A PALE HORSE NAMED DEATH

Line Up:
Sal Abruscato – Vocals, Guitar
Eddie Heedles – Guitar
Joe Taylor – Guitar
Chris Hamilton – Drums
Oddie McLaughlin – Bass
Quotes by Sal Abruscato

Even disasters bring opportunities, however.
Less than two years after its predecessor’s release, A Pale Horse Named Death are poised to unveil their fourth full-length album, Infernum In Terra.
Written and recorded during months of isolation in 2020, Abruscato’s latest collection of crestfallen anthems had a slow but satisfying gestation.
“Around January last year, I was already planning on recording some ideas,” he recalls. “So I started doing some sketching. I’d walk away from it for a while, then come back and do more sketching, but then the pandemic changed everything, so I’d get involved in other things. I just have too many hats, you know? [Laughs] I have many projects going on in my life, not just in regards to music. But the summer went by and I didn’t touch the new music, but by then I had around 85 sketches. Then the Fall came, and suddenly my brain was wide open, and between October and December, I started recording lots of stuff.”
The result of Abruscato’s spontaneous productivity is simply the finest record that he has ever made.
Infernum In Terra showcases a bold and adventurous new upgrade for APHND’s trademark sound, with greater subtleties and depths but also some of the heaviest, gnarliest riffs the band have ever unleashed.
Combined with a production that fills the room with sparkling clarity and choking gloom, Infernum In Terra will satisfy every last one of the New Yorkers’ fans, while expanding Abruscato’s singular vision beyond all expectation.
Lyrically, too, Infernum In Terra represents a significant evolution.
New songs like ‘Cast Out From The Sky’ and visceral and epic first single ‘Reflections Of The Dead’ are, of course, sodden with misery and emotional turmoil, but previous albums’ myopic approach has been rejected here.
Instead, Infernum In Terra makes intermittent concessions to a more outward-looking perspective, enabling A Pale Horse Named Death to pass through fresh thematic territory.
Album info (incl. insights in the concept and what it’s all about):
“The album to me represents a new beginning, turning a new leaf shall we say with the same vibe from past albums but with a fresh open minded approach. There is no real concrete specific concept, it touches on some personal topics in my life long, my interest in the dark arts, that to have light you must have darkness to balance everything. With daylight comes nightfall, with heaven there is hell and at this moment the world seems to be in a very dark place hence the title of the album ‘Infernum In Terra’. This is a very dark album, but what else is new I always write dark music to sooth a dark soul!”
Album cover:
“I am very excited about the album artwork and cover, it’s so nice to present something different and new. New colors! New Artist! We got connected with Kelvin Doran of Serpent Tusk Studios in Dublin, Ireland. He was very easy to work with and saw us from a different perspective, when I told him the title ‘Infernum In Terra’ the artwork and cover he did was what he envisioned, an almost biblical setting with this demonic high priest pope figure holding a bible with the horse Sheild on it in one hand and the other hand a new cross we coined the ‘Lucifix’! Villagers surrounding him in awe , fear and wonder. I feel its a fresh and striking change from previous artwork we had commisioned in past releases.”
Album title:
“Well it kind of stems from a few things, one is the 10th anniversary of our first album ‘And Hell Will Follow Me’ in 2021 so I wanted to utilize the word Hell again but in a clever way at the same time the state of the world with this global pandemic, suffering, all its destroyed and lives taken. It seemed like the phrase ‘Hell On Earth’ seemed appropriate for the times and music but I wanted something more unique. Thats when I translated it to Latin and the title was born ‘INFERNUM IN TERRA’!”
Singles:
Believe In Something (You Are Lost)
“Is about feeling lost with your emotions and beliefs with the outside world, your on the verge of snapping, feeling alone and that’s the moment where you need to dig deep with your self, focus on what makes you feel better, ignore the rest who do not help. In a nutshell believe in your self and you can achieve anything!”
Shards Of Glass
“This one is juicy it‘s about the estranged and miserable relationship with my sister, how she has always been envious of me, my wife and children. 12 long years she has done all she could to defame me and my wife to other family. My children suffer the most with a sense of emotional abandonment and neglect from all family. So I ended up writing this song about those feelings with out directly saying it clearly and it is a form of safe therapy for me with out getting too involved in the reality of it all.”
Reflections Of The Dead
“For me one of the best doom songs I have simply ever written, nothing extravagant just heavy, moody and dark. About a person with deep depression that has the ability to see the dead where ever they look, the gift tortures them but so enamored by it that they want to crossover and join that dimension.
Leave behind this cruel raging world!”
Slave To The Master
“This song is up there for one of my favorites, I ended up doing something very different by have the piano dominate this song and keeping it very open feeling with little guitar. About the inner turmoils I go through, the self destructive nihilistic behavior I can possess at times, my inner battles with self esteem, getting older and trying to fight my inner demons since childhood. For me it is a very beautiful song and I love it!.”
Music is our saviour in even the darkest of times.
A PALE HORSE NAMED DEATH have demonstrated this unwavering truth throughout their first decade.
Founded and led by multi-instrumentalist and Type O Negative alumnus SAL ABRUSCATO, the New York-based crew opened their creative account in 2011, with stunning debut album
And Hell Will Follow Me:
a slow-motion avalanche of crushing riffs,
dark melodies and profound melancholy,
with Abruscato’s heart-wrenching lyrics providing its songs with a deep emotional core.
In 2013, A Pale Horse Named Death released their second album, Lay My Soul To Waste.
Musically opulent and even more punishing in sonic terms than its predecessor, it was widely acclaimed as the Brooklyn unit’s finest work to date.
Innumerable live shows confirmed that the band were forging strong connections with a dedicated and passionate audience, and despite a six-year wait, the third APHND album emerged in 2019 to a uniformly positive response.
Of course, the album in question – When The World Becomes Undone – was blessed with what now seems an eerily prophetic title, as within months of its release, the whole world locked down.
“I guess it’s all still what A Pale Horse Named Death should be doing, but I backed off from writing every song about manic depression, self-loathing and suicidal thoughts!” chuckles Abruscato. “Unfortunately I’m a natural at it, because it’s a curse that I have. It was a little unintentional, but a couple of the new songs came out with a more Biblical theme, with stories like the fall of Lucifer. One song is about my experience of being put under anaesthesia. It was like being in another world – it felt like I slept for days, but it was only 20 minutes, you know? So there’s some new ideas, and some things about personal stuff and family stuff. I just didn’t make every song about personal torment.”
As it emerges into an uncertain and troubled world, Infernum In Terra seems certain to enhance the reputation of these weather-beaten underdogs.
A lifelong creative with an already impressive resume, Sal Abruscato has savoured this new opportunity to explore the darkness of this wicked world, and produced his finest work to date in the process.
In the darkest of times, A Pale Horse Named Death rides on with renewed vigour, forever raging against the dying of the light.
“I’m just happy to be releasing another record at this point in my life,” Abruscato concludes.
“It’s fresh and I’m excited about it. Right now, the only thing left to do is put out music, I think! It’s a sketchy time and I hope it gets better for everyone. But I’m optimistic. I’m hoping there’ll be new fans that dig Infernum In Terra, and the old fans will dig it. It’s a natural progression and there’s some really cool stuff going on. I’m really proud of this record and I’m pretty stoked to see how people take it. This business is so fickle these days, I don’t know what’s gonna fly. I’m just doing what I like!”
Dom Lawson, May 2021