For unknown reasons, I managed to live my life without knowing the existence of Type O Negative. I just discovered their music this year thanks to the Twitch streams of Countess Hugerinna and I’ve been listening to their music a lot since then. Soon, my favorite album was Life is Killing Me. So no surprise I chose it for my 100 Sleeves project.
original album cover art
- Sleeve 046/100: Life Is Killing Me (2003)
- Studio Album by Type O Negative
- Label: Roadrunner Records
- Genre: Gothic Metal, Gothic Rock
- Original Cover: Sleeve design by Rebecca Waterfall
This post is part of the 100 Sleeves: One hundred Album Covers Re-Designed project, a personal challenge I created for myself at the end of 2020. The goal is to create 100 album covers, a new one every week, inspired by the music I’m enjoying at the moment.
I feel like I’ve been living under a rock all this time. My teenage self would have enjoyed their music even more than I’m currently doing. I picture myself singing “I don’t wanna be me anymore” with all my teenage angst. More so when I found out the vocalist, Peter Steele, passed in 2010 š I wish I had grieved him in real-time.
Reading about Type O Negative reminded me of when I was 11 y-o. I was so excited to tell my older brother about this “new” band called Nirvana. Of course, he laughed at me and told me they weren’t new and no longer existed because Kurt Cobain took his life when I was 3.
After that, I was so embarrassed by my ignorance, but I was even sadder to know that I was not going to hear new material from Nirvana. In the same way, I’m not going to listen to new material from Type O Negativeš¢. At least they left some ever-green content out thereš.
Album Cover Art Redesign by franzmori. This is fan art, no copyright infringement intended.
Just let me die with dignity
Life Is Killing Me, lyrics by Type O Negative
It’s not suicide, simply mercy
For this cover, I took inspiration from the song of the same name. The lyrics of the song describe a person dealing with a terminal illness while doctors insist on saving their life. The person ends on life support and from their vegetative state beg to die in peace. After all, life is killing them.
Also, the song questions the experimental side of the medical practice and how many people are put through unnecessary suffering in the search of a cure.
I followed Type O Negative’s branding of green and black, as well as the way they placed typography on their album covers. I didn’t want the type to be the protagonist, so I purposely made it “barely there”.
Would you like your own Album Cover design?
I’m available for commissions!
Listen to the art! Iāll be adding a new album each week to this Spotify playlist HERE.