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Lay My Soul to Waste (2013) is the second full-length album to be released by US alternative metal act A Pale Horse Named Death. Since the release of And Hell Will Follow Me (2010) the band has expanded their line-up into a full band rather than the duo that recorded the debut.
A Pale Horse Named Death seems to be pegged as a gothic metal band on many sources I’ve looked at prior to writing this review. It could be a logical assumption I guess, given that the band has a minor connection to gothic legends Type O Negative in that frontman Sal Abruscato was the drummer for Type O Negative until 1994, but the music on Lay My Soul to Waste is much closer to alternative metal than gothic metal. There are elements of doom metal to be found, but for the most part A Pale Horse Named Death have put together an album here that is reminiscent of Alice in Chains.
There are more similarities than not to that legendary band, but also some differences that keep A Pale Horse Named Death’s sound from being a total copy. There are for a start those doom metal elements I mentioned, which can mostly be heard in Day of the Storm, but more often you’ll hear a heavier, rougher, more modern take on alternative metal than anything Alice in Chains have ever recorded. The differences are a good thing, not least because A Pale Horse Named Death are dropping the album only a week apart from Alice in Chains’ own 2013 effort The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, but also because they’re able to stand up as a band who’ll hold appeal to Alice in Chains fans, without necessarily making them think A Pale Horse Named Death are a rip off act.
The writing on the album is solid but not remarkable. A Pale Horse Named Death have some way to go before they’ll match the very best work of Alice in Chains. The writing is quite varied though which keeps the album an interesting listen throughout, ranging from the songs that sound like they’re from a lost Alice in Chains album, to more aggressive numbers like Devil Came With a Smile. Shallow Grave and Killer by Night quickly assert themselves as album highlights but I also have to bring attention to ballad Dead of Winter, a surprisingly simplistic sounding song featuring an acoustic approach with little else going on save for the vocals, but it’s hauntingly beautiful.
Lay My Soul to Waste has been an enjoyable experience for me, and I expect it will for any other fan of Alice in Chains. It’s not close to a masterpiece, and there are a few songs here that could have used some refining before being committed to record, but the album is generally solid with a couple of highlights that show their potential for future successes. A great album tier rating is deserved.
79/100
(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/a-pale-horse-named-death-lay-my-soul-to-waste-t2992.html)