:: Type O Negative - Dead Again

Type O Negative

It’s been a rough four years for Brooklyn based gothic/doom metal outfit Type O Negative since the release of ‘Life Is Killing Me’ in 2003. Aside from the band having to go through the process of finding a new label (their contract with Roadrunner Records expired, which prompted the band’s move to S.P.V.), it’s been vocalist/bassist Peter Steele who has endured the worst of it all, after having spent some time behind bars, overcoming both growing alcohol and drug dependencies and dealing with the loss of his mother. But for all the dramas the band have endured; they’ve managed to come through the other side and finally put together a seventh full-length album in ‘Dead Again’. Unlike the band’s last couple of releases, ‘Dead Again’ features the sounds of a re-energised Type O Negative, with their latest release easily their strongest release since 1996’s critically acclaimed ‘October Rust’.

The album is opened up with the title track ‘Dead Again’, which begins predictably with a slow doom dirge before picking up speed around a minute into the track, which inevitably ear marks itself out as one of the really up-tempo and rocking tracks on the album. ‘Tripping A Blind Man’ starts off in a similar fashion, but soon livens up to become of Type O Negative’s fastest numbers in many years. Apart from return to faster tempos, the song contains plenty of the band’s trademark multi-layered harmonised choruses mixed in with their obvious Black Sabbath riffs, with ‘Some Stupid Tomorrow’ and the rather humorous ‘Halloween In Heaven’ following along similar lines. The eleven-minute single 'The Profits Of Doom’, as it suggest by its title, is a slower paced effort full of big, heavy doom riffing and atmospherics in classic Type O Negative fashion, while the powerfully touching epic ballad ‘September Sun’ is stronger still, with a sound and feel that could have easily give you the impression that is was a long forgotten leftover recording from the ‘October Rust’ sessions. Both the infectious and melodic ‘She Burned Me Down’ and the Black Sabbath inspired ‘An Ode To Locksmiths’ are some of the punchier and sharper sounding rock orientated numbers on the album, while the cinematic finale ‘Hail And Farewell To Britain’ is a melding pot of all the band’s collective influences, with a subtle ‘70’s influence heard notably within the keyboards and guitars.

Type O Negative haven’t reinvented themselves on ‘Dead Again’, but what they have manage to do is inject some passion into their music, which was largely missing from their last couple of releases. Don’t be misled with the title adorning the latest release from the self-deprecating New Yorkers. There’s still plenty of life left in Type O Negative yet.