LithoJazzoSphere Top "50" Albums - surprise #22 - way before lonestar...

[HOF]

When I was very young I thought “Smooth Operator” was about the coolest song ever. Have never heard anything else by Sade though. Was actually just looking at and pondering buying a best of CD off Doscogs the other night just to see if there was anything interesting on it.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

The one I had is the '94 The Best of Sade, and it's not bad, though they're not particularly necessary in the streaming age.  A few of the songs might be edited versions (fortunately "No Ordinary Love" isn't) though.  "Smooth Operator" certainly is, the full-length version has an extended intro with more focus on Andrew's electric piano, quite a masterful tone there, he's always had the magic touch for tones and subtle arrangements.  That's also a pretty good song for Stuart's saxophone work. 

[ReaperKK]

If you would've asked me if I ever heard any music from Sade I would've said no. If you followed up and asked if I heard "Smooth Operator" I would've said if that's her song then I have no interest in checking her out, that song gives me flashbacks to working in retail in college.

I'm about halfway through Love Deluxe and honestly I dig it. The album shares some sensibilities from Morcheeba's earlier records that I really enjoy.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Yeah, that's easily her most overplayed song, though I don't hear it around nearly as much as I used to.  I know you or someone else has sent Morcheeba in roulettes before and I may have sampled a song or two then.  Definitely another I should look into more. 

[hefdaddy42]

Sade is great, and this album is fantastic.

[ariich]

I have also neglected one artist in this section, because it will lead to the first surprise reveal of a top 60 album entry tomorrow.

There will also be a few other spontaneous reveals throughout the roots/influences section before we more systematically get to the rest of the top albums. 

Non-linear storytelling. I'm in.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Roots and Influences:

Electro-industrial/rock/metal

We're taking a HARD left turn now.  This will be a ratcheting up of the intensity and weirdness far beyond anything so far, and way past my other listening for a number of years to come at this point in my musical journey.  But this is one of the most important of all the seeds because it ultimately led to my interest in so many other styles.  So like the Top Gun vignette, this time I'm focusing on a handful of tracks from one particular compilation album rather than an assortment of different ones - the impact of it was so monumental. 

So what album am I talking about?  It's the Redbook score to the video game Descent II.  I played a moderate amount of video games as a child, not nearly as much as some friends, but this was the one game I sunk by far the most time into, even throughout college, surprisingly not impacting my grades as much as it could have.  This soundtrack is the key to my interest in metal, electronic music, and another style which I'll tease shortly.  There were a range of artists contributing to the score for the game, some more orchestral-sounding, some more purely electronic, but I was particularly compelled by the tracks from two specific artists.  Several of these are rather short, so I'm picking five tracks instead of the usual 3-4. 

Brian Luzietti - "Title"

The amount of impact this 0:41 piece that played most frequently during the title menu had on me is incalculable.  The heaviness, the intensity, the expansive and foreboding soundscape of it, it piqued my curiosity in metal, and decades and thousands of albums later, I still haven't found anything else quite like it, but I keep searching.  Dream Theater inadvertently used a quite similar riff at 6:23 in "Endless Sacrifice". 

Brian Luzietti - "Crawl"

The intro is a nod to Ministry's "Grace", which uses the same distant twacking sample.  Where it goes from there is rather bonkers though, the only way I can think to describe it if the Darth Vader "Imperial March" theme was set in The Matrix universe.  It has this really jagged and abrasive guitar tone that I've heard other versions of employed on occasion in other rock and metal and not work well, but somehow in the electro-industrial/industrial rock format it is perfect, particularly with the shred guitar bursts.  This is yet another sound that despite extensive searches, I can't find much else like. 

Brian Luzietti - "Gunner Down"

Really, pieces like this are the origin point for my fascination with aggressive music, electronics/synthesizers, and the blending of them.  This track is actually far easier to nail a reference for, with a heavy Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral inspiration, riffing off of "Big Man With a Gun" and "The Becoming", but still managing to sound like its own song.  Speaking of NIN's TDS, it's another stealth honorable mention.  I somehow missed hearing it until my 20s, but made up for lost time with it then. 

