Here’s a totally accurate chronology of my Lacuna Coil fandom: I heard a killer LC jam on the radio and was awed by singer Cristina Scabbia. Then I saw a band photo and got awestruck this time by Scabbia the woman. Then once fourth album Karmacode came out in 2007, my awe umbrella’ed out to include the songwriters of Lacuna Coil and, upon 2009’s Shallow Life, also their producer Don Gilmore.

But here’s where I’ll get all Oprah: Though a huge fan of Scabbia’s voice and a forged-by-nature respondent to her wealth of physical charms, I find the most awesome Scabbia is not the singer or the super-fox; she’s most awesome at being a bud, an honest dude, and a great chat. When we connected last week to talk about Dark Adrenaline, the once-delayed sixth Lacuna Coil album (out tomorrow), she effortlessly plowed through abstract questions and hasty analogies, and totally got the vibe of my persistent nagging about sales, producers, and artistic integrity. It was awesome!

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For fans of late Type O Negative frontman Peter Steele, there’s a minefield of sad reminders to negotiate. For example, last April was the first anniversary of his death and about the time that a seventh Type O record would’ve been released. And of course, our stereos’ cruel shuffle modes conspire to spring sentimental Peter music on us when we’re least prepared for an emotional jolt. Plus, I can’t encounter any reference to Jerry Springer, Rikki Lake, or Playgirl without chuckling and sighing about Peter the Amorist.

Well, today is another of those bummers cuz it would’ve marked Steele’s 50th birthday. Damn. Just think of it: He would’ve woken up and looked out his window to see me in a long coat blasting “(We Were) Electrocute” on a boom box held over my head (a la Say Anything) and surrounded by fifty writhing 50-year old strippers. The strippers would’ve been choreographed to spell out “Peter” and would reposition into shapes like a bass guitar, the Type O logo, and an undulating wang. And most would be female but I think that goes without saying.

–ADF

That’s obviously a lie, but it’d be hard to blame someone for thinking as much after listening to David Gold’s Steele-esque bellowed croon on the new Woods of Ypres track “Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye).” And I mean that in the best way possible; I loved Type O Negative and I really liked Woods of Ypres last album Woods 4: The GREEN Album, released in 2009 and picked up by Earache for re-release in 2010. With Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light on Earache’s release slate for 2012, the band’s begun teasing tracks out to the public. And I’m really, really liking what I’ve heard so far. First great release of 2012? Maybe.

Check out another new track from Woods 5 at The Number of The Blog; it’s faster, but no less awesome. Think more “I Don’t Want to Be Me” and less “Christian Woman.”

-VN

As a member of Type O Negative and Carnivore, Peter Steele regularly antagonized society’s sensitivity police with blunt observations on sex, race, and violence. And he played doomy, dour metal about love and death, sharpened a few of his teeth to a point, and did drugs. But still, in death he is metal’s Princess Di, a symbol of our values: individuality, skill, and heart. That’s why fans do things to celebrate his memory, things that require time, resources, and effort, that net no profit, and that pay proper respect to our memories of him.

A wondrous example is “Peter’s Tree,” a Facebook group devoted to planting a tree in NYC’s Prospect Park as a dedication to Steele, free-thinker, nature poet, and onetime parks worker. And Monday was the big day: At a 10 a.m. ceremony, Peter’s special oak tree (above) got its official planting at a scenic — and permanent — spot in the north side of the park (map here). It’s genius cuz a tree’s lifespan is such that even fans yet to be born will someday enjoy it, and double-genius since a tree provides shelter and sustenance for other creatures. Peter would love that. Plus it’s tall and you can hug it. See you there!

-ADF

More photos and info here. Comment from Type O Negative’s Johnny Kelly here. The MetalSucks Peter Steele tribute interview special here and here. 

