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JJ's Bizarre Blog #50 - The Man Not Made of Steele or Stone
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Greetings and felicitations, children of technology! Last time, I bamboozled you a little bit, but let's get things back on track now. April has always been a time of new beginnings and new adventures for me and this trend seems to continue as it's time for the 50th anniversary blog entry! And as the tradition has established, it needs to be band focused. For real this time, no joking around anymore. Well, maybe a little. You'll see. This is a massive milestone, so for this I've prepared you a special tale about, in my opinion, one of the most talented and brilliant musicians and songwriters in recent popular music. A man with a tragic life cut way too short. He was forced to endure hardships and pain all his life, for it was the fuel source for the groundbreaking music he blessed us with. A taste so fine like sweet April wine, on the anniversary of his death, let me take you on a journey through the brutal yet beautiful music of the immortal Peter Steele and his iconic bands - Carnivore and Type O Negative!
For the uninformed, Peter Thomas Ratajczyk known under his stage name Peter Steele was a man of Polish descent born in Brooklyn, New York and never struggled to make an impression. Standing over 2 meters tall, built like a brickhouse thanks to his passion for weightlifting and bodybuilding, with a booming bassy voice and piercing green eyes, without even trying he looked like some combination of Dracula and Lurch from the Addams Family. He had a lot of Slav in him, but you'd never know if only judging by his almost comically heavy Brooklyn accent and obscene way of speaking. Leading a very turbulent life full of trauma and suffering, he eventually found solace in music, picking up the bass guitar and learning to sing (or scream, initially at least). His career began with the brief existence of the war-themed hard rock band Fallout, after which he'd dive into the booming New York hardcore and thrash scenes of the 80s. What came after would change the world of music forever!
Together with a rag tag posse of Brooklyn misfits, Peter formed his first truly notable band in 1983 - the revolutionary Carnivore! Quickly becoming well known for their brutally honest and very violent, yet often humorous, lyrics and developing a hard hitting crossover thrash metal sound, they truly exploded onto the scene with their 1985 self-titled debut. This is a truly groundbreaking album on many levels. Firstly, the lyricism was far darker and more violent than even what punk and thrash had on offer at the time, with themes of nuclear war, zombie apocalypse, wasteland biker gangs and even romance, they reached brutality that would be a key inspiration for the yet to be born death metal movement later in the decade. Sound-wise, they were heavier than most, but also had these brilliant sprinklings of melody and melancholy. At multiple points, the blisteringly fast and heavy thrash would give way to slow and sombre doom metal riffage, a nod to Peter's love of the legendary Black Sabbath and a premonition of things to come! With some of the best riffs ever played, highly elevated and engaging songwriting and a genius level of irony and sarcasm to offset the aggression, this album retains its cult status for a reason.
Carnivore would come back swinging in 1987 with their second and final album Retaliation. Just as brutally honest, if not more so, than their debut, the songs on this record are even faster and more aggressive while still maintaining the varied and engaging song structures. The lyrics focused on a variety of topics from war, social struggles and corruption to personal turmoil and grief. Already, one of the core tenets of Peter's songwriting can be felt - the pure unfiltered honesty with which he lays his heart out. It feels almost dangerous how vulnerable he leaves himself by opening up like this. And among it all, his trademark dark, self-deprecating humour is on full display to bring levity but also make things even more macabre. The way he'd tear his throat to shreds with raw emotion meant that every word buried itself in your mind and heart immediately. While Carnivore's existence was brief, with just two albums they revolutionized all of metal and to this day generations of musicians still find inspiration in their unforgettable work!