Skinny Puppy - "Glut"

There are so many tunes on this soundtrack that have these difficult to pinpoint types of sounds, that were quite a mind quake for me in late elementary school.  I just had no idea what exactly I was hearing.  Much later, even after spending a fair amount of time learning to program synthesizers myself, I'm still frequently mystified at how so many of these sounds are obtained, and it fuels my fascination with electronic music, which has an ensorcelling sound palette you can't get with a guitar/bass/drums combo.  Technically these tracks were composed and performed not by Skinny Puppy as a whole, just ohGr and Mark Walk, but it led to me eventually being riveted by their whole discography, though most of their other music isn't quite like this, weird and experimental as it can be. 

Skinny Puppy - "Ratzez"

ohGr and Mark did three pieces for the soundtrack, and this is my second favorite of them, with this really trippy synth line that keeps cropping up.  The gated and distorted vocal probably is irritating for neophytes, though I'm quite used to it at this point. 

Tracks #23-#27:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0T4IGrbCzG3ZV4128ZKOl5
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLISicXPLSax9twb8XnAQzmWSaoESqHpUc

Brian Luzietti - "Title"
Brian Luzietti - "Crawl"
Brian Luzietti - "Gunner Down"
Skinny Puppy - "Glut"
Skinny Puppy - "Ratzez"

---

Tomorrow or the next day we're getting our next surprise top 60 album reveal, which relates to an unusual song I intentionally didn't mention on this album.  Quick research would easily reveal what it is. 

[hefdaddy42]

I got nuthin'.

[SoundscapeMN]

Skinny Puppy was recently talked about a bit on an episode of The Album Years. Important group in the history of industrial music.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Do you know which episode?  It's hard to guess looking at the titles of the last few.  I've been meaning to check that podcast out for awhile, and that could be a good place to start. 

BTW, I don't know if you've had time to read any of the writeups, but Kevin Gilbert received a shoutout in my "country" section.  He cowrote "All Kinds of People" with Susan Ashton (though I featured a different song from her), and was also cowritten with Sheryl Crow and Eric Pressly (not familiar with him).

[SoundscapeMN]

Do you know which episode?  It's hard to guess looking at the titles of the last few.  I've been meaning to check that podcast out for awhile, and that could be a good place to start. 

BTW, I don't know if you've had time to read any of the writeups, but Kevin Gilbert received a shoutout in my "country" section.  He cowrote "All Kinds of People" with Susan Ashton (though I featured a different song from her), and was also cowritten with Sheryl Crow and Eric Pressly (not familiar with him).

1977 (Part 4A, lol) The last segment (go to 40:20), they go into Throbbing Gristle and talk a bit about what music that influenced.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3XMaL2EMTsseBZKaOaK7uI

That song I do know per it has been shared on 1 or more of the Kevin Gilbert Facebook groups, although I didn't know of the Susan Ashton version. Just listening, it's pretty good. I can hear how Kevin would have written something like it of his own. Someone made a comparison on YouTube to his tune "Until I Get Her Back" (which is on the "Nuts" compilation but sadly not available currently).

It's interesting though, the album All Kinds Of People comes from was unreleased, but done well before Sheryl's  debut record came out. It's all on YouTube in fact
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9vSulquS90

I actually have not listened to it much, although i hardly have spent a ton of time with Sheryl's music/albums, of course Kevin's involvement should be reason enough. Much if not all of that presumably was written and recorded when they were dating. But it sounds quite different than her debut album. It has a bit of a Christian-element though which, I suppose the Country section which includes Amy Grant in here might make some sense for Susan Ashton's music. But I usually don't care for much *christian* music per say.

What I don't know is if Kevin actually performs on any of it. He may have just produced, engineered or mixed it. I dunno. Some of the Kevin Gilbert fans on Facebook might know more.

Interesting about All Kinds of People, many have covered it, including Tina Turner. For an unreleased song, its received a lot of mileage.

