October Rust

It's solid, but not nearly as slutty as Bloody Kisses.

It’s august 🤦

October Rust is the fourth album by goth metal band Type O Negative. It never reaches the quality of it's predecessor Bloody Kisses. Still it has all the markings of a Type O Negative album: rather linear metal with goth influences, catchy melody lines, the soothing low voice of Peter Steele, unnecessary interludes/intros/outros and 20 minutes to long. The Neil Young cover is bad and "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend" great. Not a good album, not a bad album. I still enjoyed it in the end.

This is generally pretty good, but I'm still of the belief that every Type O Negative album is like 20 minutes longer than it should be. I feel like very few of their songs actually justify their lengths, so every listening experience, no matter how great the highs are, just ends up feeling like I'm trapped in the goth dimension for thirty millennia. I think I like the /idea/ of Type O Negative's music more than I actually like their music. Does that make sense? I dunno. 3/5.

I didn't think I disliked Bloody Kisses when I got that one earlier, but this one has so much more verve and variety. The songs are still a little too long, but they have a lot more going for them.

"SKIP BUTTON PLEEEEAAAAAASE..." (read this with the low, deep booming voice of Peter Steele in your head) This was the first thought that went into my mind when this record popped out today, I admit it. Yet against all odds, *October Rust* is surprisingly far, FAR better than *Bloody Kisses*. I've returned to the latter as well to make sure I had not changed my mind about it, but nope, I still *hate* that badly-produced record filled with stupid songs or secondhand Black Sabbath-adjacent cuts, and so I still want to laugh at the faces of the bunch of critical pundits who were deluded enough to praise it. Something very different happens for me with *October Rust*. Some of the melodies stay with me this time around. The production values enhancing a lot of pivotal or endearing details are terrific now, and the goth industrial metal tones of those dark lusty ballads are also far better handled on an auditory viewpoint. A lot of the tracks are too long, sure (more on that in a minute), but the progressions within the songs still suggest that Type O Negative had finally learned how to build individual compositions from one part to the next, instead of pasting ideas next to each other, with the overall end result rarely making much sense anyway. Conversely, the tracklist of *October Rust* is cohesive enough to make you forget its possibly self-indulgent moments, whereas *Bloody Kisses* was *all* about self-indulgence -- lyrics-wise, music-wise, performance-wise, production-wise, you name it! In *October Rust*, you don't have the couple of useless, supposedly "hard metal" tracks that led to nowhere on the previous LP, for instance. In 1996, Type O Negative knew better than paying awkward tributes to their own past as "normal" metal musicians, that ship had sailed for good, I imagine. So I guess this gave them more time to hone their own, very "typical" artistry, instead of wasting it on derivative drivel. Quite a few songs deserve to be mentioned. As the first proper cut in the record, "Love You to Death" is a very catchy gem: great chorus, a great piano hook AND a great guitar hook, not so far from The Cure circa *Disintegration*, like many other nice moments in the album. In an alternate universe (and with slightly different, less overtly sexual lyrics), "Be My Druidess" could be a Cocteau Twins song, lol. Single "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend" is some sort of coda to the cover of "Summer Breeze" found in the previous record (see that wink in the end with the snapping fingers and breathing pulse, harking back to the Lee Hazelwood standard). The song admittedly straddles the good taste / bad taste line a little too clearly -- either lyrically or musically -- but dropped among the sterner, "darker" cuts, this sixties-indebted composition also plays its part bringing some welcome moment of levity. The "vampiric" overtones of Type O Negative songs have always conveyed the atmosphere of a freak circus arriving in town -- an atmosphere that will likely be taken with a huge grain of salt by the more serious-minded listeners not fully invested in that sort of thing. But if the music is solid enough, why shouldn't the more open-minded listeners bite the proverbial neck? Steele's voice is also more interesting in *October Rust*: the grating episodes are gone, and some inflexions in the more inspired moments of "Burnt Flowers Fallen", or on "Wolf Moon" and "Haunted" towards the end of the LP, are even reminding me of Maynard James Keenan to an extent. During those moments, you're not constantly wondering if what you're dealing with is a parodic shtick. Some genuinely relatable emotions even seep out of the performance. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by this aspect as well. As I suggested earlier, Type O Negative still end up losing their momentum in the second half of the album because of the sheer length of a fistful of tracks. Some minimum amount of self-editing going further than the abrupt endings -- which I love -- would have been welcomed on cuts such as "Die With Me" or "In Praise Of Bacchus", very obviously. Yet the record is not fully harmed by those shortcomings -- because some of the lengthy dirges are still listenable as background music for me. Right in the middle of this second half filled to the brim with overlong songs, a goofy cover of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl" fortunately comes off as a breather, as "ridiculous" as it is (maybe in the two senses of the word). So just like for "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend"'s inclusion, you could argue that the tracklist is well thought-out, and that it manages to insert the more "arguable" cuts at the right junctions to renew dynamics. Funny how the user who submitted this Type O Negative album is tagged as a "cheerleader" while the one who selected *Bloody Kisses* was a notorious contrarian and "picky" listener who has now stopped using this generator (but still spent many years complaining about most albums in both lists, before throwing in the blood-soaked towel). Makes me wonder whether people with reasonable critical distance and quote-unquote "normal" expectations about music can ever be fans of this band. Yet very ironically, I have to acknowledge that *October Rust* is a very nice album for its elected genre, and given how idiosyncratic Peter Steele's artistry and vocal performance were, I could even consider this record for my list of keepers. Who could have seen that coming, really? Certainly not me. 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums, rounded up to 4 8.5/10 for more general purposes (5 for the musicianship and production values + 3.5 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 122 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 138 (including this one -- many heartfelt thanks to the user who *dared* submit this record, I always love it when a submission makes me reconsider everything I thought I knew about a band or artist...) Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 304 ---- Salut Émile, Tu pourras lire ma dernière réponse sous le *Little Criminals* de Randy Newman. A+.

