When I want to hear dark, gloomy, gothic, depressing music, the first band that comes to mind is Type O Negative. I was introduced to them with their breakthrough 1994 album "Bloody Kisses." Since then I have gotten each of their CD releases and seen them in concert on a number of occasions. For some reason, I missed the release of this when it was on VHS, and kept putting off getting the DVD, well I finally picked it up and after watching it I am not disappointed. Well, maybe a little.
The disk runs for about an hour and compiles a variety of footage including their music videos, staged interview footage, and some live footage from their tour with Pantera in the mid 90's. The content is good. The videos for "Black No. 1," "Christian Woman," "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend," plus others are all present. These videos are rarely seen, as Type O gets very little exposure in any main stream music outlets.
The one thing that this disk does more than anything else, is to showcase the dark sarcastic humor that the entire band possesses. They talk about how the band developed and just screwing around on camera, plus we get to see them in a toilet paper and food fight with Pantera, while performing. This is a must have for any fan of this music. Besides the comedy, we get some more serious moments, like guitar player Kenny Hickey introduces us to his young daughter.
The problems with the disk are primarily technical. The footage is from a variety of sources with varying quality. It also seems to be a straight port from the VHS tape. Some of the footage is grainy and fuzzy, and not very pretty to look at, although I'm sure Peter and the band would take credit for that.
Video. Presented in it's original 1.33:1 aspect ratio, and it does the job.
Audio. Sound is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM 2.0. For my viewing I used the PCM track, and it sounded very good, nothing spectacular but it is adequate.
Extras. There are a few here.
-Photo Gallery. There is a gallery of promotional photos of all the band members.
-Bonus video: "Everything Dies." An extra music video is included.
-Audio tracks. Two rare audio only tracks are here: "12 Black Rainbows" and "Black Sabbath (From the Satanic Perspective)"
-Commentary. Full band commentary for the duration of the disk, including the "Everything Dies" video. It is also very entertaining including a lot of that previously mentioned humor. The attack everything from each other to former band members to the videos, nothing escapes them. Very well worth a listen.
Bottomline. If you are a fan of Type O Negative, you need to pick this disk up. It may not be all encompassing, or exhibit the best video quality, it still gives us a new look at the band. The only thing I hope is that the band puts out another DVD at some point.
Recommended.
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