Origins (1989–1991) Type O Negative was formed after frontman Peter Steele's previous band,
Carnivore, broke up. Steele formed a new band with childhood friends Sal Abruscato, Josh Silver, and Kenny Hickey, which they initially named Repulsion. The band later changed their name to Sub-Zero because another band with the name
Repulsion already existed, then changed it again one final time, settling on the name Type O Negative. Steele was still tied to the multi-album contract he had made with
Roadrunner Records during his time in Carnivore, despite the fact the band had broken up; after receiving a demo from Type O Negative, Roadrunner decided not to drop Steele, and the band signed to the record label in 1991. Shortly after signing, they released their debut,
Slow, Deep and Hard. incorporated dragging
Black Sabbath-esque
dirge riffs, maniacal hardcore outbursts, and droning industrial and gothic atmospheres. The songs were long, multi-part theatrical epics, with lyrics loosely surrounding a story involving a man enacting revenge on a cheating girlfriend before ultimately contemplating his actions and committing suicide. They began creating a new album, with the idea of presenting it as a live album. The subsequent 1992 album was entitled
The Origin of the Feces and a
warning label was put on the album cover: "Not Live at Brighton Beach". The album contains faux-live recordings of songs from
Slow, Deep and Hard, as well as previously unreleased songs such as "Are You Afraid" and "Hey Pete" (a cover of
Jimi Hendrix's "
Hey Joe" with altered lyrics) and Black Sabbath's "
Paranoid".
Bloody Kisses and October Rust (1993–1998) song "
Summer Breeze" In 1993,
Bloody Kisses, Type O' Negative's third album was released in 1993 to critical and listener acclaim, and eventually became the first record for Roadrunner to reach certified
gold status in the US. The newfound success brought by the album's release reportedly put a lot of pressure on the band; initially, Peter Steele expressed disinterest in touring nationally.
Monte Conner, who at the time was Vice President of A&R at Roadrunner, said in a 2018 interview with Revolver Magazine, "There was a lot of pressure for him to take the band to the next level, but he didn't want to quit his job... There was a point where it looked like the band might break up."
Bloody Kisses mostly addressed loneliness and heartbreak, with songs like "Too Late: Frozen", "Blood & Fire" and "Can't Lose You". The
organ-driven "Set Me on Fire" is vintage 1960s
garage rock, while "
Summer Breeze" covered the 1972
Seals and Crofts hit. "
Christian Woman" and "
Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" became the most popular tracks, after having been edited down to radio-friendly lengths (the album versions were 9 and 11 minutes long respectively). In order to promote the album, Type O Negative embarked on a two-year world tour. During this time, the band was featured on
MTV,
VH1, and in
Rolling Stone. In the midst of this media blitz, drummer
Sal Abruscato quit the band to join another Brooklyn quartet,
Life of Agony.
Johnny Kelly, the band's drum technician, was therefore hired as a full-fledged member.
Bloody Kisses was re-released a year after the original release in a limited-edition
Digipak form, including eight of the musical tracks from the original (omitting the "filler" tracks) and the previously unreleased "Suspended in Dusk". Type O Negative's
October Rust picked up where
Bloody Kisses left off, exploring themes of sex, nature and sensuality, first in a humorous sense on the single "
My Girlfriend's Girlfriend" and then taken much darker with "Love You to Death". This record also saw a cover of
Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl" as well as the fan favorite, semi-serene "Green Man". While not quite as successful as
Bloody Kisses, the album was certified
gold in the US, and was the first Type O Negative album to enter the top half of the
Billboard Top 200, debuting at No. 42.
World Coming Down and The Least Worst of Type O Negative (1999–2001) With the completion of another successful world tour, writing for a fifth album began. In the period immediately following the release of
October Rust, resulting in 1999's
World Coming Down (working titles included
Prophets of Doom and
Aggroculture).
World Coming Down debuted at No. 39 on the
Billboard Top 200 charts.
World Coming Down featured a much darker, bleak tone than its predecessors, having been written after a series of deaths in frontman
Peter Steele's family. A
best of album followed in 2000, entitled
The Least Worst of Type O Negative. Although most songs appear on previous albums, many are unreleased
remixes or
B-sides of previously released singles. Along with these songs are some unreleased numbers from the
World Coming Down sessions, the band's cover of
"Black Sabbath" by
Black Sabbath (Peter Steele's version with different lyrics, written from the perspective of Satan), and a cleaner version of "Hey Pete" (originally released on the mock live album
The Origin of the Feces).
Life Is Killing Me and Dead Again (2002–2009) on June 30, 2007 Type O Negative's sixth studio album,
Life Is Killing Me (originally called
The Dream Is Dead after the closing song), was released in 2003. For this album, the band picked up the pace of their sound from the dirgeful slowness of
World Coming Down. Songs such as "Todd's Ship Gods (Above All Things)", "(We Were) Electrocute", and "I Don't Wanna Be Me" convey the band's classic elements of melody, though the song lengths were much shorter on this outing, the longest being the 7 and a half-minute "How Could She?", a list of female character names from television shows. The album includes a humorous cover of the song "Angry Inch" from the musical
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, detailing a
sex change operation gone terribly wrong. Type O Negative left Roadrunner after the album's release, having fulfilled their contract for the label. In June 2004, Type O Negative signed to the Steamhammer imprint of
SPV Records. Their only album for the label,
Dead Again, was released in 2007, and debuted at No. 27 in the United States, the band's highest chart debut to date. At the same time, Peter Steele's previous band, Carnivore, reunited with a new lineup that performed at the
Wacken Open Air in 2006. Their influence is heard on
Dead Again with the
thrash and
punk-influenced title track and "Tripping a Blind Man", while the slower "
The Profit of Doom" and "
September Sun" retain the gothic doom the band is known for.
Peter Steele's death, disbandment and aftermath (2010–present) On April 14, 2010, frontman and bassist
Peter Steele died, reportedly from
heart failure. The cause of death was later reported to be
sepsis, caused by
diverticulitis. In a November 2010 interview with
Rock Hard magazine, Johnny Kelly and Kenny Hickey confirmed that following Steele's death, Type O Negative had split up. It was re-released in 2019, with new outer box art, remastered sound and a new, vinyl-specific version of the intro track "Skip It!" from
World Coming Down (the original box set used the original CD version of the track). The surviving members of Type O Negative have rejected numerous offers to reform the band with a new vocalist. In a June 2023 interview with
Loaded Radio, Hickey said that he was against this idea, explaining: "People have approached us to try and reform the band with a singer and go on the road...We personally don't think Peter is replaceable by anyone and it just wouldn't work." He did, however, mention that he would not be against the idea of some kind of tribute show with guest musicians, saying: "If somebody had the idea and got it together and got the logistics together, sure – I would be into that." He also mentioned that Johnny Kelly would love to perform a tribute show for Steele, but Josh Silver would more than likely not participate due to his current job as a paramedic. Kelly has also stated that a Type O Negative reunion without Steele would never happen, but believes the latter "deserves some kind of celebration" and did not rule out a tribute show. In early 2023, Hickey and Kelly reunited to form Eye Am with
Kirk Windstein and Todd Strange (currently and formerly of
Crowbar respectively), and in the following year, the band changed their name to Sun Don't Shine. Their debut studio album,
Birth to Death, is due for release in early 2026. == Artistry ==