This was just the tip of the iceberg of Peter's legacy though. Soon, Carnivore would disband and with some former members and old friends - guitarist Kenny Hickey, keyboardist and producer Josh Silver and drummer Sal Abruscato, a new project would be formed, whose name echoes through time - Type O Negative! They would instantly make their mark with their debut record Slow, Deep and Hard in 1991. A revolutionary album that hasn't been repeated since. The influence from Carnivore is blatant on this as there's a lot of fast thrash metal and hardcore punk sound on here, but balanced with it is a trudging and incredibly slow doom metal sound with low rumbling guitar and keyboard melodies that range from soaring and epic to macabre and haunting. The songwriting is fully unleashed as well since a lot of the songs are very long and progressive and go through multiple movements within them. No two tracks are the same in their tone and vibe either. This record is also where Peter first showcases his insane vocal range, going from piercing thrash screams and shrieks to deep mellow baritone singing and all the way down to subsonic Gregorian choirs. Both the music and the vocals flow as this turbulent emotional roller-coaster that never stops and never releases the intensity. The lyrics about anything from heartbreak, depression, faith, war and politics all feel so genuine that it's scary. In my humble opinion, this is one of the greatest metal albums ever made!
After such a brilliant start, TON decided to do something...odd. They released, I kid you not, a fake live album! It was recorded in studio and features alternative versions of the songs from their debut, but splices and samples of crowd noise as well as banter from the band simulate a live setting, in particular one where they get endlessly booed and everything possible goes wrong. This includes people throwing things at the band, fights breaking out, power to the stage cutting off and even a fake bomb threat. Just a small sample of Peter's trademark humour. While the alternative versions of the songs are interesting and the whole experience is really entertaining and unique, the biggest gem of this album is the bonus track, a cover of Black Sabbath's immortal hit Paranoid. They took this already dark and macabre song and made it orders of magnitude darker. The song is slowed down to true doom metal levels and the haunting lyrics are made that much more impactful thanks to Peter's beautiful deep voice. This isn't even a cover at this point. They took this masterpiece and made their own new masterpiece from it!
One year later in 1993, TON would come back for real this time and boy were they packing for they unleashed upon the world the titantic Bloody Kisses! This is where they would first embrace the Gothic metal sound that would become their trademark. From midtempo catchy goth tracks with some really infectious riffs and melodies, to melancholic doom metal dirges layered with atmosphere and even the last vestiges of the hardcore/thrash sound from the Carnivore days. While the lyrics are still dark and brooding, there's a healthy dose of humour and the band can still captivate while still constantly making fun of everything, including themselves. Here is also where their first true hit singles came in and exposed the mainstream to Peter Steele's brilliance. Bloody Kisses is an incredibly rich album that has something for everyone and has earned its place as a cult classic!
After some more years of touring, Sal Abruscato would leave and Johnny Kelly would come in as the new drummer, the only member change in the band's history. However, the momentum didn't stop and in 1996, TON came back swinging with October Rust. With this record, they fully embraced the Gothic/doom sound and the entire record is melancholic, gloomy and enveloping. The humour has mostly subsided and replaced with introspective musings and dark romance. The songs are long and beautifully grim, with Peter delivering some of the greatest vocal performances of all time, going from heartbreaking shouts to a human subwoofer with shocking ease. Along with its predecessor, October Rust would become an iconic record and a cornerstone of the budding 90s goth subculture. It also solidified the band's commercial success and despite their dark, off-colour, weird sound, they had several charting hits, showed up on MTV and garnered a massive following. I sincerely hope it felt good for Peter, for as odd as his brutally honest music was, it's beauty touched the souls of many and it at least seemed like he was understood.
It would seem though that the band was following the darkest path and descending deeper into shadow. Their next opus World's Coming Down in 1999 would epitomize this. It's clear from the titles of the album and songs alone that Peter really wasn't having a good time. Several life tragedies in quick succession, mounting personal struggles and ever greater stress from fame seemed to be getting to him and leading him to deeper despair. He would cope though in the only way he knew how - by laying it all out in musical form. World's Coming Down is easily their doomiest album. It's slow, all encompassing and even a little abrasive. There was no humour to be found here whatsoever. This pure feeling of darkness and helplessness was on full display and the raw emotion imbued into these tracks is something that cannot be replicated as a simple performance. These songs were written from personal experience and that's what makes them so powerful. It can only serve as a beacon of light and hope for those struggling with the same and a warning that nobody should go through something like this ever.