[nick_z]

Ha! Looking at the updated title "The Matrix" I came in thinking you were referring to the movie soundtrack. When it came out, in 1999, I played the crap out of that one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix:_Music_from_the_Motion_Picture

Around that time, along with the big names on that soundtrack, I was really enjoying the electro/industrial/drum'n'bass whathaveyou that was popular then. I loved the songs from Meat Beat Manifesto and Lunatic Calm on that disc. Rob Dougan too, with that mixture of electronic and orchestral music.

I will have to check out the tunes you posted. The name Brian Luzietti sounds strangely familiar, but I don't think I know any of his music.

[hefdaddy42]

Ha! Looking at the updated title "The Matrix" I came in thinking you were referring to the movie soundtrack. When it came out, in 1999, I played the crap out of that one

Same

[LithoJazzoSphere]

1977 (Part 4A, lol) The last segment (go to 40:20), they go into Throbbing Gristle and talk a bit about what music that influenced.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3XMaL2EMTsseBZKaOaK7uI

Cool, I'll have to check that out. 

That song I do know per it has been shared on 1 or more of the Kevin Gilbert Facebook groups, although I didn't know of the Susan Ashton version. Just listening, it's pretty good. I can hear how Kevin would have written something like it of his own. Someone made a comparison on YouTube to his tune "Until I Get Her Back" (which is on the "Nuts" compilation but sadly not available currently).

It's interesting though, the album All Kinds Of People comes from was unreleased, but done well before Sheryl's  debut record came out. It's all on YouTube in fact
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9vSulquS90

I actually have not listened to it much, although i hardly have spent a ton of time with Sheryl's music/albums, of course Kevin's involvement should be reason enough. Much if not all of that presumably was written and recorded when they were dating...What I don't know is if Kevin actually performs on any of it. He may have just produced, engineered or mixed it. I dunno. Some of the Kevin Gilbert fans on Facebook might know more.

Interesting about All Kinds of People, many have covered it, including Tina Turner. For an unreleased song, its received a lot of mileage.

Yeah, the Crow demo version is much more like the Ashton version than the Crow '04 version for Marlo Thomas and Friends on Thanks & Giving: All Year Long.  The Turner version is also based on that demo, so it's fun to hear how similar-ish bones of a song come alive in such different ways since they all have quite different vocal styles.  I also listened to "Until I Get Her Back" and I'm not sure I immediately hear the similarity, but it's an intriguing song in its own right. 

But it sounds quite different than her debut album. It has a bit of a Christian-element though which, I suppose the Country section which includes Amy Grant in here might make some sense for Susan Ashton's music. But I usually don't care for much *christian* music per say.

Yeah, I don't want to get too ahead of myself since I have a whole section on it coming up.  But while I listen to music from people of many different spiritual backgrounds, there is an arm of the Christian music industry that certainly has challenges.  Ashton did kind of start there, but branched out over time (even did a European tour with Garth Brooks). 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

#13

Artist:  Type O Negative
Album:  October Rust
Genre(s):  gothic metal
Release date:  1996
From:  US

So as I hinted at in the previous section, there was one particular track on the Descent II Redbook soundtrack that I didn't mention, but had an outsized impact on me.  In an album heavily focused on electronic-leaning music, one song really stood out above the others, and it was Type O Negative's "Haunted".  The version they included on the Descent II Redbook soundtrack was an instrumental version of the Per remix of it, but much of the Type O Negative DNA is still there. 

I've labeled this album as "gothic metal", and that's certainly an important aspect of this album, although the full truth is much more complicated.  "Gothic metal" itself is one of the more nebulous and hotly debated terms in music taxonomy, and despite reams of reading about it and listening to it, I'm still not always entirely sure what it is myself, as there are many different approaches to it that are more or less valid depending upon which historical origins and influences you want to draw upon and how gatekeepy about it you want to be.  TON's version is a blend of it with alternative rock/metal and doom metal, and some ethereal wave components at times. 

