Bloody Kisses

***Bloody Kisses*** is the third album by Type O Negative, released on August 17, 1993. It is the album that would put Type O Negative into mainstream popularity in metal fandom following a somewhat lack of success with their first two albums. According to several reviews, the album lays the foundation of gothic metal for not just Type O Negative but other bands to follow. "Bloody Kisses" established Type O Negative motifs, such as songs originally recorded by another band restylized into gloomy gothic metal, sample-heavy soundscapes in between songs, and dry, satirical humor.

*Bloody Kisses* was the first album on Roadrunner Records to achieve gold and platinum certification (not just Type O Negative). This is the last album to feature the band's original line-up, as drummer Sal Abruscato would leave Type O Negative in late 1993 and was replaced by Johnny Kelly.

## Release versions

There are four different release versions of *Bloody Kisses* — the original version containing fourteen tracks, the re-release version containing nine tracks with six tracks removed from the original and added a new song, and the top shelf 2009 release containing two discs and twenty-two tracks in total, and the 25th Anniversary edition released on November 23, 2018 in 6-side, 21-track vinyl-only format as part of Black Friday Record Store Day.

## Album cover

*Bloody Kisses* has one of the most iconic heavy metal covers. The album cover shows two lesbians kissing each other as Peter liked lesbians. He spent many hours looking through hundreds of shades of green until he found the exact one for the album cover. But after it was done, Josh Silver wasn't pleased with the album cover, saying these girls are not gothic.

## Music and lyrics

Considered a goth metal album, *Bloody Kisses* is saturated with complex patterns of sound, including touches of Beatlesque psychedelic pop and new wave, with content featuring sexual symbolism and humor. Lyrically the album explores about the heartbreak from regular, religious and vampire girls (such as being set on fire in the song "Set Me on Fire"), as well as about having sex and death. The album features a cover of Seals & Crofts' song "Summer Breeze"; originally it was going to be called "Summer Girl" with different lyrics, but made a normal cover after Seals & Crofts found the lyrics to "Summer Girl" distasteful. According to *Decibel* magazine, *Bloody Kisses* "featured infectious doom-pop epics ("Black No. 1", "Christian Woman"), sarcastic hardcore screeds ("Kill All the White People", "We Hate Everyone")," and "bizarre noise interludes ("Fay Wray Come Out and Play", "Dark Side of the Womb", "3.0.I.F")." "Black No. 1" is "a sarcastic ode to goth girls based on a narcissistic ex-girlfriend of singer Peter Steele."

## Tracklist

Original release
1. "Machine Screw" – 0:39
2. "Christian Woman" – 8:58
	* I. "Body of Christ (Corpus Christi)" – 4:21 (0:00–4:21)
	* II. "To Love God" – 2:51 (4:21–7:12)
	* III. "Jesus Christ Looks Like Me" – 1:46 (7:12–8:58)
3. "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" – 11:14
4. "Fay Wray Come Out and Play" – 1:02
5. "Kill All the White People" – 3:23
6. "Summer Breeze" (Seals and Crofts cover) – 4:49
7. "Set Me on Fire" – 3:29
8. "Dark Side of the Womb" – 0:27
9. "We Hate Everyone" – 6:50
	* I. "We Don't Care" – 1:24 (0:00–1:24)
	* II. "Chaotic World" – 1:22 (1:24–2:46)
	* III. "We Hate Everyone" – 2:50 (2:46–5:36)
	* IV: "We Don't Care (reprise)" – 1:14 (5:36–6:50)
10. "Bloody Kisses (A Death in the Family)" – 10:56
11. "3.0.I.F." – 2:05
12. "Too Late: Frozen" – 7:50
	* I. "Too Late" – 2:37 (0:00–2:37)
	* II. "Frozen" – 3:54 (2:37–6:31)
	* III. "Too Late (reprise)" – 1:19 (6:31–7:50)
13. "Blood & Fire" – 5:33
14. "Can't Lose You" – 6:05

Digipak re-release
A digipak version was later released that removed two tracks ("Kill All the White People" and "We Hate Everyone"), the intro and the interludes (those lasting up to 2:05) and added one new song ("Suspended in Dusk").

1. "Christian Woman" – 8:58
	* I. "Body of Christ (Corpus Christi)" – 4:21 (0:00–4:21)
	* II. "To Love God" – 2:51 (4:21–7:12)
	* III. "Jesus Christ Looks Like Me" – 1:46 (7:12–8:58)
2. "Bloody Kisses (A Death in the Family)" – 10:56
3. "Too Late: Frozen" – 7:50
	* I. "Too Late" – 2:37 (0:00–2:37)
	* II. "Frozen" – 3:54 (2:37–6:31)
	* III. "Too Late (reprise)" – 1:19 (6:31–7:50)
4. "Blood & Fire" – 5:33
5. "Can't Lose You" – 6:05
6. "Summer Breeze" (Seals and Crofts cover) – 4:49
7. "Set Me on Fire" – 3:29
8. "Suspended in Dusk" – 8:38
9. "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" – 11:14

This version contains an amended booklet that reflects the reorder of the tracks. The lyric sheet prints parody lyrics for "Summer Breeze" such as "Kenny Hickey lying on the sidewalk, Devil music from the house next door". The recorded song is unchanged.
This version of the song, originally titled "Summer Girl", was recorded but remains unreleased, though it has circulated on the Internet and appears on a promotional release for *Bloody Kisses* simply titled *?*. This is reportedly due to Seals and Crofts finding the lyric change distasteful.

