Exclusive Track Premiere: A Pale Horse Named Death, “The Needle in You”

A Pale Horse Named Death — former Type O Negative drummer Sal Abruscato’s new(ish) project in which he sings and plays guitar — is really more post-grunge than metal, both in musical aesthetic and lyrical content. It also happens to be absolutely fucking fantastic. Take “The Needle In You,” from APHND’s second album, the forthcoming Lay My Soul to Waste. If you’d have told me Layne Staley was resurrected from the grave both to write lyrics for and sing on this song, and that it would be appearing on Alice in Chains’ own soon-to-be-released new album, I would’ve totally believed you. Here’s a quote from Abruscato about the track:

“The Needle In You” is about a junkie’s failed attempt at sobriety after being being tempted and assisted by the devil. An example of an addict’ss weakness for the ultimate high and very little will.

That the monstrous, fuzzed-out riffs and groove only amplify the maximum emotional weight conveyed in the lyrics doesn’t hurt this song’s cause one bit. Another former Type O drummer, Johnny Kelly, drums on the album, by the way. Listen to another new song called “Shallow Grave” here and stream “The Needle in You” below:

Lay My Soul to Waste comes out on May 21st via Steamhammer / SPV. Pre-order it via Amazon.