Life Is Killing Me | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 17, 2003 | |||
Studio | Systems Two, Brooklyn, New York | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 74:30 | |||
Label | Roadrunner | |||
Producer | ||||
Type O Negative chronology | ||||
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Singles from Life Is Killing Me | ||||
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Life Is Killing Me is the sixth studio album by gothic metal band Type O Negative. It was released on June 17, 2003, and was their final studio album released through record label Roadrunner Records.
The album's title and content refers primarily to frontman Peter Steele's dissatisfied life outlook and experiences with mental illness at the time of writing and production, with lyrics concerning relationship problems and the illness and death of his parents.
The album reached No. 39 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 27,000 copies in its first week, [2] and received positive reviews from music critics, who noted a more melodic sound in comparison to previous records. "I Don't Wanna Be Me" was released as a promotional single, for which a music video was produced.
Life Is Killing Me was recorded at Systems Two Recording Studio in Brooklyn, New York. [3]
Vocalist and bassist Peter Steele used a custom Fernandes Tremor bass guitar for the recording of the album, an instrument which was built to his exact specifications under his sponsorship with the company.[ citation needed ]
This is the last album by the band to make use of programmed drums, which had previously been used on October Rust and World Coming Down ; the band's next and final studio album, Dead Again , would feature only studio drums. [4]
Describing the inspiration behind the title and theme of the record, Steele responded in an interview: "I guess I am going through some sort of midlife crisis being 41 years old now. And all the things I took for granted, my health, my life, people I love dying, people I loved walking away. I was with a girlfriend for 10 years but she left. It is like my dreams are dead." [5] The album's title was originally going to be The Dream Is Dead. [6]
The album contains a cover of the song "Angry Inch" from the off-Broadway musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch . The track "Thir13teen" is a cover of music featured in the TV show The Munsters .
Billboard described the record's lyrical themes as "infidelity, death and depression". [7]
"Todd's Ship Gods (Above All Things)" was written by Steele about his father. [8]
"I Like Goils" is described by Steele as "poking fun at PC" (political correctness), [7] with lyrics centred on Steele's frustration with having homosexual men make sexual advances towards him following his 1995 Playgirl photoshoot, which, at the time, Steele agreed to pose for, unaware of the composition of the magazine's readership. [9]
The album's title track further references Steele's father's death, while "Nettie" was written about his mother. [7] [8]
AllMusic wrote "guitarist Kenny Hickey's passages have grown increasingly melodic, and the keys of Josh Silver possess a timeless melancholy" despite "how bleak or odd the lyrical proceedings get". [10] Loudwire described it as "the most uplifting sounding album of their career". [11]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [10] |
Chronicles of Chaos | 8/10 [12] |
Drowned in Sound | 6/10 [13] |
Exclaim! | favorable [1] |
Metal Hammer | 8/10 [14] |
Life Is Killing Me was leaked onto the internet before release, upsetting keyboard player Josh Silver to the point that he released a message online complaining that the leak essentially took revenue from the band. [15] The album was officially released on June 17, 2003, on CD as well as cassette in some regions. In Europe, the album was also released with a bonus CD.
The album reached No. 39 on the US Billboard 200 chart. [16]
The album was favorably received by music critics. Exclaim! wrote "Life Is Killing Me pays tongue-in-cheek homage to the world and the women that have screwed Steele over so badly. But musically, the disc is pure pop-rock bliss." [1]
"(We Were) Electrocute" was featured on the soundtrack to the 2003 horror film Freddy vs. Jason .