Top shelf edition (2009 re-release)
Roadrunner Records re-released *Bloody Kisses* on May 5, 2009, with a bonus CD of rarities and B-sides.
Disc one has the same tracklist as the original release above.

Disc two

1. "Suspended in Dusk" – 8:38
2. "Black Sabbath" – 7:56
3. "Black Sabbath (From the Satanic Perspective)" – 7:53
4. "Christian Woman" (edit) – 4:33
5. "Christian Woman" (Butt-Kissing Sell-Out version) – 4:33
6. "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" (edit) – 4:44
7. "Blood & Fire" (Out of the Ashes mix) – 4:42
8. "Summer Breeze" (Rick Rubin mix) – 5:02

25th Anniversary edition
Roadrunner re-released *Bloody Kisses* in vinyl-only format on November 23, 2018 as part of Black Friday Record Store Day. The US version has six sides (A–F) with E–F having remixes and radio edits while the European version has four sides with same tracklist as the original 1993 version.

A1 "Machine Screw" – 0:39

A2 "Christian Woman" – 8:58

A2a "Body of Christ (Corpus Christi)" – 4:21 (0:00–4:21)

A2b "To Love God" – 2:51 (4:21–7:12)

A2c "Jesus Christ Looks Like Me" – 1:46 (7:12–8:58)

A3 "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" – 11:14

B1 "Fay Wray Come Out and Play" – 1:02

B2 "Kill All the White People" – 3:23

B3 "Summer Breeze" (Seals and Crofts cover) – 4:49

B4 "Set Me on Fire" – 3:29

C1 "Dark Side of the Womb" – 0:27

C2 "We Hate Everyone" – 6:50

C2a "We Don't Care" – 1:24 (0:00–1:24)

C2b "Chaotic World" – 1:22 (1:24–2:46)

C2c "We Hate Everyone" – 2:50 (2:46–5:36)

C2d "We Don't Care (reprise)" – 1:14 (5:36–6:50)

C3 "Bloody Kisses (A Death in the Family)" – 10:56

D1 "3.0.I.F." – 2:05

D2 "Too Late: Frozen" – 7:50

D2a "Too Late" – 2:37 (0:00–2:37)

D2b "Frozen" – 3:54 (2:37–6:31)

D2c "Too Late (reprise)" – 1:19 (6:31–7:50)

D3 "Blood & Fire" – 5:33

D4 "Can't Lose You" – 6:05

E1 "Suspended in Dusk" – 8:38

E2 "Black Sabbath (From the Satanic Perspective)" – 7:48

E3 "Summer Breeze" (Rick Rubin mix) – 4:57

F1 "Christian Woman" (edit) – 4:28

F2 "Christian Woman" (Butt-Kissing Sell-Out version) – 4:28

F3 "Black No. 1" (edit) – 4:39

F4 "Blood & Fire" (Out of the Ashes mix) – 4:38

## Trivia

* An early working title for this album was *Things Worse Than Death (And Other Acts of God)*.
* This is one of two TON albums to show faces on the album cover; the other is *Dead Again*.
* This is the only Type O Negative album where green is not shown on the album cover.
* This is one of just three albums where the cover shows a color other than green, white, or black; the others are *October Rust* and *World Coming Down*.
* This is one of very rare cases in which the digipak version has fewer tracks than the regular version.

## Reviews

* John Chedsey of *Satan Stole My Teddybear* – "The strong songwriting throughout helps Type O Negative veer away from pandering to the mere elements of goth music," making it "much more vital and alive."
* Edwin Oslan of *savagehippie* – "The guitar is thick, heavy and distorted without being overly compressed, the drums sound loud but natural and I absolutely love Peter Steele’s fuzzed out bass tone. It’s essentially the perfect production for this type of music."
* JohnnyBiggs of Sputnikmusic (4.5/5) – "Unquestionably TON's best album."

* Amazon.com
* *Canchageneral*
* *Decibel Magazine*
* Encyclopaedia Metallum
* metal.de (7/10)
* Metalfan.nl
* The Metal Observer
* *Metal Reviews* (99/100)

* *Rate Your Music*
* *Review Stream*
* *RockHard* (10/10)
* *Sea of Tranquility* (4.5/5)
* The Toilet Ov Hell
* Ultimate-Guitar.com
* YouTube

## Personnel

**Group performers**

* Peter Steele – lead vocals, bass
* Kenny Hickey – guitar, additional vocals, co-lead vocals on "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" and "We Hate Everyone"
* Josh Silver – keyboards, synth, backing vocals
* Sal Abruscato – drums, percussion

**Session performers & spectators**

* Paul Bento – sitar, tambura
* The Bensonhoist Lesbian Choir – cheering voices and choirs
* Bonnie Weiss – cheering voices and choirs
* Keith Caputo – cheering voices and choirs
* Karen Rose – cheering voices and choirs
* Debbie Alter – cheering voices and choirs
* Chris Zamp – cheering voices and choirs
* Alan Robert – cheering voices and choirs
* Joey Zampella – cheering voices and choirs
* Mike Palmeri – cheering voices and choirs

**Enginucers**

* Peter Steele – writing, production
* Mike Marciano – engineering, mixing
* Josh Silver – effects, programming, production
* George Marino – mastering

**Cover artworkers**

* Patty – cover art
* Peter Steele – concept art
* John Wadsworth – front cover, group photography
* Jeff Kitts – photography of individuals