A Pale Horse Named Death – And Hell Will Follow Me

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Written entirely by Life of Agony/ex-Type O Negative drummer Sal Abruscato, who handles vocal and guitar duties here as well as drums, A Pale Horse Named Death is effectively his solo outing which has become a fully fledged band. The album was completed with the help of Sal’s Supermassiv band-mate and current Seventh Void guitarist Matt Brown, with lead guitar contributions from Biohazard‘s Bobby Hambel and backing vocals by Life of Agony’s Keith Caputo and, ignoring the comedy horse sound effect intro and tedius mid-album electronic instrumental Bad Dream, which fortunately only last for a combined three minutes, the style takes its cues from the solo works by Alice In Chains guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell and The Last Temptation-era Alice Cooper, with a little Nirvana and a little Rob Zombie (chorus of Bath In My Blood (Schizophrenia In Me), for instance) in places. More or less everything here is slow, heavy and miserable but not in the doom metal sense; more a kind of sludgy grunge. There are still hooks in the choruses etc., but the primary thing being conveyed by the songs is emotion. Sombre emotion. Amongst the deeply meaningful lyrics however is a bit of a lack of really great riffs. This kind of thoughtful metal needs riffs to go with the powerful words, and there are no real killer ones here. It’s an enjoyable album, and prime AIC like Pill Head drones in the same appealing way as their successful comeback album Black Gives Way To Blue, but overall the record lacks just that little intangible something that would make it a classic. Their live line-up, which also features Seventh Void/Type O drummer Johnny Kelly and Lament bassist Eric Morgan alongside Abruscato, Brown and Hambel, should make them well worth seeing however.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2011, Albums, Grunge, Quick.Play Reviews, A Pale Horse Named Death