Weekly Review: Type O Negative – October Rust
alrighty, for this weekly review, we’re taking a look at Type O Negative’s record October Rust. let’s dig in!
the record opens up with two different kinda of opener track – Bad Ground just plays the static of a poorly grounded electrical device, and the untitled Intro is just a small introduction of the band that mentions that joke. its got a neat effect – paired with the outro, it adds a nice personality to the experience. Love You To Death is a REAL strong first song – the piano leading into the chunky wall of sound is a fantastic effect, and i really dig the vocals here. Be My Druidess is a fun track that riffs on witchy imagery, and builds on the same kinda vibe as Love You To Death. some of the more explicit stuff i can take or leave, but on the whole there’s some real good moments here. Green Man’s nice – in looking it up i found out about the connections to frontman Peter Steele’s life before touring and that’s p neat. its interesting how the chorus here is close to as bright as it gets on this one, haha. Red Water (Christmas Mourning) is real sad. musically not a ton that hooks me, tbh. My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend swings the mood way back – and dang i really like the intro to this track a lot. plus, its p fun. feel pretty middling on Die With Me, but it does have some compelling lyrics for sure though. man the transition into Burnt Flowers Fallen is sharp tho. which, Burnt Flowers has got a real vibe to it. that knowledge that someone’s that through with you – oof. In Praise of Bacchus kind of ties some of the separate themes of the record together quite well – going from a romance turned sour to the coping involvedon a dark, heavy track works extremely well. Cinnamon Girl is a cover of a Neil Young track that i’m unfamiliar with. fits aight here though – a bit of a breather after In Praise of Bacchus before moving into the final bit of the record. The Glorious Liberation of the People’s Technocratic Republic of Vinnland by the Combined Forces of the United Territories of Europa is aight. Wolf Moon (Including Zoanthropic Paranoia) is a weird one, haha. i like this one. Haunted is the functional closer of the record, and it feels like a fitting way to close out. after all those tracks about passion and loss, it makes sense to close with a track about being tortured by absence and memory. the Untitled Outro ties a neat little bow, and Bad Ground has the neat effect of keeping the two untitled bits separate if you loop the record.
faves – Be My Druidess, My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend
dislikes –
this record took a few listens to click for me. i really liked the dramatic tone of the record, i liked a lot of the instrumentation and there’s sections that are really cool, but i felt kinda middling about it for the first few listens. im glad i put in the time with it though, since theres a lot here i enjoy.
that being said, i really grew to like how the record built a sense of uneasy intimacy. from the songs about desire and sex to those that were more about struggling with addiction or depression, there’s a sense of being brought into a quiet, somewhat dangerous moment. plus, theres plenty of humor on the record to balance out some of the darker moments.
there are some bits of this i either didnt like or just didnt feel engaged with. the chunky, methodical guitar and bass and general track pacing ended up a little droning for me in places, and while i appreciate some of the connective tissue there are a couple tracks where either the thematic shift or the literal musical transition just feels off.
but yeah, on the whole enjoyed this a lot more than i expected. im not certain how often i’ll return to it, bit i def will look forward to spending more time with it in the future.
October Rust – 6/10
the winner of this week’s suggestion pool is Shpongle’s 2001 release, Tales of the Inexpressible. i’ll be back next Friday, May 13th for a review, and in the meantime, let me know what album you’d like me to review! (i pool all suggestions in one place, and draw a person, then a pick from that person, so feel free to drop as many as you’d like! if you leave an email or username i’ll contact you when i’ve gotten through all your suggestions.)
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