Type O Negative - Slow, Deep and Hard (1991)^{Release ID: 933}

This is such a strange album. There are only 6 tracks (plus The Misinterpretation of Silence and its Disastrous Consequences which is humorously just a minute of silence), each running between 6 and 12 minutes in length. On each of these tracks I can find sections that I thoroughly enjoy. Type O Negative know how to create atmosphere when they put their mind to it and some of the doom sections are great. There are other rock parts that get me nodding my head and remind me of the greatness that Type O Negative would reach with their gothic rock in years to come. There's even an awesome 6-minute instrumental (Glass Walls of Limbo) complete with low chanting vocals and sound effects that could fit on any good dark ambient album. So, there's a lot that I like here!

But then there's so much that I really don't enjoy. These tracks move from doom to rock to a sort of sleezy punk sound that just about ruins everything. I know that this band (and Peter Steele's previous thrash band Carnivore which I can still hear in this release) have always been somewhat sleezy, with stupid cheesy lyrics, but I find it really annoying on Slow, Deep and Hard because I can hear so much potential for an album that I would love. I guess if I hadn't heard the band's more recent albums before giving this a spin, I'd probably see it differently. As it is, I don't think I'll listen to it all that much.

Allegedly written in four hours by a drunk Peter Steele after a relationship break up, Slow, Deep and Hard sounds exactly as you would expect it to under such circumstance.  I have often marvelled at the praise that Type O Negative get in all honesty and this album has done little to change my opinion of them.  There are moments during this record where I not only want to hit the skip button, I simply want to turn the record off and forget it ever darkened my speakers.  I mean to talk about this being a collection of songs as opposed to an outright album is an injustice.  This is a horrible mish-mash of ideas, poorly thought out and even more poorly delivered on what sounds like four guys just fucking around in the studio for an hour.

Even the atmospheric/ambient piece sounds accidental and uninspired.  As for the minute or so of silence - well don't get me started.  I get the irony, sarcasm and disdain that drips from the album but it is so wastefully applied that I do not feel like Steel has shared anything with me, more that this is a dump of random, drunken thoughts that he simply needed to offload regardless of how it sounded.  When we do get form and structure to the record it goes on and on in the same mindless direction and regurgitates the same ideas over and over again performed by sloppy musicians who clearly had no fucks to give.

There's not a lot here that I find worthy of taking the time to rate so a one star is the most accurate rating I can give.  Not for me folks.