My first experience of October Noir, is via this new album, Fate, Wine And Wisteria, that was released on September the 22nd. It is rather confronting at first to think of a band actively trying to take up where Type O Negative sadly could not due to the untimely death of lead singer Pete Steele, especially when the band themselves could not find the heart to continue without him and followed with other projects such as A Pale Horse Called Death.
Down in Pensacola, Florida, the weather is warm and the wisteria grows wild in the lost places, so to the album has thirteen tracks, though to be fair the tracks “Fate“, “Wine” and “Wisteria” are kind bridging instrumental pieces and maybe a minute long at the most. “Windows” is the first track with vocals and the single off the album. Fairly taken aback how much this actually sounds like a Type O number, There is the longing in the deep vocals and the long guitar riffs that drift away to then crash back in a revisit.
This is indeed a strange experience. It pays to read the lyrics at times as well. “Effigy” almost seems to be based on one of those teenage horror movies where they go down to the lake and the main character is lured away with the promise of carnal delights, only to find all their friends have been murdered and being Halloween, did they do it?! Equal parts defeat and howling anger in the Greek inspired “Persephone” and “Wanderlust” really reminds me of the iconic “Everything Dies” in places.
Really liked “Sistinas” with the moody harpsichord and the extremely low vocal range that was being plumbed. Anyone that ever listened to Type O Negative, would know that often Steele would firmly have his tongue placed in cheek and liked to create songs about forbidden encounters or the nitty gritty of sexual lust and October Noir have followed post haste in their footsteps with the tracks “Reverence (Make You Love)” and “Proverbs“. Whatever the theme, there is always that underlying darkness that humans are fallible and prone to causing great pain and misery as well as picking others up from the deepest pits of despair in this album.
It was the first time hearing their sound which floored me a little to hear a band that sounded so like Type O Negative, from the bass lines, to the guitar chords and unmissably the vocals so hauntingly like Pete Steele’s. Now some will say they are copy artists and that often happens a lot, ie all the bands that want to be Sisters Of Mercy, though unfortunately they are flawed and normally unable to do this well. October Noir don’t hide the fact they are standing in Type O Negative’s shadow but rather embrace the fact and actually create new music I think that even Steele would have been impressed by.
Onyx Music Reviews 