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LIFE IS KILLING ME
(ROADRUNNER)
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On their first new album in four years, 1990s goth-metal stars Type O Negative build on their inimitable foundation of melodic bombast, punk energy, and black humor. Frontman Peter Steele is at his morbid best on the hit "I Don’t Wanna Be Me," which packs more than enough Ramones-style punch to do its title proud. With its new-wave keyboard lines and wailing guitar solo, the track also flies the flag for old-school metal.
Steele still has a thing for seven-minute dirges, but the aggressive songs are the highlights. On "I Like Goils," the band steal a killer synth-party groove back from Andrew W.K. while notorious sex object Steele delivers an obnoxious rebuttal to a potential gay suitor. They keep the pedal to the metal on their ferocious cover of the Hedwig glam anthem "Angry Inch," where Steele deals with the trauma of a botched sex-change operation with appropriate ire. There are a few energy lapses over the album’s 74 minutes, but Type O still have the big riffs and bigger hooks to keep their cult following happy.
