And Hell Will Follow Me is a sad, sad, sad album. One can only speculate on the source of the album’s lyrical themes of death, despair, drug use and depression given A Pale Horse Named Death mastermind Sal Abruscato’s (also of Life of Agony) affiliation with Type O Negative… but again, one can only speculate. The music is certainly reminiscent of Type O — dark and moody — although it’s decidedly less gothy and more rocky. In more ways than one I’d liken it to Type O meets Alice in Chains; the music has that same sort of depressing, yet churning AIC plod, and Abruscato’s voice certainly calls Staley’s to mind at times.

Sal’s partner in crime on And Hell Will Follow Me is Matt Brown, sound engineer extraordinaire and guitarist of fellow NY band Seventh Void. Matt knocked it out of the park here; this album sounds excellent. Type O drummer / Seventh Void bandmate Johnny Kelly plays drums.

Listen to album track “Serial Killer” below; it’s about as upbeat and rocky a track as this album has to offer. Stream “Heroin Train” over at SkullsNBones for another taste of the album.

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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Alright, people. I feel like fucking death. I just wanna go lie down and hopefully never wake up. Let’s get this over with:

• We finally finished the goddamn motherfucking list with “Albums We Wish Had Made It” entries from my man Vince (Soilwork’s Natural Born Chaos) and my girl Amy Sciarretto (DEP’s not-really-eligible Calculating Infinity).
• We got another exclusive world tour video tour diary from Misery Index. We also spoke with Johnny Kelly of Type O Negative and Seventh Void and got our bro-bros at Thrash Hits to do a video interview with Trigger the Bloodshed for us. Thanks, dudes.
• We lost IQ points just watching this video interview with the singer of Attack! Attack!
• We have it on good authority that there’s gonna be an Acid Bath reunion.
• Dallas Coyle is now answering your questions.
• So is Gwar’s Oderus Urungus.

We’ll be at Summer Slaughter on Sunday. If any of you spot us and want to buy us a drink, please, for the love of all things holy, don’t.

-AR

As a part of goth metal OGs Type O Negative, drummer Johnny Kelley’s talents are often overshadowed by the low end sultriness and antics of bassist/frontman/nude model Peter Steele. But his graceful stickwork has been holding the band together since 1995′s October Rust, and the string of Type O albums that have come out since have stood shoulder to shoulder with the band’s prior material. Along with being Danzig’s drummer, Kelly plays in Seventh Void, a stoner/trad metal outfit with Type O Negative guitarist Kenny Hickey. The latter band released their debut on Vinnie Paul’s Big Vin Records in April. In an interview with MetalSucks, Kelly discusses Type O Negative’s future, working with Glenn Danzig, and his thoughts on modern drummers.

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After the horrific murder of his brother, no one would have faulted Pantera/Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul for dropping off the face of the Earth. But instead, the man chose to soldier on, starting his own record company, Big Vin Records, and resuming his drumming duties for boozy groove metallers Hellyeah. The former has signed Type O Negative side project Seventh Void and released the successful Dimebag Darrell tribute DVD Dimevision; the latter’s toured the globe in support of their debut album, with plans to record and tour again in the near future. A relentlessly positive guy who sounds a little like the metal version of King of the Hill’s Boomhauer, Vinnie seems content with the past and satisfied with the present (upon hearing that I was conducting the interview from Massachusetts after I shut my tape recorder off, he gave his thoughts on the Boston Bruins’ then-upcoming playoff game with Montreal Canadiens and stated that his dream Superbowl would be between the Cowboys and the Patriots, if it were possible). In his inteview with MetalSucks, he gives his thoughts on the upcoming 20th anniversary of Cowboys from Hell, running a record label, and the future of Hellyeah.

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Several of you (ok… three) have emailed MetalSucks urging us to check out Seventh Void — the new band featuring Johnny Kelly and Kenny Hickey of Type-O Negative — whose debut record Heaven is Gone just dropped last month on Vinnie Paul’s Big Vin Records. Seventh Void sound nothing like the goth-laden, morose metal played by half of the band in their day jobs; instead we get southern-tinged, bluesy hard rock with little pretense that sounds more like Down, Corrosion of Conformity or early Soundgarden than anything Type-O have done to date. Check out their new video for the Heaven is Gone’s title track below, then have a listen to more on Seventh Void’s MySpace page. Look out for MS interviews later this month with both Johnny Kelly and Vinnie Paul!

-VN