A Pale Horse Named Death – And Hell Will Follow Me

Artist: A Pale Horse Named Death
Album: And Hell Will Follow Me
Label: To Be Announced
Website: http://www.myspace.com/apalehorsenameddeath

The brainchild of Sal Abruscato (Type-O-Negative , Life Of Agony) is a brooding, gothic, rockin, rip roarin good  listen! Over the last 12 months I had been eagerly anticipating this album to the point where anything less than Bloody Kisses might not have sufficed for me.  Couple the tragic passing of Peter Steele with those highly unfair expectations and there was simply an itch that needed to be scratched for Type-O-Negative fans world wide. Whether Sal knew it or not, fans who knew about this album were waiting with baited breath. No pressure Sal! You all can exhale – “And Hell Will Follow Me” will scratch that itch into a gore covered mess, but in the way Sal intended- his way! Not Peter’s, or anyone else!

A Pale Horse Named Death is not a replacement for Type O Negative – nor should it be, or was it ever intended to be. It is bubbling cauldron of the aforementioned Type-O-Negative with a very solid footing into the Layne Staley and Alice In Chains world. Whether Sal intended to or not, he put forth a unique record that takes elements of TON and AIC and meshes the two together into a very old school rock sound. A sound that simply makes every track be accessible for radio, but scratch the itch of grieving Goth’s worldwide.

Sal Abruscato

“As Black As My Heart” kicks in with some guitar work that feels very familiar. Very Jerry Cantrell! But as you listen closer, you hear the trademark drums of Type – O Negative and some guitar distortion that screams Kenny Hickey. The vibe is cool and confident during the bridge, then like that a rocking chorus that would flow perfectly on XM Radio’s Octane, busts out of your speakers. The dirge at the end that sees Abruscato scream his brains out, but is still accessible enough to not be stinging to the ear.

“To Die In Your Arms” is a perfect unification of Goth and  Alice In Chains. There is really no other way to describe it. But it is original! A combination I personally have not heard before.  Sal coos “To die in your arms is my pleasure” as the guitars trudge through gallons of sludge. Love it!

“Devil In The Closet” is a grinding listen that you keep waiting for the track to take off. But it is big, heavy and grubby. Sort of like listening to Crowbar. You always want Crowbar to pick up the tempo, but it is that borderline tempo release that keeps you listening…then the thunder fades away. Sal achieved the same formula for success here. Pull up your Sith cloak and listen to this one with your friend Palpatine!

Readers might find this weird, but I heard alot of Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones in “Cracks In The Walls. The intro of Paint It Black and the bridge of this track are eerily similar. Not sure Sal meant for this to happen, or maybe I am bat shit crazy- but give it a listen.  High praise- I know! Sal does a great job of giving a tip of the cap to rock from the past with this listen.

I never thought I would ever compare Stone Temple Pilots with anything to do with the Brooklyn Crew. But I am. “Bath In My Blood (Schizophrenia In Me)” has a song structure that would fit Scott Weiland’s way of rockin. But Sal pulls it off. Who knew this crazy voice was sitting behind the TON & LOA kit?

“Die Alone” is my favorite track of the record. It is a fantastic goth song.  It screams Type-O-Negative. Powerful, brooding, black! The name fits the wound like a blood clot. I mentioned earlier in the review that APHND scratches an itch? This hulking monster will fill a small part of the void left by Mr. Steele.

Sal & Peter Steele

I would love to see future works have a stronger synth component. Josh Silver? Additionally, it would be interesting to see Sal explore a concept album telling a story. Something around the Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse maybe? More Keith Caputo, who lended his pipes to the effort? Musing aloud!

Alas, news is on the horizon. Sal and Matt Brown signed a record deal and will be announcing that soon. Additionally, one would assume they need to fill roster spots within the band.