Despite this darkness, Peter never failed to touch the souls of people and this kept on with their next record in 2003. From the title Life is Killing Me, you can tell that things haven't improved much, but despite all this, TON's massive success continued. This album is a lot less doomy than the previous and leans on a more accessible Gothic sound that predictably spawned some more hit singles that once again boosted their presence in the mainstream. Still though, this time round it seems moods were somewhat better as several humorous songs did manage to make it in and bring levity to an otherwise gloomy yet catchy listen. Among it all are some of the greatest goth songs ever made and TON proved that even a decade after Bloody Kisses, they were still second to none in this sphere. Every album of theirs is an experience that you'll never forget.
Thus we arrive at 2007's unfortunately named album Dead Again (or DEDD DGDII if you're Slavic). This is a release that would become infamous, for both positive and negative reasons. As an album, it's absolutely stellar! The ironclad riffage that the band are known for is still there, songs are sometimes long, proggy and multilayered and other times simpler and catchier, all being equally as memorable. This album feels like a celebration of everything the band have done across their entire career. It has some of the catchy goth sound from the previous record, some doom dirges like on October Rust or World's Coming Down and even the occasional fast song in the vain of their earlier work. A little bit of everything. There's also something about the riffs that has some kind of stoner metal vibe to it, at least that's how I feel it. It seems I'm not alone in feeling that way as stoner fans appear more drawn to this album from the TON discography than any of the others. However, the negative side of the record would come from the fact that this is the last album Peter Steele would make during his life. Those lyrics of the final track of this album are eerily haunting because of this:
"All Hail and Farewell to Me"
The tragic news would break that on April 14th 2010, Peter Steele would untimely pass away from sepsis and diverticulitis complications (you see why I wanted this blog up now) The entire musical world was shook to its core and we all knew we had just lost one of the brightest. For all of his colossal size and intimidating vampiric appearance, Peter was a gentle soul at heart and what impressed most about him was his brilliant mind and boundless creativity. Despite his looks, he didn't have much success in the realm of romance and this along with many other sorrows in his life were the main fuel behind his works. Such is the lot of the brilliant artists it seems though and he was one of a kind, unlike anyone ever or since. Understandably, immediately after his death, the rest of the band announced that without Peter, Type O Negative are no more.
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The legacy of his music lives on to this day and new people keep discovering and appreciating it. Another is through the continued work of surviving members. If you remember original drummer Sal Abruscato who left a good while ago, well he would later form his own band, the titans called A Pale Horse Named Death. Playing a very similar Gothic style with strong doom motifs, the sound is quite similar to classic Type O Negative in terms of vibes, but fundamentally different in its approach, this warranting both bands to be enjoyed. Sal himself would provide drums, guitars, vocals and more before assembling a large band to create a massive, monolithic sound. With four albums and counting under their belt, they're still going strong and making sure that the legacy of Brooklyn goth lives on forever.
Thus we reach the end of our story and must close the lid on this one. However, as I've said before, one truly dies when their name is uttered for the last time, so with this I hope I spread the word about Peter Steele's brilliance to more and more people. He was such a unique artist, his work being so macabre and bleak, yet so enchanting and captivating. Also managing to touch on social issues and even crack some black humour now and again. Not to mention that his pure unfiltered honesty with which he presented his emotions and experiences is nothing short of inspiring. It's also so wonderful that despite being the antithesis of pop music, the sheer quality still allowed Type O Negative to achieve significant mainstream success. From revolutionizing thrash and inspiring early extreme metal to popularizing doom metal and becoming the icon of the entire goth movement, truly nothing else compares to his work. Peter, you had a beautiful soul.
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So to you reading this, I hope you enjoyed this journey and were compelled to explore these dark landscapes. Enjoy life, confront your own darkness and don't forget to crack a joke from time to time, taking yourself too seriously is bad for you. Take it easy and I'll see you again soon!
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