Type O Negative: October Rust

Type O Negative follows its inexplicably gold-selling Bloody Kisses with another seventy-something minutes of gothic-metal sludge. Almost dumb enough to be comical, October Rust is packed with more overlong, pseudo-scary songs about sex with black-clothed women. Success has driven the Brooklyn band to infuse a few of these tracks with an almost poppy feel ("Love You To Death," "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend," the swirling "Die With Me"), but even these are plodding bores. Singer/bassist Peter Steele makes Glenn Danzig seem subtle and understated by comparison, and there are few things in the world funnier than hearing him sing "Be My Druidess" with what one can assume was a straight face. Otherwise, not even the kitsch value salvages it.