Type O Negative, Celtic Frost

Hailing from Brooklyn, Type O Negative is one of the few metal bands to dare to actually smile while performing, even though they are most commonly associated with the gothic-doom subgenre. Formed in the early '80s, the band features singer Peter Steele, best-known for using a chain for a guitar strap and for a much-ballyhooed spread in Playgirl magazine that left even the most well-endowed males gasping in envy. Supposedly, Steele wrote the humorous "I Like Goils" when he found out that only 23 percent of the magazine's subscribers were women. Throughout their career, Type O Negative has fallen in and out of critical and fan favor while thankfully injecting a keen sense of melody into the emblematic, roaring gloom. The band hit a high-water mark with 1993's Bloody Kisses but the recently released Dead Againis not too shabby either. Oddly religious in nature, the new effort doesn't pull any metallic punches in the service of such uncommon and surprisingly well-integrated subject matter.