Type O Negative - October Rust (1996)

Type O Negative - October Rust album review by Pritham 'Metal Farmer' D'Souza

Lineup:

• Peter Steele
• Kenny Hickey
• Josh Silver
• Johnny Kelly

Track Listing:

1. Bad Ground
2. Love You to Death
3. Be My Druidess
4. Green Man
5. Red Water (Christmas Mourning)
6. My Girlfriend's Girlfriend
7. Die With Me
8. Burnt Flowers Fallen
9. In Praise of Bacchus
10. Cinnamon Girl
11. The Glorious Liberation of the People's Technocratic Republic of Vinnland by the Cimbined Forces of the United Territories of Europa
12. Wolf Moon (Including Zoanthropicn Paranoia)
13. Haunted

Its a long weekend and you decide to make the most of it in a decadent fashion by splurging on Cheap booze and Cheaper women. After having your fun, you finally wake up very late next morning, and realize that you are not even at your own home and slowly walk like a zombie back home which happens to be a few blocks away. Tired, drained out and with a splitting hangover the last thing your ears need is to listen to some good ol Heavy Metal blaring from your speaker system.

You manage to park your sorry butt on the EZ sofa and without knowing, you turn on the Cd player and the first track you hear is a buzzing feedback which lasts for 38 seconds followed almost immediately by mature men laughing and apologizing for their rude joke.

Finally the intro to Love You to Death calms your senses like getting a back massage by petite Thai girls in downtown Bangkok. The rest of the album flows seamlessly and almost flawless if one doesnt count the intro joke Bad Ground

This is the feeling one gets when listening to 1996 TYPE O NEGATIVE's masterpiece of an album OCTOBER RUST, which i consider one of the best albums to listen to, if not the best, when one is down in the dumps and wants to remain in the dumps.

I really cant even call this a metal album, even though it is, but unlike the rest, they have such a relaxed cool approach to everything here, from the soothing riffs in tracks like Love You to Death, Green Man, Die With Me and Cinnamon Girl to the morose setting of Red Water(Christmas Mourning), everything fits like pieces of a simple puzzle. Peter Steele has the deep baritone which will make any girl squirm in ecstasy while the music has this really great trippy feeling.
Even turning on the volume full on your system wont help much as the music, though heavy in parts, never distorts enough to call it noise. Gothic metal at its finest without sounding too pompous

This is truly a remarkable album and if i am not mistaken the best Type O Negative album ever! The fact that it was also a commercial success, was loathed by fans of Peter Steele' previous band CARNIVORE, and things were about to go downhill from here from a musical point of view as they never really managed to capture this magic in their future albums even though they came pretty close.

Melancholic, Dark, Melodic, Psychedelic, Powerful and Atmospheric are some of the words rightly associated with this album with a overdose of sexiness only Peter Steele can provide with his deep, masculine voice. His soulful singing and at times chanting compliments the melodies of the guitars and keyboards perfectly.

If you dont have this album yet, you dont have a life!

My Rating
10/10

Rapidshare Download Type O Negative - October Rust here

Listen to Sample track "Green Man" here

Type O Negative - 04 - Green Man.mp3

Monsoon Cultivation Of Cucumber

Monsoon Cultivation Of Cucumber by Pritham 'Metal Farmer' D'Souza

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is one of the most widely used salad crops grown both in North and South India. Fruits contain good amount of Iron and Vitamin C along with carbohydrates. It is highly recommended for people suffering from Jaundice, constipation and indigestion

LAND PREPARATION
since i am mentioning the monsoon cultivation techniques here, the land preparation is very similar to my other posts where i have mentioned monsoon cultivation. Some main points to begin with

• The land selected must have adequate drainage
• water logging areas should not be selected
• however if availability of land is a constraint, seeds have to be sown on elevated bunds as shown below
• Due to heavy rains, most of the seeds get drowned with too much moisture and they start to rot even before germination, hence more seeds have to be sowed.
• bunds or raised seed beds should have a minimum height of 10 to 15 inches and seeds once germinated must be thinned out and plant distance maintained

germination seen 7 to 10 days after sowing


close up of germinated seedling

seedling reaches 3 leaf stage in the 3rd week of sowing

the above pic shows water severely logged in the field. the raised seedling bed literally saved the seedlings from rot and drowing.

the photo above shows considerable growth and development of the plant when rainfall recedes and light intensity increases

excess plants must be thinned out and plant distance must be maintained as seen above

INTER CULTURE OPERATIONS AND IRRIGATION

• Since this is monsoon technique, irrigation is not given, however, due to erratic rainfall patterns, lite irrigation is a must at the time of sowing to moisten the field in case rains fail.
  
• while making the raised beds/bunds, decomposed Organic Manure must be added to the soil, and mixed thoroughly and seeds must be sowed on top of this. When the seeds germinate and grow, they will make use of the nutrients present in the soil
• DO NOT spray the crops during monsoons using pesticides or liquid fertilizers when there is not enough sunlight.
  
• Spraying of Liquid fertilizers should be done only when required and in the presence of sunlight. plants prepare their own food during photosynthesis and so sunlight is the most important factor.
• Soil aeration can be increased by loosening the soil around the root zone of the plants. this also helps in drainage.
  

the above figure shows rapid development of the plant and tendril stage

soil loosened to provide good aeration and also allow better drainage

MANURING, FLOWERING AND HARVESTING

• The plant receives the basal dose of decomposed farm yard manure at the time of preparation of the land and sowing.
  
• Spray 1 ml seed weed based algae Organic Manure in 1 litre of water at every 10 day intervals. addition of wetting agent like APSA or other sticking agents is recommended so as to increase the effectiveness of the sprays
• Flowering will be seen 40 to 45 days after sowing and the mature fruits can be harvested after 55 to 60 days after sowing.
• Timely harvesting the fruit is a must otherwise they over ripe and become unfit for consumption. for salads, the green color of the fruit must not turn brownish yellow.
• fruits must be plucked every alternate days to avoid over riping
• for seeds, yellow brown fruits , golden fruits (mature color) are harvested, seeds extracted, washed thoroughly in water and dried
  
• the seeds thhus obtained must be sowed again within 3 to 6 months or it looses its viability
  
• Cucumber yields up to 100 quintals per hectare

the above pic shows the same stretch of land with excellent growth and flowering



formation of tender fruit buds

growing tender fruit
mature fruit ready for harvest

PESTS , DISEASES AND CONTROL

• I only recommend the usage of pure neem oil @ 5 ml per litre of water to be sprayed only when insect attack is seen
• Imidochloprid systemic insecticide @2 ml in 5 litre water can be used every 10 days for the young seedlings since they are most vulnerable to sucking pests like aphids, thrips and plant minors. it is also effective in controlling red pumpkin beetle which damages the growing leaves and severely injures the plant
• Spraying must be done in sunny weather and not in gloomy weather
• spraying in the evenings from 4pm to 5 pm is recommended than spraying during day time as it will affect pollination
• adding 2 ml per litre sticking agents or wetting agents is required to increase the effectiveness of the sprays

all photos and data by Pritham D'Souza