Review by SilentScream213 for Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me (2003)

After the doomy intro “Thi13teen,” I was met with the first Type O Negative song I’d ever heard that sounded really, truly great. “I Don’t Wanna Be Me,” as simple as it is, is carried by a guitar lead that is, in essence, the perfect upbeat Gothic Metal riff. Drumming is bouncy, chorus is catchy, it’s full of melancholic energy, almost emo honestly.

Now, I also realized immediately that I’d heard this somewhere before, in fact I was quite certain Anathema did this song, and I was quite certain it was on Alternative 4… That’s right, it was track 3, “Empty.”

No, the songs are not identical, but it’s a very, very clear influence.

However, that’s not a bad thing. Type O Negative were one of the first Gothic Metal bands around, and one of the most influential. But “Life is Killing Me” is the first album that really sees them going from influencer to influenced, taking inspiration from the plethora of Gothic Metal that had arisen since their inception.

Since I think a good 95% of Gothic Metal bands that came after are way better than Type O Negative who influenced them, that’s a big plus for me.

Unfortunately though, “I Don’t Wanna Be Me” is far and away better than almost all the following material. Most of the other tracks fall victim to Peter Steele’s atrocious lyricism and goofy antics. There’s some nicely dense compositions going on here, and the band has all the right ingredients to make fantastic songs. Unfortunately, the band members work against one another. Peter Steele is constantly sabotaging any good songs with his embarrassing shenanigans. The keys/synths occasionally add in sounds that sound way too playful or just contrast the otherwise dark atmosphere. The guitar leads are great sometimes… but pretty much everytime the drums switch to doomy plodding, which is when a GOOD RIFF is most necessary, the guitars decide to be as boring as possible.

Thankfully, “Anesthesia” towards the end of the album showcases the band putting all their potential songwriting prowess to good use a delivering a genuinely melancholic masterpiece of gloomy, doomy, Gothic Metal. The density of this track is fantastic, and all the layers contribute to a hazy, moody atmosphere. Even Peter’s lyrics and delivery on this song are good! 

“The Dream is Dead” is a good closer as well, resulting in this album being a plethora of eclectic, dense, but ultimately mediocre Gothic Metal bookended by genuine quality and highlights among the genre.

Of course, if you like frat boy humor and less conventional songwriting in your Gothic Metal, I suppose you will probably just enjoy all of it. But I don’t.

Still, it is easily my favorite Type O release so far.