Possibly the most distinctive element of their sound, which was already quite singular, is bassist Peter Steele's sonorous vocals.  He has a low range and power that very few can match, and yet has an emotional flexibility to deliver the right amount of nuance to each song.  My favorite vocal moment on the whole album is the plangent sustained notes starting at 4:41 in "Haunted".  Those were missing from my countless early sessions listening to the instrumental Descent II Redbook version of the song, but when I eventually heard the album version with Peter, it was a sound that I didn't even realize I needed in my life.  It's highly likely it's at least partially responsible for my general preference for more baritone/bass ranges for male vocalists.  Among numerous other moments, "In Praise of Bacchus" has a more blended version of those vocals with the Latin-ish chanting at 6:59.  It's also a perfect counterpart to guest vocalist Val Ium's backing vocals on that song, and almost assuredly kick-started my continuing fascination with "beauty and the beast"-style contrasting vocal types. 

Kenny Hickey's guitar tones throughout this album are another standout, with a very wet sound I find intoxicating.  When riffing it blends wonderfully with Peter's fuzzy bass tone.  I particularly love the doomy chromatic riffs such as at 5:18 in "Haunted".  When cleaner Kenny's guitars have an enchanting chorused sound to lend atmosphere to his parts.  Kenny also employs an acoustic guitar from time to time to add some variety and depth.  But by far my favorite tones are his ones for simple melancholic leads, such as at 3:39 in "Be My Druidess" and 2:36 in "Love You To Death", which are just dripping with delay and reverb in addition to chorus.  The latter has these subtle bends which impart an otherworldy quality to them I've never heard quite duplicated. 

Poor Johnny Kelly, he never had a chance.  You can hear him live, but on their albums other than Slow Deep and Hard and Dead Again, the drum parts are all programmed.  I don't think I even noticed for quite a number of years, which either says something about my ears at the time or the competency of their execution.  Keyboardist Josh Silver on the other hand, occasionally steals the show with a host of spooky keyboard patches, utilizing an array of pianos, organs, pads, bells and such.  The subtle "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" nod in the middle of the dolorous "Red Water (Christmas Mourning)" is also a nice touch. 

At nearly 73 minutes (not to even mention the various bonus tracks and a few remixes in this era, the cover of "Black Sabbath" is particularly worth hearing), the album is absolutely loaded with iconic songs, and I can't go without also mentioning the glorious "Wolf Moon (Including Zoanthropic Paranoia)", which might make another appearance in a later entry, but every song from the drab four here is marvelous.  One of the more enjoyable things about this project is that it is also making me go back and listen to related music to each album.  In this case, TON covered Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl" on this release, and while I've never been able to get into Neil's music, it's surprising how well this song plays into TON's style. 

The black and green album artwork is also likely a heavy influence on me being drawn to that color scheme, along with Alien and The Matrix.  This was one of the easiest decisions in terms of selecting an album within an artist's discography.  While I dig their other music, and there are other individual songs on the level of the best of these, no other album has nearly as many collected all together.  Unfortunately with Peter's untimely passing we'll never get any more from them, though Denis Pauna's Youtube covers of other songs while mimicking their style is probably about as close as we'll come. 

The whole album:
https://open.spotify.com/album/46NjYrJ5v5ZTIHMb1DrAgl

Song highlight:  "Be My Druidess"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8nDtGy9YbQ

From a heavy lead bass riff to an atmospheric section, this encapsulates much of their style. 

Another flavor:  "Haunted"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5Vs8P2nE7s

The full vocal version of the song that initially hooked me on them from the Descent II Rebook soundtrack.  The one on the soundtrack is an instrumental remix of the Per Version that is a bit longer and has a couple new sections not on the original, though it neuters a few other portions, most notably Peter's sustained vocal drones in the middle.  The Per Version does have a delicious rotrary guitar effect on the part starting at 0:31 (and repeating later), and the extended ending with a different choral arrangement and that wavering low-mid range synth sound at 10:03 is mesmerizing. 

