UMUR "The Origin of the Feces" is a live album release by US, New York based heavy/doom/goth metal act Type O Negative. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in May 1992. It bridges the gap between the band´s debut full-length studio album "Slow, Deep and Hard" from 1991 and their sophomore full-length studio album "Bloody Kisses" from 1993. It´s a bit unusual (although it´s been done before by other artists), to release a live album, when you only have one studio album out, but Type O Negative were never the band to do things in a conventional way. Although "The Origin of the Feces" is credited as a live release, it´s actually a live in the studio recording with added crowd noises. In typical sarcastic fashion, frontman Peter Steele even has arguments with the fake audience (who screams back at him "You Suck") and suddenly the concert stops in the middle of the album because a bomb threat is called in. All manufactured for the entertainment of the listener, and it works.

The original version of "The Origin of the Feces" (which featured a cover artwork with a picture of Steele´s anus) predominantly features re-arranged versions of tracks from "Slow, Deep and Hard (1991)", where the titles of the tracks have been altered. In addition to those tracks the album also features a cover of Billy Roberts' "Hey Joe" (titled "Hey Pete" here) and the Type O Negative original "Are You Afraid", which is exclusive to "The Origin of the Feces" (the song never saw a regular studio version release). Reissues of "The Origin of the Feces" feature a different cover artwork (a black and green portrait of 1493 painting "The Dance of Death" by Michael Wolgemut) and a cover of "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath in a regular studio recording. Type O Negative put their own spin on "Paranoid" and make the song their own. The pace is much slower than the original, and they incorporate the main riff from "Iron Man" too. So while it´s still obvious that it´s "Paranoid" being covered, Type O Negative succeed in doing what any artist who covers another should aspire to, which is making another artist´s song their own.

"Are You Afraid" is a short, dark, and goth tinged track, which points forward to the sound Type O Negative would bring to the table on "Bloody Kisses (1993)", while the material off "Slow, Deep and Hard (1991)" are unconventional doom/hardcore tracks. They have been re-arranged here, and some of them are considerably shorter than the originals. Other than that the biggest changes involve changing some words, choir arrangements, and at one point singing in a British accent. "The Origin of the Feces" features a decent quality sound production, and while it´s not the most interesting release by Type O Negative, it´s still a quality release which is a greatly entertaining listen. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

Vim Fuego There is some debate over how "live" this album actually is. Some claim it was recorded in the studio. The liner notes say it was recorded October 31st 1991 at Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. However it was recorded, Pete Steele and the rest of Type O Negative were having a bad day, and couldn't be happier.

Early in their career, the band were largely misunderstood, alienating the undeserved right wing following Steele's previous band Carnivore had picked up. They simply weren't hardcore enough for the skinheads. At the same time, the gothic crowd who later championed the band, were scared off by the double kick drum flourishes, and thrash outs in many of the songs, but at the same time were drawn in by the melancholic, introspective lyrics, the theatrical vocals, and the doom laden keyboards and dirge–like arrangements.

Right from the start, the band are taunted with chants of "You suck, you suck!" but continue to play anyway. The jeers continue through the first song, originally titled "Unsuccessfully Coping With The Natural Beauty Of Infidelity", but more popularly known as "I Know You're Fucking Someone Else". And the song winds its way through pipe organ gothicism, acoustic sections, hardcore sing–a–longs, a Scottish accent, and thrash metal kick outs. It sounds a mess, but is an incredibly listenable epic.

The between song abuse between Steele and the audience is a treat, as are the moments when it all goes wrong. Third track "Gravity" breaks down completely, and in something reminiscent of Bad News or Spinal Tap, the band has to stop for an apparent bomb threat. "I guess this ain't your lucky day, huh? Let's just get this over with," mutters Steele as the band returns to the stage and blasts through a raucous version of "Pain". It may seem silly re-creating such an incident in the studio, but it is rumoured to be based on a real occurrence.

There's a silly but fun take on "Hey Joe", with Steele's mournful moan and the trademark lumbering juggernaut guitar and bass sound adding some seriously sinister overtones Jimi Hendrix would never have dreamed of.

The show ends with a rollicking romp through a reprise of "Kill You Tonight", a cheerful ode to murdering an unfaithful lover, complete with cheesy new romantic "whoa whoa" backing vocals, and a silly accent, sounding like a cross between Crocodile Dundee and EastEnders. There's an ill–advised cover of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" tacked on the end. It doesn't fit Type O Negative's style, so the less said the better.

This whole album is surprisingly good fun from a band who are meant to be miserable bastards. It also benefits from losing the infamous original artwork — a close–up picture of an asshole stretched so far as to make your eyes water!

siLLy puPPy TYPE O NEGATIVE was a strange band indeed. After releasing only one album they did something very bizarre and released their second album which was basically a faux live performance where they recorded it in the studio but presented it as if it were in front of an audience like perhaps in Brighton Beach! They went so far as to add crowd noises and interact with fake audience members and even stop the venue because of a bomb threat. This is all the doings of Peter Steele the crazed vocalist, bassist and lyricist who had a knack for rubbing everyone the wrong way and he succeeds again with THE ORIGIN OF FECES, which admittedly is a clever play of words on Charles Darwin’s “Origin Of Species” and to top it off the original album cover donned Steele’s anal sphincter. Luckily i picked up the remastered version that has the much better green skeletons dancing, in fact it is a painting by Michael Wolgemut called “The Dance Of Death” from 1493.

Many of the tracks were on their debut album “Slow, Deep And Hard” but here have been deliberately renamed, i guess to fuck with out minds or something.

- "Unsuccessfully Coping With the Natural Beauty of Infidelity" is renamed "I Know You're Fucking Someone Else" - "Gravitational Constant: G = 6.67 x 10-8 cm-3 gm-1 sec-2" is renamed "Gravity" - "Prelude to Agony" is renamed "Pain" "Xero Tolerance" is renamed "Kill You Tonight"

Ugh. What can i say about this one? I can’t say i really like it. All the smoothness of the band’s studio albums is missing here and this does indeed sound like a live recording and that’s part of the problem right there for me. I tend not to like live recordings unless they are absolutely spectacular and this i’m afraid is not. It sounds more like a punk band most of the time and the gothic touches are not as strong as i would like. I really don’t find the material here extremely interesting either. The songs are fairly generic and Peter Steele comes off as a drunken buffoon who lives in his own universe. I have to admit that the whole is a laugh the first time around but i don’t find this one to have much staying power. On the newer copy there is an excellent gothic doom version of “Paranoid” by Sabbath and it only rubs it in how un

Warthur What? No, come on Steele, this is stupid. Faking a live album and having most of the running order consist of inferior versions of tracks from your debut album is just plain daft; on top of that, changing up the song titles to obscure that fact is downright sleazy. It's a spectacularly pointless release which offers little to anyone who already has Slow, Deep and Hard, and from what I hear it isn't even a decent imitation of the Type O live experience of the era (Peter Steele was apparently even more of an asshole as a frontman than he presents himself as being here).

If I were a Type O fan at the time this came out I'd have been deeply concerned that the band had simply run out of ideas for decent material - which wouldn't speak well for their creativity given that they'd only put out one album at this point. Of course, history shows that they'd turn things around in magnificent style with Bloody Kisses - and I'd rather give that one another spin than subject myself to this nonsense again.