Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"World Coming Down"- Lean and Mean and Worthy Of Your Green., June 19, 2000
By A Customer
If Type O' Negative fans think the band's usual dry wit is absent from their fifth full length album, think again. The humor and sex, so prominantly featured on their last albums, is obviously toned down on "World Coming Down" but that doesn't mean it isn't there. The first track entitled "Skip It" is made to sound like a CD skipping so that the buyer thinks there is something wrong with his/her CD (the title of the track is also a suggestion). Even if this isn't your idea of a good joke, the noise only lasts eleven seconds ending with someone yelling "sucker!" It's almost a warning to the uninitiated to take the following 74 plus minutes of sound with a huge grain of salt. I won't say any more concerning the band's intent or whether they're genuinely solemn and gloomy, but "sucker" is right, because this band sounds like they want to punish their listeners for buying their album.The songs on WCD may tend to start out slow but the payoff is in the soaring choruses carried by Peter Steele's majestic voice. They bring you into their world of pain and loss with their hard edged monolithic ballads dealing with topics such as drug addiction (White Slavery), losing loved ones (Everyone I Love Is Dead, and Everything Dies) and necromancy (Creepy Green Light and All Hallows Eve) just to name a few. The lineup includes the usual suspects found on their last album with Josh Silver adding that creepy green atmosphere (keyboard and sampling), Kenny Hickey crunching hard on guitar, Johnny Kelly pounding the hell out of the skins, and of course Peter Steele, singing lead and thumping that big thick bass of his. Musically the album has a sublimely dark (favorite industry adjective) sound. For the usuall TON fan it's a welcome return after waiting for a new release from the band ever since 1997's "October Rust." In conclusion: On this album sex takes a back seat, the lush romantic sound is less but the songwriting is tighter, the scary is scarier, and more people die. For all you visual learners out there, if "October Rust" was like being in a shadowy medieval forest set against a blood red autumn sunset, then "World Coming Down" is after the sun has faded from the sky and you are plunged into complete darkness.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not enough Prozac in the world..., March 26, 2005
This is TON's most depressing album, not to be confused with its most negative (Slow, Deep, and Hard). I rarely EVER listen to this album, but NOT because it's bad. I'm not THIS depressed anymore, that's all. I read that Peter Steele was having A LOT of difficulties during this period, and it obviously shows. Except for 'Skip It' and 'Pyretta Blaze', there is no humor or 'positivity' on this album, it's pure gloom and wallowing in self pity and (self) hatred. Gone are the tongue-in-cheek asides and dark sarcasm, 'White Slavery' not withstanding. In some ways TON never change. Negativity, frustration, and depression are looked at through different 'eyes' with each album. If Bloody Kisses was a big sigh and an acceptance of a fate unwanted, and October Rust was an attempt to 'make the best of things despite feeling that things won't work out anyway', WCD is a complete giving up and blaming oneself for everything. No punches are pulled. This is Peter Steele's "Mea Culpa". How ironic that he's apologized for WCD. For those who've said this album is too slow and/or too boring, that's what you get when you mainline pure depression/self pity--boredom, unless you're right there each step of the way. Whenever I fall into a black hole, this is my prozac. Be warned, this is TON without the added comfort of humor. Before I forget, the medley of Beatles' covers is the least interesting of all their cover tunes. 'Paranoid', 'Summer Breeze', and 'Black Sabbath' (from the Satanic perspective) make me unable to listen to the original versions anymore (yes, even Sabbath's version. Think about the lyrics for a moment. Which music best goes with the vibe of those lyrics? This is TON's absolute strongest attribute--taking songs that have been around a while and giving the song a power and a point of view that even the author didn't know existed.)
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Yet another great album...!, December 16, 1999
"Slow, Deep, and Hard" possessed a thrash sound that Peter Steele had previously established with Carnivore. It was extreme to say the least, but his is an honest angst that tends to look at the big picture of things much more than most people would care to. "Bloody Kisses," for me, established what Type O's sound would become. Atmospheric, textured music with heavy guitars that made a fair share of noise, but it was a welcome noise. Lyrics so blatant and obvious that Black Sabbath would be proud (of course, they did covers of Sabbath songs on more than one occasion). "October Rust" finalized that sound, with nothing really new or radically different from "Bloody Kisses." Again, this is my opinion. The main difference between "Bloody Kisses" and "October Rust" would have to be the latter's greater attention to melody and sonic texture.Now we hear "World Coming Down," an album that proves that Type O's formula is working. Songs too long and thematically disturbing to radio-friendly, yet they possess a great deal of honest emotions that poser goths can only hope to imitate. This album combines elements from the three previous albums, with "October Rust"'s melodic sound structures, "Bloody Kisses"'s atmospheric composition and blatant lyrics (i.e. "Everyone I Love is Dead," and "Creepy Green Light."), and "Slow, Deep, and Hard"'s thrashy angst. This album, to me, is the ultimate Type O album for this reason. "World Coming Down" also seems to possess Peter Steele's most saddening lyrics. Even the titles say it all. "Everyone I Love is Dead" can't get more obviously yet appropriately bitter. My personal favorite is "Everything Dies." Having faced some sudden and unexpected tragedies in my personal life, I identified immediately with Steele's reminiscing on his family and friends and how the truth is that we are all going to die. This song had me in a trance for hours, it's that beautiful, sad, but honest. Honesty goes a long way with Type O, and this has to be the best when it comes to the truth of things. It may not be their best on the whole, but this is one that I'm more likely to listen to before any of the previous albums.
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