July 2022 Feature Release - The Fallen Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month’s feature release for The Fallen has been nominated by myself. It's the 1999 fourth studio album "World Coming Down" from New York gothic metallers Type O Negative. I originally got into ToN though their previous record "October Rust" which really got its hooks into me & became a huge release for me at the time but I'd drifted away from the metal scene by the time the follow-up landed. Thankfully Ben picked it up & would ensure that I was made aware of its significantly darker, heavier & doomier sound. I'd later trade Ben for his CD copy of the album & I still have that copy to this day. I haven't listened to it in several millennia though & have been meaning to give it a revisit for some time now.

https://metal.academy/releases/937

World Coming Down is known as Type O Negative's darkest hour (or 74 minutes), and was pretty much one of the most depressive albums I've heard when I was still listening to gothic/doom metal last year. That was at the time when the virus was still quite heavy in my country, and with this album frequently relating to deaths of loved ones, which was what I feared if the virus ever reached my family (fortunately never), that's one reason for my departure from The Fallen. Back to the present, the virus is becoming much less severe, and I can do some of the things I enjoy again that I couldn't do then. And maybe I can someday give good Fallen releases like this one another chance...

I really enjoyed revisiting this record over the last couple of days. I don't recall it being claimed as any sort of classic back in the day. That seems to have been something of historical thing but I'm not sure it's warranted despite "World Coming Down" being of a consistently high quality. Sure, this is one ToN record that is well & truly deserving of the dual gothic/doom metal tag & on paper I'd suggest that it really should be my Type O Negative record of choice given it's darker, doomier sound however that's not really the reality here. For me, ToN have always been about those huge vocal hooks backed by glistening early-80's goth rock-inspired instrumentation & there's significantly less of that on offer than was the case with its glorious predecessor "October Rust" (ToN's best work in my opinion). The sheer depth of the doom material is as crushingly heavy as you'll find (see tracks like "White Slavery" or the title track for example) but I don't think they manage to completely capitalize on it with strong enough hooks to see "World Coming Down" being spoken of in the same sort of terms as "October Rust". The other thing is that it's a noticeably top-heavy release with all of the weaker material residing in the back end of the tracklisting. There aren't any bad tracks as such but there's a noticeable lull from tracks 9-12 in my opinion. Still... this is a really solid release & I haven't quite discovered why Ben felt the need to part with it. Perhaps it's the Beatles cover version medley that closes the album as I know he hates covers. It's admittedly a really good example of one though with the band giving the songs there own lumbering, ultra-heavy spin.

For fans of A Pale Horse Named Death, Paradise Lost & My Dying Bride.

4/5

I actually think the three longer interludes add further weight to the depressive atmosphere so i don’t mind them. The eleven second joke track that kicks off the album is an absolute travesty though & should be eliminated from existence immediately. Much like Tool, Type O Negative seem to have no inkling that their fans don’t want their serious metal music diluted with redundant humour. It only detracts from the overall product & this would likely be another reason why Ben traded me his CD as I know he hates that shit.

Still... this is a really solid release & I haven't quite discovered why Ben felt the need to part with it.

Perhaps it had more to do with what you were willing to exchange. That said, while I don't mind this release, it was a big step down from October Rust.

As for the "joke track", let's not forget the ludicrousness that is the first minute of October Rust.

Good production, decent melodic storytelling, and a frontman who has the bass in their voice to pull it all off...and yet I don't find myself enjoying this record as much as October Rust. I think my major complain is sequencing; say what you will about the producer's nightmare that is October Rust, it had a consistent flow and design from top to bottom. Whereas this has some very impressive melodic doom on the back half (most notably the title track and "Everything Dies") but the first few tracks are bafflingly bad. "White Slavery" and "Everyone I Loved Is Dead" are atrocious and I would not blame a soul for turning the album off prematurely. If you can make it through the first six tracks, you'll find some of Type O Negative's best songs.

7/10

The other thing is that it's a noticeably top-heavy release with all of the weaker material residing in the back end of the tracklisting. There aren't any bad tracks as such but there's a noticeable lull from tracks 9-12 in my opinion.

Whereas this has some very impressive melodic doom on the back half (most notably the title track and "Everything Dies") but the first few tracks are bafflingly bad. "White Slavery" and "Everyone I Loved Is Dead" are atrocious and I would not blame a soul for turning the album off prematurely. If you can make it through the first six tracks, you'll find some of Type O Negative's best songs.

Quoted Saxy S

Hahahaha.... there's only one thing you can rely on at the Academy & that's diversity of opinion. 

I must admit to being dismayed to see another Type O Negative album as this month's Fallen feature release. However, this isn't as bad an album as I had feared and there were several tracks I quite enjoyed, despite my inbuilt antipathy to the band. This feels more doomy than any of their other releases (at least that I have heard) and to some extent they seem to have shied away from the more commercial-centric, almost poppy material I have heard elsewhere, so that will always play into my favour.

That said, it still suffers from my usual bugbears about TON, namely their refusal to commit to any real heaviness. There are several tracks here that had the potential to be doom classics, yet they just seem to refuse to commit to true doom metal heaviness, shying away from a really crushing sound, the production being too airy for a top-level doom album. Despite toning it down, they still sprinkle their tracks with catchy passages or choruses and Pete Steele's vocals don't convince me at all and as such they end up ultimately sounding uncommited as doom merchants. I am fully aware that this probably puts me in a minority of one as everyone else seems to love TON and although this is the most appealing of their albums to me, that is still relative and this sounds like far from classic material to my ears.

Oh, and just fuck off with the Beatles medley.

3/5

I wish I had more time to return to October Rust as I think having more memory of that album would have done me a few favors in figuring out an opinion on this one. I've found that I generally enjoy my time with Type O Negative, but I never rush back to them or really feel the need to, considering I haven't listened to a single song off of October Rust or any of their other albums after it was featured months ago. I kind of felt the same way about World Coming Down, although I think I can agree that it's a step down from October Rust. It's definitely a darker, more brooding album, with the interludes painting some dark and interesting pictures. However I don't think they were utilized in a cohesive enough way for me to really get into the album's atmosphere or supposed concept if there is any; some of the transitions out of them are pretty rough sounding. I think that Type O Negative plays to their strengths extremely well and still are one of my favorite Gothic Metal bands behind maybe Tiamat, with the vocals having a ton of range and variety that contribute to the songwriting way more than any other element. The fuzzy, kind of weak sounding production sounds fine for what they were going for in my opinion, as it straddles the gap between their more gloomy but shiny sounding sections and the more dark and chuggy ones. Most songs have a ton of small transitions between the two moods and while I think it sounds great, I didn't necessarily find it compelling for the entire album's runtime. 

I'm with Daniel in that the first half of the album is stronger than the second, with the first three "real" tracks (White Slavery, Everyone I Love Is Dead, and Who Will Save The Sane?) sucking me in rather well but the final three "real" tracks (Everything Dies, Pyretta Blaze, and All Hallows Eve) felt like they were overstaying their welcome. "World Coming Down" feels like a bit of a letdown considering its length, but "Creepy Green Light" is easily one of my favorites. I think this'll be another case of me not returning to this band for quite some time, but it's nice to know I can still enjoy some Gothic Metal every now and again.

3.5/4