Daily Jam (October Edition) - Haunted

It wouldn't be the Halloween season with a little music from Type O Negative, so here they are with "Haunted," our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Bloody Kisses (A Death in the Family)

I distinctly remember the first time i heard Type O Negative, a friend letting me listen to it on his Walkman on a school bus in 10th grade.  At 15 years old, i had never heard anything like it, and honestly 31 years later, have still not.  Doom and gloom has never sounded slower, heavier, or more beautiful.  Here's a track from band's 1993 album "Bloody Kisses" for what is looking to be an overcast and rainy day here in Central Texas.  Listen to "Bloody Kisses (A Death in the Family)" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam (October Edition) - Be My Druidess

It's simply not Halloween, or Autumn for that matter, without some Type O Negative.  Here they are with the Gothic sensuality of "Be My Druidess."  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Love You to Death

There’s really nothing quite like the perennial autumnal tones of Type O Negative, heavy metal’s answer to goth, where everyday is seemingly Halloween. Things got a little bit colder with the release of the band’s 1996 album October Rust, a record full of stark and haunting moments that feel as if they should accompany scenes of dark, dirty, foreboding men in the snow, their breath visible in the gray light. But don’t let that coldness belie the album’s lush and gorgeous production, the sounds and tones and themes coming together right at the start to craft a highlight of Type O Negative’s entire discography, the BDSM-alluding “Love You to Death.”

I think I was in the tenth grade the first time I heard Type O Negative, a friend of mine playing the song “Christian Woman” for me from the album Bloody Kisses, and I was instantly enthralled by the pairing of the slow and low heaviness of the guitars with the dark lyrical imagery akin to some of the best psychosexual stuff you’d hear by Depeche Mode. Combined with the proto-industrial-metal tones, Peter Steele’s deep, guttural moan, and all the gothic themes and moods, the band’s music became a pretty integral part of my teenage years.

While I loved (and still love) Bloody Kisses, Type O Negative really jumped to the next level sonically and creatively when they released October Rust. Taking the moodiness from their prior album, the band upped the melancholia and bleeding hearts, making the record a kind of yearning open letter for the black dye set. Finally, someone was expressing a whole legion of horror nerds’ untapped feelings, and doing it with heavy, chugging guitars, cathedral level keyboards, and dark, beautiful melodies. “Love You to Death” encapsulates all of that, a gloomy, gothic masterpiece that ends on an almost romantic note.

“Am I good enough for you?”

This is probably as close to a love song as Type O Negative ever got.

Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam (October Edition) - All Hallows Eve

It's not Halloween time, or even Autumn for that matter, if you're not listening to Type O Negative.  So here they are with the seasonally appropriate "All Hallows Eve," our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - White Slavery

For some reason or another, i kind of bailed on Type O Negative after "October Rust."  I don't really know why, they probably just weren't where my head was at the time.  Going back now and listening to some of those later albums for the first time, and they're really good, not mind-blowing in the way that Rust and "Bloody Kisses" were because i'm not a teenager anymore, but a nice forward progression of the band's sound.  Guess i should have stuck around.  Anyway, here's "White Slavery," a cut from the '99 album "World Coming Down," our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Be My Druidess

Finished up the "Fear Street" movies on Netflix last night, and they're a lot of fun.  Given the '90s backdrop for everything, they sure could have benefitted from some Type O Negative.  Just sayin'.  Here's "Be My Druidess," our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Christian Woman

I'm sick today, so before i crash out for a few hours, here's "Christian Woman" from Type O Negative.  I still remember how dumbfounded i was the first time i heard them in high school, their goth metal and green tones sounding like nothing i'd ever heard before.  Listen below, our Daily Jam.  I'm going to bed.

Daily Jam (October Edition) - Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)

I remember when i was 15, and a friend of mine was describing Type O Negative to me, he concluded with, "They just sound like Halloween dude."  And he was right.  Really it's hard to muster a more adequate description of the band's particular brand of dark and melodic Gothic metal.  So here's their most Halloween sounding song of all, "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)," our Daily Jam.

Sonic Advent Calendar: Day 7 - Red Water (Christmas Mourning)

I sure do miss Type O Negative.  The band's "Red Water (Christmas Mourning)," from 1996's "October Rust," does not celebrate the Christmas holiday so much as use it for the setting of a Gothic tale of despair.  It's a dead on portrait for anyone who gets depressed around the holidays and an amazing song to boot.  Listen below.

Pallbearer cover Type O Negative

The excellent Arkansas doom metal band Pallbearer have a new EP, "Fear and Fury," out on Profound Lore, and the three track album closes with an amazing and all out banging cover of Type O Negative's "Love You to Death."  Gotta credit my friend Brian on the heads up as i'll be jamming this one for the rest of the day.  Download here, pre-order the vinyl here, and listen below.