The Best of Type O Negative in Bloomington, MN

Well-chosen with just enough missing that you'll have to travel further,
Roadrunner
's 2006 compilation
The Best of Type O Negative
represents the tongue-in-cheek (or are they??) sleaze
goth metal
juggernaut quite well. There's a healthy dose of their mammoth
sludge
side (the naughty
"My Girlfriend's Girlfriend,"
the absolutely epic
"Unsuccessfully Coping with the Natural Beauty of Infidelity"
), a taste of their biting nihilistic side (the very
Sisters of Mercy
"Black No. 1,"
the surging
"Everyone I Love Is Dead"
), plus a couple of the absurd covers the band is famous for. Here it's their drugged-out take on
Neil Young
's
"Cinnamon Girl"
and their over the top
thrash
through
Deep Purple
"Highway Star,"
but you really haven't lived until you've heard them turn
Seals & Crofts
'
"Summer Breeze"
into a crushing dirge, and since that ain't here, this ain't your one stop shop. Lead singer/Svengali
Pete Steele
had been in the news as this was released because he made the "what the?" announcement that he was going to join the cast of the reality program
The Surreal Life
, and the release is also part of a
"best-of" series, but this isn't a hastily tossed-off compilation. The tracks are sequenced well and with the band's only other comp -- 2001's
The Least Worst of Type O Negative
-- heavy with remixes and alternate versions, this is the easiest entry point into their sinister and strange world. ~ David Jeffries