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Over a few hours of interviews with Peter Steele’s closest compatriots and family last March, I kept rolling my eyes at myself for inquiring seriously about their reactions to Peter’s Playgirl photos. It’s like, really, Anso? You ask these nice, giving people about the man’s artistic genius, his singular intellect, his battles, and then the brandishing of his boner for a national magazine? This is journalism?

But hey, yes it is, ‘cuz that was Peter. As I told Type O Negative keyboardist/producer Josh Silver, it screwed with me to watch the band rock when into my mind would flash an image of Peter gripping little Peter. I should have avoided his pictorial in the first place, but, c’mon, you looked, I looked, whatever. After all, that’s the internet’s function: providing more information than you bargained for. And so I relate immediately to Thursday’s NEMI comic (above, don’t sue us?). But will the next three panels also match my experience by depicting the naked-Pete viewer in states of wowed disbelief, smirking mirth, and uncomfortable silence? Probably!

Very special thanks to the Ratajczyk family for the tip.

-ADF

Read part I and part II of MetalSucks’ massive exclusive Peter Steele retrospective featuring new interviews with his family, friends, and Type O Negative bandmates.

The Revolver Golden Gods Awards will air on VH1 later this month (or something… I know we got a press release but I was too lazy to read it), and it will be interesting to see that, because I was there, but I didn’t actually see very much of the show. I saw the schmuck from Asking Alexandria drop his mic two seconds into “Youth Gone Wild,” and I saw some of Avenged Sevenfold’s performances with Duff McKagan and Vinnie Paul, and I saw enough of Chris Jericho performing “For Whom the Bell Tolls” to consider throwing myself over the balcony and ending the awards in spectacular fashion (sometimes, sacrifices must be made for the greater good). But by and large I was too busy snorting coke in the bathroom with a girl who fucking swore to me that it wasn’t a herpes sore that lying bitch! to be bothered.

So one thing I had absolutely no idea even transpired was the below montage paying tribute to the five guys who died in the past year that are relevant to the readers of Revolver, which is to say, not Phil Vane or Frankie Sparcello.

But I shouldn’t be a jerk about it, it’s really a very touching video.

-AR

[via Metal Underground]

A couple of weeks back we told you about a tribute compilation to Peter Steele being released through MetalUndeground. That compilation, which features 12 covers of  Pete’s work in Type O Negative and Carnivore, is out now and available for download here; the $3 it costs will all go towards recoup the costs of securing the licenses for the songs. Check out the tracklisting below.

In case you missed it, our own Anso DF produced a stellar writeup that looks back at Pete’s life and features interviews with his former band members, family, and friends: Part 1, Part 2.

All For None, None For All, A Tribute to Peter Steele tracklisting after the jump:

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I’m not gonna do a regular worst week this week, because I wanna ramble for a minute. I’m sure no one will be too disappointed.

I really can’t believe it’s been a year since Peter Steele died… I also can’t believe he’s really dead. If you haven’t already read Anso’s two-part rememberance of the man, featuring interviews with bandmates, family members, and friends, you absolutely must do so — it’s amazing. Here’s part one, and here’s part two.

But I’d like to take a moment and pay tribute to the guy in a way that I know might seem weird — by discussing the song “Enemy of the State” from the Roadrunner United album. Steele didn’t write the music — Joey Jordison and engineer/mixer/producer Matt Sepanic did — but the keyboards and samples are by his Type O Negative bandmate, Josh Silver, and Steele did write the vocal melody and lyrics, and those contributions from Steele make the song really special.

See, the entire track is sung in a made-up language. And it sounds pretty authentic — I didn’t know it was made up until I read an interview with Jordison. I honestly thought, “Oh, Peter Steele is fluent in some cool Eastern European language. Awesome.”

Singing words that don’t actually mean anything might seem crazy, but I get the distinct impression that they meant something to him. I mean, check out his vocal delivery, the way that he laughs after certain moments — he was most certainly telling a story. He conveyed that narrative purely through sound and the tone of his fantastic voice — maybe he was making a commentary on how lyrics don’t matter, maybe he was just trying an experiment, or maybe he was just fucking around. I just find the fact that he even thought to approach the song this way so brilliantly weird. Even if it’s not necessarily the definitive Peter Steele song, the way he made it is definitively Peter Steele.

