Type O Negative
October Rust

THE REVIEW

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.