If you want to hear the Per Version, it is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYTRMmIK9g

In action:  "Love You To Death"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD5No_JRrZw

The music video for this song really captures the visual aesthetic of the band.  The album title couldn't possibly be more perfect.  Of course, it's a cut-down version from the original, so for audio purposes, it's better to return to the album version. 

---

The ongoing top 60 album highlights playlists:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1iz6CsS0htUVpMPhV28kkR
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLISicXPLSax_vL9waPRPoqhwURuIICm2T

---

We'll be back to the next root/influence section probably on Tuesday. 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Ha! Looking at the updated title "The Matrix" I came in thinking you were referring to the movie soundtrack. When it came out, in 1999, I played the crap out of that one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix:_Music_from_the_Motion_Picture

Around that time, along with the big names on that soundtrack, I was really enjoying the electro/industrial/drum'n'bass whathaveyou that was popular then. I loved the songs from Meat Beat Manifesto and Lunatic Calm on that disc. Rob Dougan too, with that mixture of electronic and orchestral music.

I will have to check out the tunes you posted. The name Brian Luzietti sounds strangely familiar, but I don't think I know any of his music.

Yeah, per soupy's inspiration, I'm picking titles for the roots/influences chapters from movies with something in common with the section.  The soundtrack to The Matrix did influence me, though the rollout was slower.  When I first saw the film what it immediately did was turn me into a massive Rage Against The Machine fan for a few months.  It took a few more years for some of the other tracks to sink in, but it's an excellent set.  My electronic music journey was still quite nascent at the time, so I didn't yet have all the mental framework for it, but there will be even more on that in a number of days. 

Luzietti is primarily a video game composer, I'm unsure what else he's done, other than what is listed at IMDB and such. 

[Sacul]

Cool album and band, never got that much into them, but they've got a style and sound quite unique to them. I agree with "Gothic Metal" really being a nebulous term tho, I've never understood it well enough.

[Buddyhunter1]

Off to a great start - that's an album that deserved to make the proper list. One of my absolute favorite 90s albums, easily. Type O Negative has some good stuff outside this album but really, this is their masterpiece and there isn't any real competition for me.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Alright! October Rust is definitely and album I can get behind. There really is nothing else like it, or like Type O Negative for that matter.

It's not my favorite album by TON (that would be Life is Killing Me), but it's a very close second. I know a lot of people site Bloody Kisses as being their best, but that is actually my least favorite of theirs.

Hmm, I feel the need to do a track by track breakdown now....

Ignoring the first 2 tracks of the album "Bad Ground" and "[untitled]" since they are both nothing, let's start with...

- Love You to Death -
What an amazing way to start an album, and not really a departure from their sound on their first 2 albums, but a culmination of everything that makes the band great. Beginning with what I think is the star of this album outside of Peter's vocals, Josh's keyboards have this beautiful atmosphere while at the same time being haunting and sad all at once. And then Peter's vocals just ooze a sort of dark sensuality that is hard to describe, but is infinitely infectious. Add in the way he uses his range from the deepest of bass vocals to the higher tones it just sucks you in. Then there's the perfect vocal harmonies in the chorus. Everything about this song is just sublime. Above all that, I think it's the bridge and outro that really ties this song together. Soaring vocals from Peter dripping with melancholy, great backing vocals, and then that guitar tone...

- Be My Druidess -
Whipping in with that gritty/fuzzy/gnarly bass tone, then the super jangly, Rush in the mid '80s guitar tone is a great contrast. Then more seductive vocal stylings from Peter (considering the lyrical content it makes sense). Similar to Love You to Death, this song is really made special by the bridge and outro with that atmospheric lead guitar tone and the contrasting vocal styles from deep to ethereal.

- Green Man -
A song about how Peter used to be a garbage man in the city and his affinity for the color green and the passing of seasons under the guise of a pagan deity. It sounds silly but the song actually sounds dead serious. Almost hopeful, which is odd for a TON song. I really like that intro guitar tone in this song. The keyboards also really drive this song. The outro chanting section is also a TON staple and ends the song on an interesting note.

