded couple; are we three
Hey we don't care what people say
When walking hand in hand down kings highway
Two for one today
My girlfriend's girlfriend
She looks like you
My girlfriend's girlfriend
She's my girl too
My girlfriend's girlfriend
She looks like you
My girlfriend's girlfriend
She's my girl
09 Burnt Flowers Fallen (06:09)
Yeah I think she's falling out of love
Yeah I think she's falling out of love
Yeah
Yeah I think she's falling out of love
Yeah I think she's falling out of love
Yeah I think she's falling
God I think she's falling out of
Yeah I think she's falling out of love
Yeah
Oh Yeah I know she's falling out of love
Oh Yeah I know she's falling out of love
Yeah I know she's falling
God I know she's falling out of love
Yeah I know she's falling out of love
All of the flowers
All of the flowers I gave her
She burned them
Burned them
Yeah I think she's falling
God I think she's falling out of love
Yeah I think she's falling out of love
All of the flowers
All of the flowers that I gave her
She burned them
Burned them
All of the flowers
All of the flowers that I gave her
She burned them
Burned them
10 In Praise of Bacchus (07:36)
Hey Bacchus
She hates me
Hey Bacchus
She hates me
The street lamps light a wet old red hook road
A furry vino tinted slave
Molten oil painted brooklyn bridge
(cobblestone grave)
A lonely blue girl guards the river bed
She shakes her brown torch at the tide
On pier six we'd creep and count the cracks
(side by side, see, we're counting cracks)
Your mom was out wearing herself inside
I'll stop the train to say hello
A used boyfriend's just bought her this new car
(I said I know)
-Togetherburn-
She said burn
Together
Burn
We'll burn together
Now don't believe she'll never leave again
I can't forget the words she said way back when
She said burn
We'll burn together
11 Cinnamon Girl (04:00)
My Cinnamon Girl...
My Cinnamon Girl...
I want to live with a cinnamon girl
I could be happy the rest of my life with her
A dreamer of pictures
I run in the night
You see us together chase the moonlight
My cinnamon girl
My cinnamon girl
Ten silver saxes
A bass with a bow
The drummer relaxes, waits between shows
(feels like)
A dreamer of pictures
I run in the night
You see us together chase the moonlight(alright)
My cinnamon girl
My Cinnamon Girl
Mom send me money now
I'm gonna make it somehow
I need another chance
You see my baby loved to dance,yeah,yeah
(feels like)
(alright)
My Cinnamon Girl
My Cinnamon Girl
(This song was originally sung by Neil Young)
12 The Glorious Liberation of the People's Technocratic Republic of Vinnland by the Combined Forces of the United Territories of Europa (01:07)
14 Haunted (10:07)
A swollen sun melting in the horizon
Between the sheets where I wait for her to come
A living flame, impossible to resist
Burning me deep with every bite, kiss and lick
I'm haunted
I'm haunted
I'm haunted (by her)
Invades my sleep with tumescent intentions
Hades I'm sure must be missing a demon
I, I hate the morning
I, I hate the morning
From the panes a green mist swirls
Is it a shadow of reflection?
This apparition in moon beams bathed
A voice like wind through trees beckons
Cool rain on hot summer stone
The odor fills my presence
Of freshly dug grave and death and night
These things are her essence
Nocturnal mistress, spirit lover
Your mouth of wine and wooksmoke taste
My goddess of the violet twilight
You are lust incarnate
In the sweat of my bed
The eastern sky hints of dawning
Alone and awake but exhausted I lie
Oh how I hate the morning
I, oh I hate the morning (light)
I, oh I, hate the morning (light)
Loading comments slowly