Type O Negative - World Coming Down (1999) Reviews

Really running out of words for this band, and I do not get the acclaim. The guitar tone here is awful, and carries this static, poorly produced sound that makes it grate on my ears. The guitars sound thin, weak and annoying. The riffs are simple without evoking anything; they don’t sound sad or gloomy, they don’t sound evil or dark, they’re just there. Drumming is, similarly, repetitive and boring. For Doom/Gothic Metal, repetitive slow drumming is totally fine if it’s supporting well-crafted atmospheres or emotional performances, but this album is sporting neither of those qualities in spades. The vocals of Peter Steel continue to leave me unimpressed, and his lyrics do far worse. The stupid little skits found between certain songs are atrocious and not funny in the least.

Does the album have strengths? Yeah, I can recognize some. There is more presence of backing atmospherics such as keys, organs, choirs, which help add some density. They aren’t particularly… moody, but they sound nice enough. The variety in said backing elements is pleasant as well, with pretty much each song introducing some new sounds, keeping things fresh. The layering of instruments is done very well, though the terrible sounding guitars render this point null at times. The title track in particular has some great moments, but as it’s over 11 minutes, it’s still not consistently good. The ending of Everything Dies is similarly fantastic, but it’s hardly worth getting through 6 minutes of mediocre Gothic Metal.

I’ll just have to say it again… I don’t want my Gothic Metal filled with jokes, college frat humor and lacking emotion.

I limited myself to one album per band for my top 20 list, with the exception of Death-they get two because they are the top dogs.

Picking which Type O Negative album I was going to go with was very difficult, everything they did is worth a listen, except Slow, Deep, and Hard-the result of a drunken binge, and shitty leftovers. Also The Origin of Feces isn't a real album. Seriously, that album and it's cover are a conspiracy and not real. Yessir, so you never ever ever need to look for it, or know anything about it. Type O Negative Debuted with Bloody Kisses and the rest is history. 

I ultimately went with World Coming Down because its the one that I have the deepest emotional connection with. This is the album that got me through my darkest days. I've never touched hard drugs, so  I don't directly relate to "White Slavery" but I remember living in a shitty 1 bedroom appartment, with no furniture, hungry and cold in the middle of December in Michigan (It's so goddamn cold up here man), sitting on the floor listening to the album and when Pete says "I've Lost Myself Again". Please believe I felt that to my very core.

While that was happening I was working a soul destroying job at an evil fucking company, and my mother passed away of a sudden heart-attack at 52. I talked to her at about 7pm one evening and she was dead by morning the next day. No warning, just dropped dead. Sometimes people just fucking die. I think you know where I'm going with this if you know this album.

I was driving to work at that god forsaken place debating whether or not to drive into to oncoming traffic and I decided to do a double shot of "Everyone I Love is Dead", and "Everything Dies." Instead. My grandmother also passed later that month, and wifey and I put down our Huskey  (first dog as a couple) 2 months later.  Marriage wasn't exactly failing, but it had been strained for sure, and yeah... "I know that my World is Coming Down-so bring it down". 

This is a rough ass album, but it's also got "Creepy Green Light", and "All Hallows Eve" which keep the bands usual October vibes going. Fun songs for the season.

"Who will Save the Sane?" Is admittedly kinda mid, at least it doesn't do anything for me. "The Beatles Medley" Is weird but that's just fine.

I saved the best for last. It's time to talk about "Pyretta Blaze". My favorite song by Type-O-Negative. 

Lyrically this song describes a fantasy Pete had of setting a house on fire and making love to someone inside of it, as the flames burned it to the ground and then perishing with his lover as the flames engulfed them both. That's gonna sound like some fucked up shit, but if you were in tune with gothic imagery in the late 90s and early 2000s this was considered incredibly romantic. It's meant to be taken metaphorically not literaly. Pete wants to die with this lover, and given that her name is Pyretta Blaze, it's not a woman but the fire itself. I choose to believe this is a song about going out on your own terms. 
The music that surrounds it has that ominous impending doom feeling, the verse riff sounds like "Into the Void" or "Lord of this World" from Sabbath's Master of reality. I think it symbolizes all those heavy depressive feelings-contemplations of suicide, of being crushed by the outside world, but it lifts into this chorus that is straight up pop-the resolution to carry it out, and the relief that all these terrible feelings will finally go away. "I'm going out, but I'm going out fucking in a fiery inferno." 
 
It's a hell of a song, on a hell of an album.

This is not an easy listen, but it's worth it if your strong enough.