''Slow, Deep and Hard'' is the debut studio album by the American
gothic metal
Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal music, heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different ...
band
Type O Negative
Type O Negative was an American gothic/doom metal band formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1989 by Peter Steele (bass, lead vocals), Kenny Hickey (guitar, co-lead vocals), Josh Silver (keyboards, backing vocals), and Sal Abruscato (drums ...
, released on June 11, 1991, through
Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records is a Dutch–American record label focused on Heavy metal music, heavy metal and hard rock music. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City. Formerly seen as ...
. The album was originally titled ''None More Negative'', and released in 1990 as a demo under the group's former name Repulsion.
Production
Keyboardist and producer
Josh Silver convinced his parents to lend him $6,000 in late 1989 so the band could record the album.
[
]
Composition
''Revolver
A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...
'' said that the album was "noisy and angry" and "a far cry from the hooky choruses and doom-out goth of their 1993 breakout, '' Bloody Kisses''," having more in common with the New York hardcore
New York hardcore (also known as NYHC) is both the hardcore punk music created in New York City and the subculture and lifestyle (sociology), lifestyle associated with that music. The scene established many aspects that are fixtures of hardcore ...
sound of Peter Steele's previous band, Carnivore
A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant
Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...
. The lyrics were intended to be sarcastic,[ though several songs, like "Unsuccessfully Coping With the Natural Beauty of Infidelity," "Prelude to Agony" and "Der Untermensch", led to accusations of misogyny, bigotry and ]Nazism
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...
in part due to Untermensch
''Untermensch'' (; plural: ''Untermenschen'') is a German language word literally meaning 'underman', 'sub-man', or ' subhuman', which was extensively used by Germany's Nazi Party to refer to their opponents and non- Aryan people they deemed ...
(German "sub-human") being a blanket term used by the Nazis to refer to non-Aryans.[ Keyboardist Josh Silver, who is Jewish, recalled, "They just invented a bunch of shit and said we were Nazis. Meanwhile, there were bands playing right down the block that are sieg-heiling the audience, and nobody's bothering with them. But it was a good and bad thing. As a Jew, I obviously never wanna be labeled as a Nazi. But at the same time, go ahead and make us famous. That's fine."][ Silver said, regarding the album's lyrics, "I think Peter was at the height of his lyrical powers".][ However, they did not translate well to non-English speaking countries, where lyrics intended as being sarcastic were directly translated and taken literally.][ "Unsuccessfully Coping With the Natural Beauty of Infidelity" used the chord structure of ]Simple Minds
Simple Minds are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977, becoming best known internationally for their song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 ...
' song "Don't You (Forget About Me)
"Don't You (Forget About Me)" is a song by the Scottish rock band Simple Minds, released as a single in 1985. It was written and composed by the record producer Keith Forsey and the guitarist Steve Schiff for the film '' The Breakfast Club'' ...
".[ "The Misinterpretation of Silence and Its Disastrous Consequences" consists of hiss from a blank audio cassette tape; Silver explained, "We actually just ran a blank tape. We were hoping people would think it was fucked up and turn their stereos up really loud. Then the next song would kick in."][ The main riff of "Gravitational Constant" was inspired by the theme song for the sitcom '']The Munsters
''The Munsters'' is an American sitcom about the home life of a family of benign monsters that aired from 1964 to 1966 on CBS. The series stars Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster (Frankenstein's monster),Episodes referring to the fact that Herman is ...
''.[
]
Release
The recordings on the album initially appeared on a demo called ''None More Negative'', released under the band name Repulsion. After the band found out that there was another band using this name, they changed their name to Type O Negative.[ The cover image was taken from a ]pornographic
Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolved from cave paintings ...
magazine, a close-up of a penis entering a vagina during sexual intercourse.[
On March 24, 2009, Type O Negative reissued the album with remastered audio, revised artwork, and expanded liner notes. This remaster features the bonus track "Hey Pete (Pete's Ego Trip Version)" which originally appeared on the album '' The Least Worst Of''. This is a studio version of the song which appears live on the album '' The Origin Of The Feces''.]
Track listing
All lyrics and music by Peter Steele, unless noted.
''Slow, Deep And Hard'' (1991 original release)
''Slow, Deep And Hard - Remaster'' (2009 remastered and expanded edition)
''None More Negative'' (original 1990 cassette demo self-release)
Personnel
* Peter Steele – lead vocals, bass
* Kenny Hickey – guitars, backing vocals
* Josh Silver – keyboards, backing vocals, samples
* Sal Abruscato – drums
Production
*Michael Marciano – engineering
*Michael Sarsfield – mastering
Charts
References
{{Authority control
Type O Negative albums
1991 debut albums
Roadrunner Records albums