Vince and I will be away most of next week, but we leave you in the competent hands of Anso DF and Corey Mitchell. Try to take it easy on those dudes and not miss us too much.

-AR

Today marks the first anniversary of Peter Steele’s death and though we at MetalSucks have just dragged you to Bummer Town with our two-part Peter retrospective (read part I, part II), MS chum Mick Stingley of Rocksalt.Mx has big, green plans to turn our frown upside down. Yes, tonight at 10 PM EDT he unveils a lengthy unpublished 2005 interview with the always hilarious and merciless Type O Negative frontman. Treasure, right? Stingley, an ace music writer for Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Metal Edge, and Terrorizer, gave me a peek at the sprawling Q&A; I can tell you it defines epic and hilarity. He’d phoned up Peter ostensibly to talk about Type O’s then-forthcoming Dead Again record, but unsurprisingly, the 12,000+ word interview stretches to accomodate subjects like joy and mortality and most points between. Read it as you crank Carnivore and Type O all day and night. Read it as you dash off angry letters to the Grammys and Revolver. Read it as you hail one of our greats, now elsewhere, always close by.

-ADF

Check out Mick Stingley’s Rocksalt.mx, the Vanity Fair of metal, for more interviews with Johnny Kelly of Type O Negative and Seventh Void, Ministry’s Al Jourgensen, Doro Pesch, Michael Monroe, and more.

If they weren’t laughing with me, okay; if they want to laugh at me, it’s better than nothing.

– Peter Steele, 1962-2010

As far as I can tell, it was easy to laugh with Peter Steele. It seems like he invariably got the chuckling started himself; his companions merely could wait and watch, then break into laughter whether they wanted to or not. I get the same feeling watching his interviews. His joke might be brutally self-deprecating, but you laugh with a knitted brow. His remark might disregard standards of good taste or social sensitivity; you choke down tee-hees while scanning your proximity for aghast eavesdroppers. Or maybe he drops a bad pun or a hoary old uncle joke, causing you to mingle groans with guffaws.

We laughed at Peter, too. Once he, like, totally frenched an admirer on stage at The Ricki Lake Show. At the final stop of Type O Negative’s tour with Pantera, he instigated a multiple body pile-up on stage during a song. He inadvertently made it so that his bandmates would forever be asked to autograph pictures of his nude body. Only Peter.

In the first installment of our salute to Peter Steele, his friends, family, and bandmates talked to MetalSucks about their relationships with Peter, his modesty and talents, his genuine respect for fans, and his new commitment to a healthy life. In our conclusion, recurrent themes include the painful timing of his death and the future that could have been. Consider it: At one moment, Peter was poised to relocate to Staten Island to commence work on new Type O music; the next moment, he had gone and his surviving bandmates were left to contemplate a future without him. At one moment, his family was awaiting his return from Pennsylvania; the next, so began life in a world filled with little reminders of their special big man. At one moment, we had our laughs with and at Peter; the next moment, as he was dying far from his home and his family, we knew to expect no further fun and games from him. Then again, he might be laughing at us right now.

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How would I like to die? I don’t know. It wouldn’t really matter so long as I thought I’d made a difference in the world.

– Peter Steele, 1962-2010

***

Peter Steele was 48 when he passed away on April 14, 2010. His instantly-recognizable baritone graced nine albums with his bands Type O Negative and Carnivore. As did his rusty, fuzzy bass tone, which seemed to represent the man himself: big, soulful, and unfiltered. And in his lyrics, the giant was revealed to be gentle, wounded but smirking, and a little paranoid. Best of all, these were sung to melodies and harmonies only rivaled in awesomeness by Gram Parsons, Jerry Cantrell, and freaking Paul McCartney. He was equally known for his humor and accessibility, the common rave being that Peter took pains to make people feel good. Or bad, like when trading brotherly zings with his bandmates on the commentary track for Type O’s video collection DVD, After Dark. In some measure, it felt empowering for us outsiders to have Peter Steele on our team. The world could keep its superhero fantasies. We have a real one.

