“Suspended In Dusk” by Type O Negative
It isn’t common that you’ll come across a song dropped by a viable pop act that centers on the singer being a film-worthy vampire. But such is the case with “Suspended in Dusk. The lyrics read as if they were inspired by your quintessential Dracula film. And more notably the singer takes a first-person approach in relaying such.
Uncontrollable Thirst for Blood
For instance, the intro, refrain and outro allude to what in Blade film series is referred to as “the thirst”, i.e. the narrator’s uncontrollable taste for blood, the telltale sign of being a vampire.
And as with the character Blade, this is not something which the vocalist embraces but rather perceives as a curse. In fact at said junctures of the song he is actually addressing the “Father”, i.e. God. And in the aforementioned passages he is apologizing beforehand for the fact that he “must sin”, i.e. satiate his taste for blood.
Verse 1
At the beginning of the first verse he is still addressing a Higher Power, expressing a sentiment such as this affliction of vampirism being an unfair fate that has been placed upon him.
He also laments the fact that he “will never again feel (the) sun upon his face” considering that, as you probably already know, the lore concerning vampires is that they totally cannot tolerate sunlight.
Furthermore they are commonly referred to as ‘the undead’, neither being fully alive nor fully dead. And being in such a state is like “hell on Earth” to the singer.
Indeed part and parcel of being a vampire is that he’s now immortal, i.e. unable to fully die or even age for that matter. Thus the vocalist is also lamenting the reality that he will never feel “the comfort of a grave”, as in the listed torments from his affliction being everlasting henceforth.
Verse 2
Then in the second verse, in true Highlander (1986) fashion, he regrets his “eternal youth”, as he can do “nothing but sit by” as his loved ones “grow old and withered” and ultimately, of course, pass away.
And yes, we know that the Highlander series isn’t based on vampires. But in this song, Type O Negative harp on that same literary theme nonetheless, of immortality being a form of torture when you possess this attribute, but the people you love dearest do not.
Verse 3
Well finally in the third verse we are introduced to one aspect of being a vampire that the singer actually enjoys, which is ‘loving the night’, i.e. his nocturnal lifestyle. But once again damn that “bloodlust”, which pretty much sucks all the fun out of being a creature of the night with an actual human conscience.
“Suspended In Dusk”
And as for the title of the song, it is a metaphorical summation on the premise upon which it is based. Or put differently, the vocalist asserting that he’s “suspended in dusk” is basically the same as him saying that he’s ‘stuck a vampire’, as in only being able to do anything once dusk, i.e. the evening time hits.
And if for instance you’ve ever seen the movie “The Lost Boys” (1987), then you’d kinda know exactly what he’s talking about.
Conclusion
Indeed as far as our conclusion goes, this track reads as if it were written for the soundtrack of a vampire film. In that regard it even comes off better than many songs actually composed for such a purpose.
But as illustrated by the moniker of the band at hand, they apparently have some type of fascination with blood in general. In fact the name of the album this song is derived from suggests as much.
Moreover considering that they’re a gothic metal group then yes, they are justified in dropping a track like this just out of the blue. And “Suspended in Dusk” is a rather-creative take on vampirism, one of the most well-trodden themes in mainstream entertainment in general.
Type O Negative
Type O Negative is what is referred to as a goth metal band, and they come from Brooklyn. Having formed back in 1989 as a four-man squad, three of the original members still remain active as of the writing of this post, in early 2021. And they are Peter Steele (lead vocalists), Kenny Hickey (guitarist) and Josh Silver (keyboardist). And the current fourth member would be drummer Johnny Kelly, who joined the crew in 1994.
The first album Type O Negative dropped, “Slow, Deep and Hard”, came out in 1991. And their most recent up until this point was 2007’s “Dead Again”, their seventh studio album.
Release Date of “Suspended in Dusk”
Meanwhile this particular track is from the digipak version their third project, 1993’s “Bloody Kisses”, being the only original song (i.e. not included on the standard edition of the album) packaged with said version.
And whereas that album didn’t really do that well chart-wise it has been Type O Negative’s most-successful commercially, i.e. being certified platinum by the RIAA. And as far as singles go, their most well-received song was 1996’s “My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend”.
Who wrote “Suspended in Dusk”?
“Suspended in Dusk” was most likely written by Peter Steele, who penned the entirety of “Bloody Kisses”. And likewise the track would have been produced by him and his bandmate, Josh Silver.
Peter Steele is dead