- Red Water (Christmas Mourning) -
Ah yes the song that shines the biggest light on Josh Silver's impeccable keyboard work. The contrast between those opening keyboards and the slow dirge-like guitar/bass tones is nothing short of a stroke of genius and sounds amazing. This song just drips with atmospheric sadness. Not many bands evoke as much raw emotion into the music of a song that fits so perfectly with the lyrical content. I often liken this to their song Anesthesia from the album Life Is Killing Me as being the standard bearers for this. Love the vocal melodies throughout this song especially.

- My Girlfriends Girlfriend -
So TON always has to throw some sort of not-super-serious-kind-of-a-joke type song in there albums. I mean, then again, they've never really taken themselves too seriously, except on World Coming Down. This is my least favorite song on this album, mostly because it's kind of dumb, but the keyboards and atmosphere are still on point. It's even got a bit more of a punky vibe which harkens back to Bloody Kisses a bit and Peter's previous band Carnivore. The key changes in this song are also pretty cool.

- Die With Me -
Another favorite on this album. Great melodies throughout and vocals that have more of a sonorous hopefulness to them, despite the song being more about unrequited love. I really like the big bombastic drums here and the guitar solo (as simple and short as it is).

- Burnt Flowers Fallen -
The simplest song lyrically on the album, but with a lot of musical depth. Lyrically I believe it to be a sequel to Die With Me. Just a theory I have though. The keyboards really shine on this song again. Then the quiet parts you can really feel the agony in Peters vocals. He always does a fantastic job of evoking that pure emotion in his voice.

- In Praise of Bacchus -
Again, another sequel to the previous song, to make a trilogy. Once again just my own theory. Lyrically it makes sense to me. Anyway, this song has some great guitar mixed with keyboards to make a cool atmosphere, especially in the "side by side, see, we're counting cracks" part. Then Valerie's backing vocals make a great contrast to Peter's vocals. The quiet part with just keyboards and vocals at about the 5:30 mark is great too.

- Cinnamon Girl -
Like Litho, I'm not really a Neil Young fan, but this cover is all kinds of awesome. Actually I haven't been disappointed in any of TON's cover songs. They do a great job of adapting them to their own style, which is what I think needs to be accomplished in a cover. Don't just copy the song note for note, inject your own DNA into it, which TON does superbly here. The backing vocals here also give the song just a little more oomph.

- The Glorious Liberation of the People's Technocratic Republic of Vinnland by the Combined Forces of the United Territories of Europa -
Just an interlude song, not much to say about it.

- Wolf Moon (Including Zoanthropic Paranoia) -
Similar in vibe to Red Water. super atmospheric keyboards to begin the song along with a bit quieter and less fuzzy bass tone and then the slow build up into the song proper is with the drums and guitar is perfect. The way this song moves and transforms musically is super satisfying. Peter also using metaphors to perfection in the lyrics.

- Haunted -
TON going funeral doom, both musically and lyrically. This song goes through so many moods musically that it's impossible to not be entertained by it and just love it. Oh how I hate the morning, indeed!

[ReaperKK]

Spotify really thought I would dig this album. Over a period of a few months I started to get songs on my Discover Weekly playlit from this album. After about 6 or so songs I decided to check out the whole album and Spotify was right, I did like this band and album. I've never checked out any other work but I do spin this record a few times a year.

In Praise of Bacchus is my personal favorite.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

It's not my favorite album by TON (that would be Life is Killing Me), but it's a very close second.

That's probably my second favorite of theirs. 

then the super jangly, Rush in the mid '80s guitar tone is a great contrast.

Hmm, not a comparison I would have thought of, but I guess I can see it. 

This song goes through so many moods musically that it's impossible to not be entertained by it and just love it.

I have definitely run across metalheads who don't like this song.  Oh well, their loss. 

[hefdaddy42]

I certainly have nothing against Type O Negative, but I also have never gotten into them really at all.

[Buddyhunter1]

It's not my favorite album by TON (that would be Life is Killing Me), but it's a very close second.

That's probably my second favorite of theirs. 

Same.

