palehorsealbumcover

There are 2 albums that greatly defined age 16 for me and my first experiences with not one, but two deaths in the family.  They are Type O Negative’s Bloody Kisses and Life of Agony’s River Runs Red. I guess if you have to deal with sudden tragedy then there’s no better soundtrack than from those two Brooklyn bands.  Coincidentally enough, both albums feature the talents of drummer Sal Abruscato who is back with A Pale Horse Named Death.

Combining the dirge-metal that was synonymous with Type O (And more recently Seventh Void, whose guitarist Matt Brown is the only other official member of Horse.) with hard rock aspects of Alice In Chains, Abruscato now takes the lead as singer, songwriter, and guitarist on Horse’s debut, And Hell Will Follow Me.

Things get started off right with “As Black As My Heart” which introduces Abruscato’s almost Layne Staley-like howl backed by a sinister riff that John Christ (From Danzig? Remember the first 4 albums?) wishes he wrote. If you want more AIC, then look no further than “When Crows Descend Upon You” (my favorite!) which starts as a mid-tempo doom monger of a song that features Sal’s baritone vocals and disintegrates into an anthemic rocker. Still with me? Good.

Elsewhere you have “To Die In Your Arms” with its’ wailing guitars and the instrumental “Bad Dream” which could easily fit anywhere on Bloody Kisses. As far as debut albums go, And Hell Will Follow Me is about as solid as they come. If you’re a fan of any of the bands I already mentioned, then you definitely need to check this out.

With shows starting to be lined up already and a live line-up consisting of Biohazard’s Bobby Hambel, Samhain’s Steve Zing, and Sal’s Type O successor Johnny Kelly, A Pale Horse Named Death is undoubtedly one to watch in 2011. Somewhere out there, Peter Steele is smiling. And so am I.

You can order the cd and listen to samples here.