"Bloody Kisses" was the big step forward for Type O Negative, marked by its pure melodrama and, ironically, degree of subtlety. At its best, it sounds like an airy funeral, plastered with relentless appeals to gothic aesthetics and clichés, often walking a fine line between indulging in and satirizing them. Tracks like "Christian Woman" and "Black No. 1" are, consequently, almost hilariously melodramatic and excessive, featuring references to sadomasochism, crucifixes, vampires, and even "The Addams Family." Still, this excess endears, and "Bloody Kisses" finds its long-lasting achievements in its desire to (seriously or jokingly) indulge in it.
The record's doom-and-gloom title track, "Bloody Kisses" (apparently written about Peter Steele's cat), is the complete (and only truly serious) atmospheric summation of its flirtation with gothic excess, with organs, weeping, tortured screams, and all. At nearly eleven minutes, it's suffocating, unending anguish. "Summer Breeze" also exhibits this dreariness, but intriguingly paired with lyrics from a cheerful pop song (Seals & Crofts' "Summer Breeze," 1972) and some relatively twee background vocals. The track flows seamlessly into "Set Me on Fire," the 'happiest' sounding track on "Bloody Kisses," perhaps as a point of irony.
Despite its peaks, "Bloody Kisses" suffers from the inclusion of the sloppy "Kill All The White People" (a "joke" track written in mockery of Black Panthers, worth only a quick chuckle at best) and "We Hate Everyone," which is so "edgy" and nihilistic that it borders on sheer obnoxiousness. In addition, the interludes "Fay Wray Come Out and Play," "Machine Screw," and "3.0.I.F." are grating, interruptive, and at a length of 73 minutes with their inclusion, one must wonder: "Why?" The Digipak release, which consists only of the eight genuine tracks (and "Suspended in Dusk," a previously unreleased track more in line with the rest of the album), is perhaps the great redeemer for "Bloody Kisses."