[ariich]

I certainly have nothing against Type O Negative, but I also have never gotten into them really at all.

This.

At Buddy's prompting I gave the album another try after my recent roulette and it was alright, but I still don't see it being something I'll ever love.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

- Haunted -
TON going funeral doom, both musically and lyrically.

BTW, are you familiar with the Per Version of the song?  Hardly anyone else anywhere seems to even know about it. 

[SoundscapeMN]

I saw Type O a little over 20 years ago with a friend who loved them. I just remember some tune where Peter Steele talked about a Werewolf.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Well, one of the songs on that album is entitled "Wolf Moon" after all.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

- Haunted -
TON going funeral doom, both musically and lyrically.

BTW, are you familiar with the Per Version of the song?  Hardly anyone else anywhere seems to even know about it.

I am not, I'll have to give it a listen.

[Stadler]

I kind of dig Type O Negative.  Certainly Peter Steele is (was) a fascinating guy.   Hard to argue his commitment to the work.

[Buddyhunter1]

I saw Type O a little over 20 years ago with a friend who loved them. I just remember some tune where Peter Steele talked about a Werewolf.

Well, one of the songs on that album is entitled "Wolf Moon" after all.

Which is totally what that song is actually about.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I saw Type O a little over 20 years ago with a friend who loved them. I just remember some tune where Peter Steele talked about a Werewolf.

Well, one of the songs on that album is entitled "Wolf Moon" after all.

Which is totally what that song is actually about.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I never said where the blood was being donated from...

[Buddyhunter1]

Shouts out to Green Man and Red Water for being the only two songs (with lyrics) on the album not being about women and/or sex.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I'm sure those still are and he's just more cryptic about it.  He likes his goils. 

[twosuitsluke]

A few years ago I started a trend where I'd get into a band that I'd been aware of for around 2 decades (and I'd sampled countless times), and they'd finally click. In 2021, that band was Deftones, and in 2022, it was Type O Negative. I've just looked back and found the post from 2022 where I started a deep dive into the band...

Here is a story, and the reason why my musical obsession will never end.

So I've been aware of Type O Negative since the mid 00s. Back then I started digging into loads of metal, and was becoming well aware of all the big names. There was a local record shop that had great second hand CDs, and I'd always check out the bargain bin. If there was a metal band I was aware of, and they had an album going for like £2, I'd always take a punt. I vividly remember picking up Catch 33 by Meshuggah around this time. I wasn't really prepared for them back then    I know that the only Type O album I'd ever listened to was October Rust, as I picked it up around this time.

As with loads of music I purchased at that time, some of it stuck, some of it didn't. I'd revisist these bands periodically but I never really 'got' Type O, therefore never checked out any other albums. I also didn't have any friends who were into them, at all.

Fast forward to yesterday and I was reading an article by Metalsucks.net about the rise and fall of Roadrunner Records. I checked out so many Roadrunner bands back in the day and it was an interesting read. In the article they talked about how Type O became one of their biggest selling artists and one of their albums (possibly October Rust) became a surprise hit.

I was like "You know what, I could give them a listen right now". So I did just that and listened to a few of their songs.

And this is the point of my story, this is what I am always searching for, moments like this. I spun these songs and the planets just aligned for me, and I appreciated the songs in a way I never had before. I love how sometimes the conditions are just right to hear music in totally different ways. I know my musical taste has broadened and changed in the years since first hearing Type O, and to be honest it's probably been like 10 years since I last gave them a go.

Well today I decided to listen to Life is Killing Me, and I loved it! I've now moved onto giving October Rust a relisten.

This could be a fleeting moment, or it could develop into a deeper love/appreciation of the band, but I'm sure as hell gonna sample all their albums and enjoy the ride.

Yea, it wasn't a fleeting moment. It progressed onto me listening to them a lot that year. As for favourite albums, I'd say (like Puppies) Life is Killing Me is my favourite but their main studio album run is super consistent and I kinda love all of them.

Great choice Litho, can't say I was expecting that as high as #13 (or even at all).