As Peter once wrote a song called “Everything Dies!” Acceptance! Cherish the past, feel the past, don’t forget it. But live in the here and now. Sal Abruscato created an album that his friend Peter would be proud of. But more importantly, it is alive, new and refreshing. It is not finger tapping metal! It isn’t Vampire music. It isn’t one of the ten million stoner rock bands coming out. It isn’t radio rock! Hell Will Follow Me is the intricately stitched unification of old school rock and roll with soulless Goth! A sound in my 10+  years of reviewing albums I do not recall hearing. And if I did, it was obviously forgettable. With that said, as a long time fan of TON this album liberated me from thinking about Peter and TON, and fixating on supporting this band and Seventh Void. With every death the Phoenix will rise! In this instance, it tore into existence riding on A Pale Horse Named Death.

HitThePit Scale: 8.5 out of 10

Track Listing:

1. And Hell Will follow Me
2. As Black As My Heart
3. To Die In Your Arms
4. Heroine Train
5. Devil In The Closet
6. Cracks In The Walls
7. Bad Dream
8. Bath In My Blood (Schizophrenia In Me)
9. Pill Head
10. Meat The Wolf
11. Seriel Killer
12. When Crows Descend Upon You
13. Die Alone

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An Ode to Peter Steel (RIP) & Type-O-Negative

In my life I have very few hero’s (for lack of a better term- strongly admirered people maybe?). Larry Bird, Red Auerbach, Leonard Nimoy, Gary Cohen and Peter Steele. Yesterday the second of my hero’s passed away. To me, Peters creative genius being silenced forever is a loss for everyone. I feel for the band members of Type-O-Negative and Peter’s family, but I challenge you to listen closely to the music he wrote and not be moved, or not relate in some capacity. Is it possible Peter’s best musical days were ahead of him? It has been said with age comes wisdom…could he have put forth his masterpiece in his 50’s? We will now never know….and to me that is the worst part of yesterday’s news.

Peter is the single most tormented musician I ever interviewed. Humor was a mask for the pain of loss and loneliness he felt in his life. Every time I met him I came away thinking “what a great guy, but what is so terrible in his life?” If you listen to the music you hear pain in lines like “I’m searching for something that can’t be found…but I’m hoping!” and the first lines of Life Is Killing Me (Album) he said “I don’t want to be…I don’t wanna be me anymore!”. Then on the turn of the dime he would unleash something emotional, beautiful and very powerful (see. “Love You To Death”, “How Could She”, “Pyretta Blaze”). His dynamic beauty and torment is what made Peter the incredibly unique musician and person that he was and what he will forever be in music.

Peter has been a common bond in my family. My Mom and brother all agree that simply put – “Peter is awesome!” Today I feel for the band members. I also feel for Peter in that he was never able to find complete happiness in life. But mostly, I am saddened that the musical odyssey known as Type-O-Negative came to an abrupt end with Peter’s death. An an unfinished chapter if you will..a much to soon ending without buttoned up loose ends to the story.

It has been said that music is the soundtrack to your life. Peter wrote soundtracks for thousands of people worldwide. Even in death those soundtracks live on. Thanks to Peter for the time over the years, for being inadvertently part of some wonderful memories with my college friends and family (yes my Mom even joined me for a TON concert), for being the common bond that tied the knot between me and my significant other and most importantly- for writing simply amazingly unique music while being a real life human- flaws for all to see! I will miss you and will think of you every Halloween.

Upcoming Releases and Special Requests

Decided to share a list of upcoming album releases we thought you all might be interested in. This is not even close to an all inclusive list, just a few releases we think you might want to check out.

Also, if there is an album coming up or already out that you would like us to review, shoot us an email at hitthepit_update@hotmail.com . We can’t guarantee we can do every album people request, but it is nice to know what you, the readers are looking for.

Band	Album	Release Date
Green Jelly	Musick To Insult Your Intelligence By	9/29/2009
Hatebreed	Hatebreed	9/29/2009
Immortal	All Shall Fall	10/6/2009
Baroness	Blue Record	10/13/2009
Skeletonwitch	Breathing The Fire	10/13/2009
Between The Buried and Me	The Great Misdirect	10/27/2009
Slayer	World Painted Blood	11/3/2009

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GWAR Is Still Kicking Ass

Remember GWAR? You know, the alien invaders who sing about injecting dinosaur eggs with crack and the ensuing chaos once it hatches? Well, I hadn’t thought about them in years, but they are still alive and going strong. In fact, their latest album, Lust In Space debuted at number 96 on the Billboard Top 200, marking their highest ranking to date. Apparently, GWAR’s lead singer Oderus Orungus even appeared on a light night Fox News show called Red Eye. Not once, but six times!