So we miss the guy. His departure was sudden and, typical of Peter, ironically timed: A long period of turmoil had come to an end, say his friends and family, and a sober, focussed Peter was days away from a return from seclusion in Pennsylvania to his native New York. A late 2009 string of Type O concerts — which turned out to be his final shows — had marked the best Pete performances in years. Further, the band had just signed a new record deal with Napalm Records and booked a Staten Island rehearsal studio to undertake writing a new album. Nearby, an apartment had been found for Peter, also minutes from two of his bandmates’ homes. He was coming back; he was going to write songs to tell us where he’d been. His death seemed so cruel. It was hard to process.

A year has nearly passed, and we reached out to a few of Peter’s family, friends, and Type O Negative bandmates, who generously shared their thoughts, remembrances, and regrets. A massive round of applause for them, please, as it was an emotional task. In their speech, there often were just-perceptible sighs, shrugging intonations, and pauses to accomodate rushes of emotion. This has not been an easy 12 months for them. There was no shortage of topics either, from Peter’s flirtation with a law enforcement career to his legal peril, from his life as the 6’8″ baby brother to five sisters to his creative partnerships with three metal guys from Brooklyn, from the sophistication of his mind to the humility in his heart. With these words, we salute Peter Steele, we express our support to those devastated by the loss of a friend, brother, foil, confidant, co-worker, and co-goofer, and we share a community-wide hug for enduring negative year one.

***

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Did you know that it’s been almost a year since Peter Steele died? Crazy, but true; the Type O frontman passed away on April 14th, 2010 at the age of 48.

Our own resident Peter expert Anso DF is planning something special for April 14th, but in the meantime we figured we’d let you know about a tribute album our friends at MetalUnderground.com are organizing. In collaboration with Dan Mitchell of Beneath The Woods Studio, MetalUnderground.com has teamed up with a dozen underground bands from across the globe to release an exclusive tribute album entitled All For None, None For All: A Tribute to Peter Steele featuring twelve cover songs from many stages of Peter’s career in both Type O Negative and Carnivore. The tracklisting:

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We bid fuck off to 2010 tonight ,and that’s sad cuz this year contained the last days of  Type O Negative’s Peter Steele and metal’s Babe Ruth, Ronnie James Dio. We also have to prematurely turn the page on Paul Gray of Slipknot (see you in lefty heaven, dude), Bay Area legend Debbie Abono, and Makh Daniels from Early Graves. It’s like we’re leaving them behind in ’10 and will be forced to forge a path beyond 2011 without their support. What a rip-off.

Okay, this is turning into a real bummer and, worse, it’s redundant to our oft-blubbery reportage of these deaths and others. But today, let’s quickly acknowledge that outside of the MetalSucks coverage umbrella fell the passings of two friends of metal, actor Tony Curtis and filmmaker Satoshi Kon. Curtis may’ve been a marquee leading man and master of frantic comedy in the ’60s, but he first delivered the single greatest, metallist, brilliantest line of dialogue in the history of cinema in 1957′s The Sweet Smell of Success (see headline). Even Mike Patton and Tomahawk made it the refrain of their jam “Laredo” (above, at 1:40). Which is odd cuz that album also has a track named “Sweet Smell of Success.”

Then there’s Satoshi Kon, whose mind-mangling 13-part series Paranoia Agent is one of those works that metal people can love for its non-damning treatment of outsider fuck-ups and its flip, fatalist depiction of mankind’s collective narcissism. It brings to bear the desolate panic of Hitchcock, Lynch’s themes of futile struggle against unfathomable evil, and inevitable dead-end violence, as found in Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. Which is odd, cuz the star of that movie reminds me of Mike Patton.

