October Rust

Type O Negative has had a long history together. They've gone through a few line up changes, released albums that were jokes (literally), and scored big with Roadrunner Records with "Bloody Kisses"; but even with all that nothing compares to how great of an album "October Rust" is.

Peter Steele himself said this album was just for commercial success and such. Well if that really is the case they should keep making albums for the sake of commerce. Doom metal has never seen such a good album as this one. It's one of my own personal favorite albums of all time. The pain and anguish is so obvious and speaks volumes through the deep bass voice and bass guitar of Steele, the keys of Josh Silver, the droning guitar sounds of Kenny Hickey, and the slow, almost tragically painful drums of Johnny Kelly. These masters of doom combine on this album to make even the soulless of things cry buckets.

Of course the biggest thing for me is the lyrics (as a lyricist myself I always delve into the lyrics of any song I listen to) and Peter Steele ranks among one of my favorite lyricists because of the emotion he adds to his words. Each word has a hanging sense of agony or despair, and even sometimes, lost love. That kind of lyrical mastery combined with expert song writing of the three other members make for a tremendous success.

The ambience of some of the tracks makes for a haunting, goose pimple forming experience. I really cannot praise this album enough; it's just that damn good. There is not a bad track on this album and that alone is enough to be praised. My personal favorite track is "In Praise Of Bacchus", an 8 minute homage to the Roman God of wine and loves long lost.

The only real compliant I could even make for this album is its repetitiveness. Some of the tracks like "Bacchus" use the same phrases time and again and sometimes, only sometimes, it gets a bet nerve wracking but honestly that only happens once in a blue moon. This album is as close to flawless as it could possibly be.

To close I will just say one thing: if you do not buy this album and you are a Type O fan you are missing out not only on one of their best release, but one of the best albums of an entire decade of music and that is something only an elite few artists can do. Type O Negative prove with this album that they are here to stay until the leaves of October have rusted over into nothing, and that will not be for many an age.