Type O Negative were one of the most unlikely success stories in a decade of unlikely success stories. Fronted by the towering Peter Steele – a 6’8” giant with a fathomlessly deep voice and an obsidian-black sense of humour – the Brooklyn four-piece merged Black Sabbath’s unholy grind with The Sisters Of Mercy’s gothic grandiosity. Their magnum opus was 1993’s Bloody Kisses, a grimoire of romance, fury, irony and sadness that sold a million copies and unexpectedly thrust goth metal into the mainstream.
No one saw it coming. A few years earlier, Steele had been the bassist/vocalist of Carnivore, a band whose primitive noise, penchant for barbarian-style stage costumes and deliberately provocative take on social issues (sample title: Race War) baffled metal and hardcore audiences alike.
