Type O Negative
Symphony For The Devil

The combination of violence, aggression, blasphemy, and dark backgrounds (partly created by Carnivore) with romantic, religious, passionate, and sometimes even erotic elements has created a particular style around Type O Negative that is much debated and greatly appreciated by me.

It all began when I was lying on the bed flipping through METAL HAMMER. Without my command, my eyes fell on a radar-green caption. It said

"Type O Negative, the first live DVD, symphony for the devil, in stores March 30, distributed by audioglobe; also includes a single CD with a Santana cover...".

I threw the magazine in the air, and while storming through everything in my path, I quickly grabbed the yellow pages and the receiver to pester the shopkeepers for information as quickly as possible, in order to gather the money immediately. Moral: 25 euros well spent.

The packaging comes in a cardboard box depicting a collage of all-green eyes with the title written along the inner corners, as is TON tradition. From the cardboard, you extract the DVD package, featuring artwork of a photo (or photomontage) of the band members dressed as nuns with a gun in hand. Inside: DVD and single CD. The single CD is the real specialty; it contains a beautiful Santana cover ["Santana Medley": Evil Ways / Oyo Como Va / Black Magic Woman] that in Type O Negative's version is hilarious and spectacular. The keyboards pump out a cathedral-like sound interspersed with rock'n roll solos, the bass is clean and slow like in "October Rust," and the guitar is rough and haunting as always, but the real standout is Steele's voice mystically whispering: "Oyo Como Va?". A brilliant, fun, gothic, melodic, and special song that will satisfy every Type O Negative fan.

The DVD, on the other hand, includes that fantastic concert at the Bizarre Festival in Germany in 1999, the year TON reached their peak popularity. The 5.1 audio is excellent and the video quality is surprising. It contains hot and incredible material, sometimes obscene and capable of leaving even those who thought they had seen/heard everything of TON speechless. So it spontaneously begs the question of why I didn't give 5 stars but 4. Well, I was a bit disappointed by the fact that the DVD doesn't include subtitles because only through them could I have fully enjoyed it! Audioglobe distributes around the world a DVD that, besides the concert, hits you in the face with behind-the-scenes footage, amateur videos made by the band in Jackass style, but above all, AN AUDIO COMMENTARY FOR THE ENTIRE CONCERT, and they don't think at all to subtitle something?

Yeah... at school, I should have taken the English subject more seriously. But this is just a setback amidst a billion beautiful things. Let's go in order, starting from inserting the disc into the DVD player (ps2 in my case). The very detailed main menu allows us to choose what we want to watch: the concert or the bonus foolishness. The concert, as I've already said, can be watched with commentary from Steele and company. Between one song and another of the concert, amateur footage of the backstage and various antics of TON around Germany follow one another. You'll see the film blasted with an opening sequence that says a lot about the rest of the DVD: a man without an arm and bare-chested holding a sign that reads "I'd Give my right arm to see type o.", followed by scenes depicting different metalheads shouting "Type O Negative" on various occasions, and even more people showing their penis on camera.

You will see everything and more, I, after so many years of listening to Type O Negative and considering them my favorite band, have always considered Peter Steele to be a tough and serious person, dangerous but intelligent,... instead, Peter loves to joke, act like a fool, play the clown, and say bullshit (but always maintaining his tough-guy attitude that, if he grabs you, he'll kick your ass, and his physique and always angry look are frightening). But what really counts is the live Bizarre Festival. Peter Steele: vocals and bass (a black and green bombed bass that seems almost fake held by a chain resting on his huge shoulders), a man in a green shirt. It's said that the eyes are the mirror of the soul. Peter has empty eyes lost in nowhere or some other parallel dimension, cold eyes, and a passionate and gloomy, nocturnal, and poetic voice. In shorts and a sleeveless shirt, there's Johnny Kelly playing the drums with the help of his muscles; while Josh Silver under a massive mountain of curly hair plays the keyboard with rage, risking collapsing all the equipment. With great class, finally, Kenny Hickey moves on stage playing a magical bass and producing an atmospheric and melancholy sound.

There are 16 songs featured in the live, among these also my favorites: In Praise Of Bacchus, Cornucopia (this song was composed with the help of John Osbourne); Kill Of The White People (touching and recalling their thrashers past with Carnivore) "Wolf Moon", "Christian Woman"; "Love You To Death", and to beautifully conclude the DVD, also "Black N. 1". From the bonus menu, you can see a photo gallery representing the youth of the band and an interview granted to an authentically hot journalist (Julia). I kindly invite any owner of this DVD who is good in English to give me some tips about the interview. The DVD makes you regret not having been in Germany in 1999, among who knows how many millions of moshers.

What to say... if you know (and I hope you do) TON, this DVD will fit perfectly in your collection, but if you are fans of these fantastic Americans, go ahead! Detach immediately from the PC and go buy it!