Freak369's Full Review: Life Is Killing Me by Type O Negative
It's no secret that I am a huge Type O Negative fan; when the slip occurred with RoadRunner and the group, fans feared that the production qualities would … shall I say, fall by the wayside. For as long as the members have been in various groups, they have all clung to one philosophy, "my way or nothing". When "Life Is Killing Me" was released it was something that was supposed to settle the fans a bit, but no, we wanted more. The release of the import version was no doubt an attempt by RoadRunner to try and cash in on their investment; and I say that while I am biting my tongue and trying not to throw things. RoadRunner never really sunk a lot of money into the group; they relied on the fans spreading the word like street preachers when other lesser known bands got the big push. The tour busses were crappy, the food was always cold and the hotel rooms left much to be desired but Steele, Silver, Hickey and Kelly chose to rise above the mire and take 'the high road'. And yes, if you are a Type O fan, you'll know exactly what that means.
With "Dead Again" slated for an early 2007 release all fans really have to keep their appetite under control is scouring stores for remixes, singles and this very interesting re-release. I've already ordered my tickets for the House of Blues show in January and am on pins and needles until the date arrives. Yes, this Freak is making the long trek to see the 'brothers in blood' live for the first time in three years [well, except for that private party that is]. This re-release is a good thing and a bad thing; the good is that it allows those who haven't been collecting Type O stuff [sacrilege] to hear some of the rarer versions of songs. The bad thing is that if you are someone like me, well, you already have 90% of the bonus material. Even so, I didn't mind forking out and obscene amount of money for this. Why? Because I am a fan and when you are a fan you try to get your dirty little paws on anything and everything that a group releases. This can lead to abusing fans [cough Metallica cough] wallets and loyalty but Type O has never gone overboard with duplicate releases and when they have released singles, you always got some amazing perks with them.
Life Is Killing MeTwo CD Set
If you already read my original review of "Life Is Killing Me" then most of this will seem familiar. Now that I've had two and a half years of listening to it, some of my initial views of it have changed. Songs that I didn't originally care for have, like moss, grown on me. That can happen easily when a group doesn't release anything for three freakin' years. When you have two and a half years to dissect something you are going to regret saying some things and have a hell of a lot more to add. Suffice it to say, if you are a fan of the group then either release of "Life Is Killing Me" is a must have but if you don't have the singles or imports, spend the extra cash and get the re-release, your ears and erogenous zones will thank you. So since my initial review of Life Is Killing Me, what's changed? Well, just like all the other songs that I didn't like on previous releases, there were a few that definitely grew on me. "I Don't Wanna Be Me" has fallen by the wayside, the video really killed it for me and the song just flat out gets on my nerves. There, I said it. Write that down and remember the date because that is probably the only time you will ever hear me say anything even remotely close to that about a ToN track.
One thing that annoyed me initially were the massive amounts of sound bytes that were slapped into songs [either at the beginning or ending]. The bass work on "Nettie" is stunning and if you listen to it a couple times you are going to get a sense of déjà vu; again, this goes back to October Rust so you are going to have to dig out both CD's and compare them. "IYDKMIGTHTKY" was a cleaver little anagram that the group threw in when they were stuck for a title, or at least that is what I was told about the selection process. What does it stand for? "If you don't kill me, I'm going to have to kill you". I bet money that keyboardist Josh Silver came up with that little treat for us, then again, all the members of the group are rather broodish so who's to say for sure? "Anesthesia" is something that I really fell in love with after listening to it over and over; in a lot of ways this is a throwback to "October Rust" and that mellow sound that the group was going after.
Betwixed birth and death, every breath regret
I pity the living, envy for the dead
Emotionally stunned, in defense, I'm numb
I'd rather not care than to be aware, be scared
The release is a strong follow up to their early days but it wasn't exactly received as well as expected by some of the hard core fans. Why? It isn't "Bloody Kisses", it isn't "Slow, Deep & Hard" and it isn't "Feces"; some parts of it do remind me of "World Coming Down" but event hat is a stretch. One can only wonder what "Dead Again" is going to sound like but if it is close to this one, I think everyone in the ToN camp is going to be happy with it. If you want to read the older review of "Life Is Killing Me" it may clash a little with this one; that review is two and a half years old and some of my initial takes on it have changed a little, not much but a change nonetheless. Like a good wine, it seems that this only gets better the more it ages. The track line up on the first disc is identical to the US version: "Uncle Freddy Died", "I Don't Wanna Be Me", "Life Is Killing Me", "Anesthesia", "Dream Is Dead", "Todd's Ship Gods", "We Were Electrocute", "Less Than Zero", "Dish Better Served Coldly", "Loud & Queer", "I Like Goils", "How Could She", "Nettie", "Angry Inch", "IYDKMIGTHTKY".
Bonus Disc
This is the true perk of buying the import version. Yes, it will cost you more but if you don't want to have to spend time and money buying the singles that these tracks appeared on, this is a great way to go. If "Out Of The Ashes" sounds familiar there's good reason, it's a retweaking [not a real word] of "Blood & Fire" [Bloody Kisses] and was featured on the soundtrack of the Mortal Kombat movie. Yeah, it is over ten years old but hey, it's Type O Negative. Me, well, it's nice so that I as far as I am going to go with it. My mom always said that if I didn't have anything nice to say, just smile and walk away. "Haunted" gained a lot of popularity when it was on the "Blair Witch II" soundtrack, this is the previously unreleased version and again, it's nice but I don't really see it passing up the original version. The version of "Cinnamon Girl" on this release is one of the same ones that was on the import CD single; I was a little let down that this 'weak' version was included with this. In my opinion, they should have went with "Summer Breeze" or something a little darker.
"Christian Woman" [Butt-Kissing, Sell-Out Version]
"Suspended In Dusk"
"Blood and Fire" [Out Of The Ashes Mix]
"Black Sabbath"
"Cinnamon Girl" [Extended Depression Mix]
"Haunted" [previously unreleased version]
"Black Sabbath" is always a great thing to play when you want to freak people out or just scare the hell out of them. Likewise, playing "Suspended In Dusk" will surely cause every female goth within a 200 feet radius to turn into a quivering blob of Jell-O. What? You never heard this song? My lord, you have no idea what you are missing. Take all the erotic elements of "Bloody Kisses", combine them with some sound bytes and Peter Steele's erotic voice and you have this very tasty aural delight. The downside to all this heat is "Christian Woman"; yes, I love the song but why on earth did they need to create a radio edit for it? Let's face it, ToN isn’t something that you come across on your radio every day and if you do, please let me know because I want to move to your city. The bonus disc is nice but if you already have CD singles and import versions, this will be a complete waste of money. Oh I can't believe I just said that.
The Bottom Line
If you are in the market to buy this make sure you are getting the import version. It should be listed as having two CD's, if it says that it only has one it very well may be an import but not this import. I really should hang my head in shame for getting this; none of the material on it is 'new' to me and I already have it on other discs. Even so, being a fan, it was something that I felt compelled to get. This will be going with me in January to get it signed at their show, then it will get tucked into the Lucite case with all the other signed copies and ToN stuff I have been graced with over the years. So what would I suggest spending on this? New? No more than $40.00, used, no more than $15.00. If you have to get this online make sure you are buying it from a reputable site or seller. Nothing sucks more than getting a CD set like this, slobbering all over the place when it is loading then hearing it skip through a track or worse – not play at all.
Life is killing me .. but then again .. it's killing us all.
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