"I Don't Wanna Be Me" was covered by European death metal band Meridian Dawn for their debut 2014 release The Mixtape . The song was later covered by Trivium. [17]
All tracks are written by Peter Steele, except where noted
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Thir13teen" | Jack Marshall | 1:07 |
2. | "I Don't Wanna Be Me" | 5:09 | |
3. | "Less Than Zero (<0)" | 5:25 | |
4. | "Todd's Ship Gods (Above All Things)" | 4:11 | |
5. | "I Like Goils" | 2:35 | |
6. | "...A Dish Best Served Coldly" | 7:13 | |
7. | "How Could She?" | 7:35 | |
8. | "Life Is Killing Me" | 6:35 | |
9. | "Nettie" | 4:46 | |
10. | "(We Were) Electrocute" | 6:39 | |
11. | "IYDKMIGTHTKY (Gimme That)" | 6:20 | |
12. | "Angry Inch" | Stephen Trask | 3:39 |
13. | "Anesthesia" | 6:41 | |
14. | "Drunk in Paris" | 1:27 | |
15. | "The Dream Is Dead" | 5:07 | |
Total length: | 74:30 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Out of the Fire (Kane's Theme)" | James A. Johnston | 3:24 |
2. | "Christian Woman (Butt-Kissing Sell-Out Version)" | 4:27 | |
3. | "Suspended in Dusk" | 8:39 | |
4. | "Blood & Fire (Out of the Ashes Mix)" | 4:36 | |
5. | "Black Sabbath" | Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward | 7:47 |
6. | "Cinnamon Girl (Extended Depression Mix)" | Neil Young | 3:53 |
7. | "Haunted (Per Version)" | 11:47 | |
Total length: | 44:33 |
Type O Negative
Additional personnel
Technical personnel
Chart (2003) | Peak position |
---|---|
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [18] | 51 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [19] | 46 |
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [20] | 5 |
French Albums (SNEP) [21] | 97 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [22] | 9 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [23] | 51 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [24] | 98 |
UK Albums (OCC) [25] | 87 |
US Billboard 200 [26] | 39 |
Chart (2024) | Peak position |
---|---|
Croatian International Albums (HDU) [27] | 4 |
Hungarian Physical Albums (MAHASZ) [28] | 28 |
Type O Negative was an American gothic/doom metal band formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1989 by Peter Steele, Kenny Hickey, Josh Silver, and Sal Abruscato, who was later replaced by Johnny Kelly. Their lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death resulted in the nickname "the Drab Four". The band went platinum with 1993's Bloody Kisses, and gold with 1996's October Rust, and gained a fanbase through seven studio albums, two best-of compilations, and concert DVDs.
Peter Thomas Ratajczyk, known professionally as Peter Steele, was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist and composer of the gothic metal band Type O Negative. Before forming Type O Negative, Steele had formed the heavy metal group Fallout and the thrash metal band Carnivore.
October Rust is the fourth studio album by Type O Negative. It was released in 1996. This is the first album with Johnny Kelly credited as the band's drummer, although programmed drums are used on the album. October Rust has more ballads and less of the doom metal sound of previous or subsequent albums. It also features a cover of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl".
Bloody Kisses is the third studio album by the American gothic metal band Type O Negative and the last recording with their original lineup, as drummer Sal Abruscato left the group in late 1993 to join labelmates Life of Agony. The album includes two of their best known songs, "Christian Woman" and "Black No. 1 ", both of which earned the band a considerable cult following. The album further established recurring motifs of the band's music, such as including cover songs recorded in their own unique style, sample-heavy soundscape interludes and lyrics replete with dry, satirical humor.
World Coming Down is the fifth studio album by the American gothic metal band Type O Negative. Released on September 21, 1999, it is considered to be the darkest of the band's releases, having been written after a series of deaths in frontman Peter Steele's family, combined with the desire to break away from the sexually charged themes of the previous albums. It was also the band's first album to reach the Top 40 on the Billboard 200.
Dead Again is the seventh and final studio album by the American gothic metal band Type O Negative, released before the death of frontman Peter Steele in 2010, and subsequent dissolution of the band. It was released on March 13, 2007, through record label Steamhammer, a subsidiary of SPV.
"I Don't Wanna Be Me" is a song by American gothic metal band Type O Negative. It is the second track on the band's sixth studio album, Life Is Killing Me (2003), and was released as a promo single the same year. Contrary to the gothic metal and doom metal style of the band's other songs, "I Don't Wanna Be Me" is often considered a punk rock song.
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