Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia: Why I'll Always Worship Type O Negative | Revolver

Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia: Why I'll Always Worship Type O Negative

"I rarely witnessed so much love and respect for a band"
lacuna coil cristina scabbia HUBBARD, Jimmy Hubbard
photograph by Jimmy Hubbard

Revolver has teamed with Type O Negative for limited-edition colored vinyl pressings of the band's classic albums plus a new Type O collector's issue and exclusive official band merch. Get yours before they're gone!

There was no one quite like Type O Negative. They were four Brooklyn dudes who sprung up out of the city's extreme hardcore scene and evolved into legit (if tongue-and-cheek) goth-metal icons. From their 1991 debut, Slow, Deep and Hard to 1993 breakout Bloody Kisses to their 2007 swan song Dead Again, frontman Peter Steele and the band cast a long shadow with their haunting music and inimitable, imposing presence.

Sadly, their influential career was cut short by the untimely death of Steele in 2010 — but the Drab Four's legacy carries on. Type O left the world with so many great songs that continue to inspire generations of gloom-loving, heavy-music fans. Among those is Lacuna Coil singer Cristina Scabbia, who also has some prized personal memories of Steele and his band.

Below, Scabbia recounts how Lacuna Coil's "mind-blowing" tour with Type O resulted in her discovery that they weren't just "amazing musicians but also spectacular human beings."

"It is well known I've always loved Type O Negative very much," says Scabbia. "As we got the mind-blowing chance to be touring with them back in 2003, it was my precious opportunity to find out that Peter, Johnny [Kelly], Kenny [Hickey] and Josh [Silver] were not only amazing musicians but also spectacular human beings. They made us all immediately feel as we were part of their family.

"At the end of that tour Peter even decided to take us all to an Italian restaurant called La Palina in New York, introduced us to his friends and blessed us with a great evening. I will never forget the sense of belonging that permeated that happy night. Thinking back to these moments makes even more painful to realize Peter is not with us anymore and Type O Negative took a, probably forever, break — but, oh boy, the legacy they left behind. I rarely witnessed so much love and respect for a band. I will always be one of their worshippers, for sure."