A Pale Horse Named Death-Lay My Soul To Waste

Steamhammer / SPV
2013

Brooklyn's A Pale Horse Named Death is a project turned real-band that came together in 2010 when Sal Abruscato (Life Of Agony, Type O Negative) and Matt Brown (Seventh Void,Uranium) decided to work together. The pair first released "And Hell Will Follow Me" which was, per articles found online, produced and engineered by Matt Brown. With their sophomore release it looks as if the two of them have been joined by Eric Morgan (bass) and Eddie Heedles (guitars). If that isn't the case then someone feel free to correct me as the promo that came with this is rather vague. What isn't vague though is the pairs appreciation for doom and gloom. A Pale Horse Named Death could best be summed up as Type O Negative (without the keys and Peter Steele's eery vocals) served cold with a side of post-Black Sabbath grunge. Sal Abruscato's vocals are every bit as chilling and dreadful as the band's name would imply while musically it's quite fair to say the group haunts the listener with the ghosts of Type O Negative. That's to be expected I suppose considering Sal's involvement with Type O Negative, but it's not as if this is a badly faded copy of the late Steele's band. Really A Pale Horse Named Death are much more "grunge" then Type O Negative with justifiable comparisons having been made to Alice In Chains. Again though A Pale Horse Named Death only take these influences and shift them through a distinct (and very creative!) process that results in a darkly-tinted goth/doom/grunge hybrid. There's not enough words to describe how effective the band's sophomore release is at conveying one's nightmares in a musical form so let's just leave it where it is. Fans of Type O Negative and Alice In Chains should track this one down of course as should fans of doomish metal. "Lay My Soul To Waste" is wonderfully dark and depressing and oh so enjoyable!