Cheers everybody! See you back here in 2011!

-ADF

Since getting cable for the first time in five years this past September I’ve been fascinated with TV, can’t stop watching it whenever I have the chance; Hulu, torrents and the like are great, but sometimes you don’t know what you want to watch and prefer the glorious ADHD-riddled game known as channel surfing. Other than the occasional sports broadcast, my cable box stays parked between the channel range of 270-290 on Direct TV, aka all the dork channels: Discovery, History, A&E, etc. But one channel really takes the cake; The Science Channel! Anyone who has a cable provider that doesn’t broadcast this channel is missing out on some of the best shows to grace television’s black screen in ages such as MANTRACKER, HOW IT’S MADE and SURVIVORMAN. A++++ would do business with again fast shipping programming! For the most part I really don’t need to change the channel; I could watch endless repeats of those three shows (with a little Mythbusters thrown in) and be perfectly happy.

So it’s no surprise then that I had no idea ex-Skid Row and ex-Saigon Kick drummer Phil Varone is now a C-list celebrity because of an appearance on Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew in 2009.

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At the Golden Gods thing back in April, I really perked up when Alice In Chains’ Jerry Cantrell came down the press line. It was surprising and weird because I was not aware that his band remained significant to me. But there I was, rudely turning away from Zakk Wylde in mid-sentence to beam fanatically at Cantrell and bassist Mike Inez. The two seemed spot-lit and energetic; there was a sense of relief that the band had returned from the brink, and with a fucking awesome album to boot. I couldn’t take my eyes off them the whole night, not least of all during their innumerable trips to the stage to collect awards for Black Gives Way To Blue before a roomful of applause and well wishes. So deserved. Awesome.

This is a big turnaround for me after a decade of intense AIC fatigue, during which I suffered actual nausea from the harmonies of “Heaven Beside You,” and the opening chords of “Rooster” triggered an immediate lunge for the radio dial. (The latter is partially my fault, ‘cuz I remember a beer blast at which I stood guard over the stereo as that song stayed on repeat for like two hours.) I’ll never tire of Cantrell’s masterful solo in “Man In The Box” or the majesty of “Down In A Hole,” but otherwise it seemed that by 2000 we’d all gotten enough Alice In Chains for a lifetime. Not to mention the proliferate AIC clones complete with insta-Laynes — which really riled me cuz if anyone, it’s Cantrell whom a smart band would replicate. And, sadly, Staley himself was pretty much a super-bummer on two legs before long. Semi-consciously, I began to ignore their existence. Me and Alice In Chains were over. Such a great band, such a shame.

But, yes, some time apart and a tardiculous new album have healed the oft-rocky relationship between AIC and my ears. We’re back together, stronger than ever, and it’s no exagerration to state that I still can’t stop listening to BGW2B, a pop-doom metal masterpiece that finally brings some closure to the Staley situation (and it even impacted the new Soilwork record). Actually, I always think of Type O Negative’s Peter Steele when I hear the album’s big finale, “Private Hell.” Maybe you do, too.

-ADF

Alice In Chains embarks on the BlackDiamondSkye tour with Deftones and Mastodon starting September 16. Get dates here.

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

There weren’t any real hot button topics this week, so we decided to just play a fun game that used to keep Vince and Axl occupied for many a lunch period when they were kids:

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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Buried in a press release about Whitfield Crane doing a guest gig/Dio/Peter Steele/Paul Gray multi-dead-musican tribute show with Costa Rica’s Sight of Emptiness* was this awesome news from Mr. Crane:

“It’s ON — UGLY KID JOE is back. We are talking about doing shows next year, in addition to studio time. I’m stoked.”

I don’t know what’s up with burying reunion news in press releases about other shit, but all I can say about this particular reconciliation is: YES!!! (Note: Apparently this news has been on the band’s MySpace page since May. I’d like to thank every one of you fuckers who e-mails me every day to tell me about your friend’s awful unsigned band, to tell us to post about something we’ve already posted about, or to express anger over my hatred towards Parkway Drive for not making any mention of this news. Sheesh.)

