With their roots in the 80s, Type O Negative really kicked off in the early 90s, mixing doomy heavy metal and gothic rock. Think Black Sabbath meets The Mission meets The Beatles.

Putting the fake live album aside, Bloody Kisses was their 2nd true album, and released in 1993, and went on to become Roadrunner’s first platinum release in the US. This reissue expands the album to 2 discs, adding on all the usual bonuses.

After the orgasmic intro we get the 9 minute 'Christian Woman' and the 11 minute 'Black No 1'. The latter features some humurous lyrics poking fun at gothic genres, the music mixing goth and stoner. There are moments rich in keyboards, like an extreme, dirty and dirge version of The Damned of the mid 80s. 'Kill All The White People' adds a huge slab of punk/Oi! to the goth metal.

After that, apart from title track (11 minutes) and 'Too Late: Frozen' (8 minutes), the other songs follow a similar fashion in more succinct form.

The bonus tracks on disc 2 include 2 covers of 'Black Sabbath' (one with alternate lyrics, from Satan’s point of view, and various single tracks/radio edits. If you’re a fan, these are pretty essential, otherwise the 14 track original album is more than enough.

Good for doom goth metal, otherwise approach with caution.

***½

Review by Joe Geesin

www.joegeesin.com