Dead Again (Type O Negative album)

The band used studio drums instead of a drum machine for the first time since their third album, Bloody Kisses. Thus, it remains the only Type O Negative studio album with Johnny Kelly's actual playing, as he programmed artificial drums instead of recording with a physical drum kit on the three albums prior to Dead Again. ==Content==

The cover photo is a portrayal of Grigori Rasputin, the Russian mystic and associate of Tsar Nicholas II. The lettering is in a faux-Cyrillic font. The song "Halloween in Heaven" is a tribute to Dimebag Darrell, who was murdered on stage in 2004. ==Release==

Reception for Dead Again was mainly positive, and resulted in the band's highest ever chart positions. In the US, it debuted at No. 27 on the Billboard 200, selling 22,000 copies, only slightly less than Life is Killing Me. The insert of the CD folds out into the shape of a cross with Rasputin's head at the top. The media tray has the words "Снова Мертвый" ("Dead Again") visible underneath along with Rasputin's autopsy information. The photograph on the back was taken in 1906, showing four young women of the Tsarist family, identified left to right as Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia Nikolaevna. The bonus tracks were taken from the Symphony for the Devil live DVD. The album was re-released in February 2008, with a DVD including live performances, interviews, and music videos. A separate three-LP vinyl box set was also released that included several collector's items, such as a T-shirt, a 12-page booklet, and a DVD disc that contains the same live footage and music videos as the Best Buy exclusive DVD, an interview, and the entire album in MP3 format. Two of the vinyl discs are red and one is the standard black. The box itself comes in the red version of the cover art. Since it was released under a different label, Dead Again is the only studio album to not be included in many of the band's compilation releases including 2013's The Complete Roadrunner Collection 1991 - 2003 and 2019's None More Negative boxset. And with Steamhammer's parent company SPV GmbH declaring bankrupt in 2009, many of the artists that had signed to the label were not able to rerelease their albums due to legal issues, including Dead Again. On August 20, 2021, the album was made available once again on Spotify and Apple Music through Nuclear Blast. On March 13, 2022, it was announced that, for its 15th anniversary, Dead Again would be reissued on vinyl, CD, and cassette through Nuclear Blast Records. In addition to the standard version of the album, Nuclear Blast also released a special 2-Disc Limited Edition version of Dead Again which included a 10-track bonus disc. The bonus disc featured live material recorded by Type O Negative in 1999 and 2007. ==Track listing==

Type O Negative • Peter Steele – lead vocals, bass guitar, arrangements, production • Kenny Hickey – backing vocals, co-lead vocals (on "The Profit Of Doom", “September Sun”, "Halloween in Heaven", "These Three Things", "Some Stupid Tomorrow" and "An Ode to Locksmiths"), electric guitar, arrangements • Josh Silver – backing vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, sound effects, arrangements, production, recording, mixing, engineering, mastering • Johnny Kelly – drums, percussion, arrangements Additional personnel • The Bensonhoist Lesbian Choir (actually the band members themselves) – backing vocals • Tara VanFlower – backing vocals (on "Halloween in Heaven") • Paul Bento – electronic programming and tamboura (on "The Profit of Doom") Technical personnel • Mike Marciano – mastering • Paul Bento – engineering (on additional recordings) ==Charts==