not 1st listen- the last two Halloweens in a row I have listened to a Type O Negative album, only for it to show up later on this website I wouldn't even say I'm a fan of this band, I just have an insatiable craving for gothic rock around that time Well, despite not being that different from Bloody Kisses, and despite their cover of "Cinnamon Girl" less enjoyable to me than "Summer Breeze", I enjoy this album more. Why is that? Maybe it's just more consistent overall; whereas Bloody Kisses was a mix of sludgy goth metal with some punk and thrash, this is just goth metal. And that's alright with me :) Also the highs, like "Love You to Death", "In Praise of Bacchus", "Red Water" and "Wolf Moon", match if not surpass the highs from their previous album. Also the goofy self-awareness is more endearing this time. I'm not sure why that is

Awesome stuff

I put off listening to this because I didn’t think I was in the mood, but was surprised to really like this album.

October Rust sees Type O Negative rounding out the edge from their last album, Bloody Kisses, while maintaining much of the moody eroticism. Every song on here manages to find a nice atmosphere and rides it out until an abrupt ending before the next track starts up. Peter Steele and co. are no strangers to employing humor in their music (see the opening two tracks), so I reckon the band wanted to subvert listeners' expectations by not giving most of these songs a proper ending. Either way, they all sound great and I can't complain. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Either this or Bloody Kisses to represent gothic metal.

Track 1, 2 and 15 can just be omitted. The rest of the album is really good. I like the dark sound and vibe the album gives. I'd definitely listen to it again. 3.5/5

Every song sounds the same.

Not really my thing. I didn't even know what genre to call it, Gothic Metal apparently. It's not badly executed, it's just so serious, so ponderous. The little intro bit was goofily off brand.

Gets off to a most unpropitious start, what with the unfunny hiss joke and the self-involved spoken word intro and cribbed Pink Floyd lyrics. And the "Cinnamon Girl" cover just begs a big fat, why/wherefore/WTF? Was it really necessary? Otherwise, there's something well balanced and vaguely epic in the washed-out, drone-y and shoegaze-y vibes that makes this much better than the other metal on the list proper (replace any of it, pls) and indeed, almost likable (emphasis on almost, though).

Several of this band’s LPs are on the list, but this one caught me by surprise. The chorus-drenched bass that underlies the album sets this apart from their other efforts, and balanced out the chugging guitar in a way that felt sonically unique. Throw in the heavy Soundgarden influence and there’s a lot to like about this LP. Unfortunately it does run longer than it needs to, running some of its creative ideas into the ground through repetition – not every track needed to be extended to near-10 minute territory. Still, this was a distinct listen with a lot to offer. It’s been cool to see the band’s dedicated fanbase move their entire discography onto the user list album by album, and I can see why the outfit has such a dedicated following.

First time coming across Type O Negative. I really like this style of atmospheric gothic metal, but man, this guy is horny! I’m glad I listened to it and there’s a lot to like here, although I’m still not sure what I make of some of the over-the-top lyrics. Not sure it’s one I’ll come back to, but maybe it’ll grow on me with time.

Not my vibe

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Die with me, Burnt flowers fallen

1996 metal with some nice pleasant surprises

I enjoyed this more than the previous Type O Negative album, but it isn't doing anything all that unique. It's also way too long. Cut out 30 minutes and it would be better. Not much, but better. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Dark gothic metal as it is supposed to sound like. Not immediately my genre, but this was fine

Another album that can’t be normal length, it has to have extended track listings. This is for us to try before we buy, not instantly sign up for a 2 year contract. Didn’t hate it but it put me in a bad mood.

Way too long for what it is. Started off alright and then just turned into nothingness.

Eh, this was pretty up and down for me. I can usually get into some gothic music, and while this had its moments, I found myself more looking forward to it being done than I was enjoying the ride. Something about this just felt like a chore and I can't explain what.

This is such a slog. Too long and every track is like 60bpm. It is heavy in a very 90s way. Metal really doesn’t feel like the appropriate label. I guess that’s why it’s “goth metal”. It wasn’t awful and I can see a certain mood or season where this would hit for a track or two. But not on a sunny August day for 70+ minutes

Miksi tältä bändiltä on useampi levy? ei tämä kovin ihmeellistä ole ja ysärin ylipituudesta kärsii tämäkin. 2/5

It’s unintentionally funny the way some metal singers sound, and this is one of those bands. They can’t be taken seriously.

LOLOL!! There are TWO! Yes TWO!! Of these albums in the list. Are there like 2 friends who have conspired together to do this? I gave the last one 3 stars and this is basically the same thing again. C'mon guys there are better albums out there

This Cinnamon Girl cover is abysmal.