"Bloody Kisses” has had several releases, but for me none so bizarre as the original release that was then followed a few months later by a digipack release, that omitted the few short instrumental tracks, as well as the two controversial tracks. Obviously they were looking to play down any controversy or banning of the album from certain stores in the US, but for me the second release waters down the great stuff that the original release still highlights. The track listing was also adjusted, and for me this also makes the album weaker and less impactful. The fact that it was Peter Steele himself that requested this always felt even more strange, especially when the rest of the band more or less came out and said that the digipack version “sucked”. As it is, it is the original version that I have and listen to.
It is often said that “Bloody Kisses” is Type O Negative’s break through release, the album where they began to establish themselves in their own right, and find the groove that gave them their ultimately classic sound. Opinions will always differ in this regard. What can be said about “Bloody Kisses” is that the varied output of songs throughout gave a full rounded view of the band and their abilities. That variety is something that some fans feel lets the album down, but for me I’ve always enjoyed it. It doesn’t sit in the same tempo or mood all the way through, it has its rises and falls – at times in the one song let alone through the song list – and we are offered the fun of the change between these moods.
What initially drove the success of this album was the first two singles released, which are the first two songs on the album following the introductory “Machine Screw”. They are “Christian Woman” and "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)". These had music videos made for them, which were plastered all over MTV and VH1, but they were scaled back versions of the album’s originals, which went for 8 and 11 minutes respectively. Unusually, the singles-released version of the songs are actually quite good, but they don’t compare with the originals here, where you get the full experience of the three acts in each song.
The musical transition from their two big singles to their two controversial tracks makes that difference stark, with the brooding gloom of the doom metal sound then harking back to a post punk hard core riff showing a combination of both the past, present and future of the band’s developing sound.
Those two politically motivated tracks on the album can either be viewed as controversial thoughts or tongue-in-cheek banality. "Kill All the White People" and "We Hate Everyone" were written as a response to the controversy over the bands' alleged racist sentiments that were born after a tour in Europe and due to Peter Steele's previous band Carnivore's explicit lyrics. Now with Steele’s leanings in this respect notwithstanding, taking the songs on face value would be an easy parody of the situation.
“Kill All the White People” leads into “Summer Breeze”, initially intended to be a parody of Seals & Crofts soft rock hit, which morphed into a straight cover of the song after the band objected to the change in lyrics that Steele had composed. And yet, for some reason, it still works. This then jumps into “Set Me on Fire” which then acts as a parody of the cover song they had just performed. The back half of “Set Me on Fire”, with the organ synth in combination with the lead guitar is amazing stuff, combining eras of the 60’s and 70’s in a great mesh of sound. I don’t know why it is so effective, but it really is. This four song swing is then brought to a subtle conclusion with the other bookend track, “We Hate Everyone”, the second hard core punk styled angry tongue in cheek track to complement “Kill All the White People”, that breezes up the album again in an effective and fun tempo. Bravo.
The second half of the album, for me, doesn’t quite live up to the first half. The songs are good, but in the case of the title track, I feel it does stretch out too long – or perhaps it is just the plethora of long tracks here that makes this less tolerable for me. The album tops out at 73 minutes, and that often is too long no matter who the artist is. I know that when I listen to this album even now, I do press the stop button once the title track arrives. But when I do go beyond, there is still that enjoyment from “Too Late: Frozen” and “Blood & Fire” as there is from the songs that come before it.
Should this have worked in 1993? I guess in a way it was the perfect rebuff as well as extension to what was coming out of Seattle and what the world was looking for. The band for me is why this works so well. Kenny Hickey’s guitars capture every nuance of the each song, whatever the mood, genre or speed. So too the drumming of Sal Abruscato, who left the band after this album as he wanted to do more touring than Peter Steele was comfortable with. And the keyboards, synths and programming from Josh Silver sets those moods up wonderfully well throughout.
The shining point in "Bloody Kisses" is of course the crowning baritone sounds of Peter Steele's voice. In previous works, Steele did sing, but there was a degree of shouting as well. On "Bloody Kisses" however, Steele's vocals are clean, deep, and unique for its time and add a wonderful touch of darkness to the album.
The first time I ever heard Type O Negative was on the Black Sabbath tribute album “Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath”, released in 1994. The final track on the album was “Black Sabbath”, performed by this band – and it was completely amazing. The mood, those vocals, it all worked. To which I decided that I had to find out more about this band and perhaps check out their material. As it turned out, a customer who came into my then workplace about 12 months later who knew I listened to heavy metal asked me if I’d ever heard Type O Negative. The next day he produced for me a copy of “Bloody Kisses”, and I was in business. And while it didn’t really suit what I was looking for on my drives to and from work in the car, it certainly used to fill the terrace house I lived in at the time before my wife came home in the afternoons.
I used to pair this often with any number of Danzig albums, as the similarity at times to both Danzig’s work and Glenn’s vocals used to make this a great combination.
I still think this album has stood the test of time. When I first got the album, I found it got better the more I listened to it. And while my cassette copy has been lost in the mists of time since, the occasional streaming still reminds me very much of those days. Having had the album on for the last couple of weeks in order to do this podcast episode, I have smiled often as I listened. This album was one of several that got me through some very ordinary times back in 1995, and though the memories of that time are as bleak as some of the songs on this album, I am still filled with the joy of how it was able to eradicate some of that misery. And that is the power that music can have even in the darkest hours.
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