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I think we’ve all had a night or two out partying when that step was taken over the line between “appropriately intoxicated” and “scary fucked-up.” You’re not barfing, passed-out, or otherwise blissfully unaware — that’d be preferable to the creeping terror that descends on you when some switch is thrown in your brain and suddenly, blam-o, fun is a distant memory and life is totally incomprehensible and overwhelming.

The room you’re in is moving but it’s not, and you’ve been listening to your friend describe Reagan’s atrocities in Central America but actually the speaker is some bearded pervert who took your friend’s seat ages ago. You scramble to your feet, blurting, “I have no friends with beards!” but freeze when you see that this room has no door! You coolly plead for help from Jimi Hendrix, who’s kneeling inanimate at waist height, but then he swings out of sight and is replaced by your long-lost friend, who is demanding to know why you were arguing with the door. You try to explain that the Jimi Hendrix door poster is being a wise-ass, but it comes out in all vowels and, Jesus tap-dancing Christ, the place is turning into a real carnival of horrors now. In the kitchen, somebody’s fucking a horse to “New Sensation” by INXS and all you want to do is get out the door, lay down somewhere quiet, and pinpoint which of all the things you’ve blindly smoked has turned you into Ozzy for the night.

And that’s how you end up asleep between two dumpsters.

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I just wanna throw my two cents in…

True story: when I was a kid, I thought the lyrics to “Black No. 1″ were “You can’t go out ’cause your boobs are showing.” I was confused about what the song’s title meant, but otherwise, the words made perfect sense to me. Oh, misheard lyrics. You never cease to amuse.

Even if you weren’t a Type O Negative fan or a Carnivore fan, you have to admit that Peter Steele had one of the most distinctive voices in the history of metal. You never heard the guy and thought, “Gee, who is that?” And because my mother used to work with Josh Silver’s (now sadly also departed) dad, Type O Negative always felt, somehow, more tangible to me; Steele was iconic and often seemed larger than life, but I knew he wasn’t superhuman.That he passed away so young was a very unfortunate reminder that he wasn’t The Man of Steele. But he made his mark and left something to appreciated behind, and in the end, that’s all any of us can really ask for.

Here are some happier things that happened in the world of metal this week:

• We unveiled the line-up for Summer Slaughter 2010.
• We debuted a new video by Jungle Rot.
• We spoke to Kerry King and Dave Lombardo from Slayer, Chino Moreno from Deftones, and Stephen Pearcy from Ratt.
• Cynic’s Paul Masvidal contemplated depression, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa contemplated L O S T, and The Austerity Program’s Justin Foley contemplated the perfect Taco Riff.
• We checked out new releases by Levi/Werstler, Wormrot, and Bison B.C. and Sweet Apple.
• Ever dreamed of singing with Nevermore? We’re running pretty much the coolest contest in the history of ever.

Next week brings at least one and possibly two big surprises, plus, knock on a wood, the debut of a new column by a writer you will hate. See ya then.

-AR

Much like our pal Anso — whose musings on Peter Steele’s death you absolutely must read — I got into Type O Negative a bit later than most. When I was a budding metal youth I heard “Christian Woman” and “Black No. 1″ on the radio often (then Q104.3 “Pure Rock”) and I really liked them… but for whatever reason I never dived fully into the deep, dark abyss of Type O.

It wasn’t until I returned to metal after a lengthy hiatus that I really started to appreciate this band via the metallic airwaves of WSOU, starting with “I Don’t Wanna Be Me” from 2003′s Anso-approved Life is Killing Me. It happened again when Dead Again dropped in 2007; “Halloween in Heaven” just hit that awesome Type O sweet spot. And hey, lookee at that… I even gave Dead Again 4 out of 5 horns when it came out; go me.

Enjoy these two under-appreciated latter day Type O gems.

-VN