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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!
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Unsuccessfully Coping With the Natural Beauty of Infidelity (12:39)
A) anorganic transmutogenesis (synthetic division)
Trust and you'll be trusted
Says the liar to the fool
Lust and so what if you're busted?
In love and war there ain't no rules
Do you believe in forever?
I don't even believe in tomorrow
The only things that last forever
Are memories and sorrow
Out of sight out of mind
The motto of betrayal
The prophets preach to forgive and forget
I'm sorry, but I am unable
B) coitus interruptus
C) I Know You're Fucking Someone Else
You went to L'amour Saturday night
Red nails and lipstick dressed two sizes two tight
His tongue down your throat
His hand up your skirt
Yeah I'm a man
But it still hurts
Slut
Whore
Cunt
I know you're fucking someone else
(He knows you're fucking someone else)
I know you're fucking someone else
(He knows you're fucking someone else)
You had cock on your mind
And cum on your breath
Inserted that diaphragm before you left
Practicing freelance gynecology
Where there's a womb there's a way
With you it's for free
Slut
Whore
Cunt
I know you're fucking someone else
(He knows you're fucking someone else)
I know you're fucking someone else
(He knows you're fucking someone else)
Done it before
Time after time
Refused to learn your lesson
Gave 'til it hurt
Thought it was right
Only fools make mistakes twice
So you sit home
Drinking alone
Empty bottle in your hand
Don't even try
To sort out the lies
It's worse to try to understand
You
You make me hate myself
I know you're fucking someone else
(He knows you're fucking someone else)
I know you're fucking someone else
(He knows you're fucking someone else)
I know you're fucking someone else
(He knows you're fucking someone else)
I know you're fucking someone else
(He knows you're fucking someone else)
I know
(He knows)
I said I know
(He said he knows)
I know
(He knows)
04 Prelude to Agony (12:15)
There is no pain like that of desire
Is there no difference between women and fire?
One burns the spirit
The other the flesh
Is sex worth the price of certain death?
Absolution
I am whole
Absolution
I am
Open her loins and into the hearth
Don't let her flames consume your heart
For the quest of holy copulation
The end result?
Self immoliation
Absolution
I am whole
Absolution
I am
Love is life
Life is love
Love is pain
Pain is death
Agony and ecstacy
Your cries of pain my pleasure
To know my machine internally
Your torment I treasure
Lifeblood combines with semen
Your screaming my laughter
The compressor is running smoothly
'Tis vengeance I am after
Begging becomes your lovesong
You're dying
I masturbate
For the crime of burning me
I give to thee
Jackhammerape
Pain
Pain
Pain
Pain
(Pain)
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Other reviews
By Rooster
"It is a daunting task to find, in the hard musical landscape, another album containing so much anger, misanthropy, nihilism, savagery, and indistinct sex."
"Peter Steele manages to masterfully interpret all this alienation, which is nothing more than a plunge into the putrid psychological world of a madman."
By Stefano90
Physics, sex, suffering, death, suicide, God, and whores.
Rating: 7.5
By Gabrielegilli
In 12 minutes, Steele vents against his girlfriend, guilty of being unfaithful to him... every single damn time, I stand up and applaud in tears.
"I DON'T WANNA LIVE NO MORE" Steele shouts resigned... the greatest metal album of all time, destined to be remembered by me until the end of my days.