The band consists of :

Lead Singer: Oderus Orungus

Guitars: Balsac The Jaws Of Death and Flatus Maximus

Drums: Jizmak Da Gusha

Bass: Beefcake The Mighty

GWAR’s funny style of metal is truly original, and their videos and concerts are absolute entertainment: Full costumes, fake blood and gore abound. I remember some of my friends from about 10 years ago never bought band videos, but would buy any GWAR videos the day they came out.

If you haven’t heard them before, give them a chance. Here is a video for their hit “Crack In The Egg” to whet your appetite. Enjoy.

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Download Hatebreed’s New Song – “Merciless Tide” For Free!

Free is good!! Download the new Hatebreed “Merciless Tide” track here. The new self titled album will be out on October 5th. You can pre-order the and live DVD and CD  here.  Personally, I think this track is much better then the earlier teasers I have heard. What do you think?

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High On Fire Enters The Studio- Hell Yes!!!

Official press release:

World-renowned power trio High On Fire has commenced work on its long-awaited, fifth studio album and follow-up to 2007’s Death is This Communion. The esteemed band just completed pre-production with producer Greg Fidelman (Metallica, Slayer) and has now entered The Pass Studios in Los Angeles with the goal of capturing “the ultimate High On Fire experience.” The new High On Fire album is slated for an early-2010 release via E1 Music.

Brand new images of High On Fire hard at work on its new album can be viewed at the following locations (HOF studio pic 1, HOF studio pic 2, HOF studio pic 3). The stills were brought to life by photographer Andrew Stuart.

Universally recognized as one of the most potent acts in music today, High On Fire creates “bad-ass” modern metal that merges primal fury and aggression, skyscraping riff explosions and hesher bombast with a monolithic heaviness. Described as “a supersonic exercise in conquest by volume and sheer heaviness,” High On Fire has burned the hard rock rulebook since its formation in 1998, forging a style and sound that is both unique and absolutely crushing. The group features vocalist and cult guitar hero Matt Pike, powerhouse drummer Des Kensel and bassist Jeff Matz. Pike, a founding member of the famed underground band Sleep and one of heavy music’s most charismatic figures was named as one of Rolling Stone’s “New Guitar Gods.”

“Pre-production on the new record went great!” states High On Fire drummer Des Kensel. “It really gave us the chance to make some last minute adjustments before we started tracking. We’ve never been able to do that before and know this will make a huge difference overall. We can’t believe the way everything has fallen into place for this record! Hopefully our fans will be excited as we are once they hear the new material.”

Starting October 2, High On Fire teams up with Atlanta’s Mastodon and Dethklok — the animated death metal band from Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse – for a massive seven week North American tour. Hailed as “One of the most highly-anticipated tours of the year,” the Adult Swim Presents tour will kick off on October 2 in Portland, OR and bring mayhem and destruction to local venues throughout the nation. Adding even more layers to this fall’s top metal tour, Converge will open each show.

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SLAYER NEWS: “World Painted Blood” Track Listing & New Song

The official release day for “World Painted Blood” has been announced, and we are unveiling all the details.

“World Painted Blood” will be released Tuesday, November 3rd in North American and Monday, November 2 to the rest of the world.

There will be three different editions of the album: Limited edition CD with multiple CD covers, Deluxe edition CD/DVD, and a high-quality, 180-gram vinyl edition.

Listen to Hate Worldwide here…

Official Track Listing:
1. World Painted Blood
2. Unit 731
3. Snuff
4. Beauty Through Order
5. Hate Worldwide
6. Public Display Of Dismemberment
7. Human Strain
8. Americon
9. Psychopathy Red
10. Playing With Dolls
11. Not Of This God


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Between The Buried And Me Release Teaser Track For The Great Misdirect

Between The Buried And Me have released a teaser track made up of various clips from their new album The Great Misdirect!

We have put acall in for an interview to get some new insights into the writing and recording of the new record. From the sounds of it, it is classic BTBAM!

Click HERE to get your swing on!
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