Type O Negative
Slow, Deep And Hard

THE REVIEW

Imagine a man over 2 meters tall, with long hair, muscular, heavily tattooed, and with the unpleasant habit of rolling his eyes back (like Undertaker, to put it into perspective); also consider that this man is a recurring suicidal and often suffers from depression: you have the portrait of Peter Steele, singer, bassist, and founder of one of the most important bands of extreme metal of the '90s, Type O Negative.
Together with Sal Abbruscato (drums), Kenny Hickey (guitar), and Josh Silver (keyboards), TON released in '91 "Slow, Deep and Hard", one of the most ferocious, violent, and dramatic albums of the era, thanks to its blend of death metal, gothic and industrial overtones.

The work opens with the suite "Unsuccessfully Coping With The Natural Beauty Of Infidelity", where the directions that the group has decided to take can be noted, with the bass that the band themselves will admit is more of a "baritone guitar." After a very fast start, it follows with an acoustic guitar interlude accompanied by a woman's moans in the background. Here begins the main melody of the song, almost synth-metal, where Steele pours out all the hatred for the girl who betrayed him ("slut, whore, cunt/I know you're fucking someone else"). The next track "Der Untermensch" opens with electronic noises and a pulsating bass to proceed into a hardcore ride where Steele targets the homeless, calling them "Socioparasite" or "Waste of Life". "Xero Tollerance" is another violent and unhealthy song with an organ interlude that gives a solemn mood to the murder described in the lyrics ("I'll kill you tonite, and now you die, you're dead now") ending with a very sad acoustic guitar. The longest track is also the most theatrical: "Prelude to Agony". Here Steele returns to targeting women, who burn the spirit of man. After an explosive start, the track slows down to make way for bell tolls and a similar-Gregorian chant, only to restart with the famous part where Peter kills his woman with a jackhammer: indeed, in the finale, one hears the noise of the jackhammer, the woman's screams, and Steele's screams of pleasure. The instrumental "Glass Walls of Limbo (Dance Mix)" would not be out of place in a horror movie. The last gem is "Gravitational Constant", the most gothic of the batch, where Peter seems to have realized that his journey into the depths of human neuroses, saying he no longer has the desire or reason to live and that "suicide is self expression".

Ultimately, "Slow, Deep and Hard" is an apotheosis of self-destruction and hatred. Weak hearts, beware!