On July 31st, 2020, sludgy doom metal act PALE HORSEMAN will launch their fifth full-length, "From Dust Thou Art" that continues the band's tradition of majesty, misanthropy and thundering riffs, but today we're thrilled to present the opening track, 'Tundra'.

I'm not all too certain what "sludgy" doom metal is to this day, or what the word sludgy has to connote in the world of metal. I suppose I understand its purposed role of trying to illuminate metal that has a slow, almost oozing quality in a thick wraparound tapestry of sound, but it's always been a turn-off for me for whatever reason. I guess I always pictured a band playing out by a Florida swamp for people straight out of a casting call for Deliverance, but I digress. When I focus on the word "doom," my OCD allows for things much easier. Methinks I shouldn't be so damn complicated...

Now, I've seen Chicago's PALE HORSEMAN live a few times, and I own most, if not all of their releases because they're a damn solid doom metal band with perfectly thick edges and currents, which is all for the better. In short, I really dig these guys, and the latest addition to their impressive arsenal, "From Dust Thou Art", is wonderfully impressive and keeping in line with their lineage of Chicago metal goodness. I've seen the obvious comparisons to fellow artists Indian, Bongripper and Atlas Moth, and while the three are solid in their respective field of the art, PALE HORSEMAN always seems to have some stranglehold on the necessary feel for this music that is both organic and well-orchestrated.

Gone are the days of the so-called traditional doom of Black Sabbath, St. Vitus, Pentagram, Warning and the ilk, embellished upon by the likes of PALE HORSEMAN, who offer us a sincerely decimating sound in this album as well as their other four full-lengths and split release. By the time I was on the second track, 'Scourge,' I had moments of reflective summation and pride that such a band existed among our storied milieu. Doom / sludge metal has become, in my humble opinion, somewhat lazy and uninspired of late in that bands will throw down-tuned songs together and lay some pseudo-psychoanalytical jargon all over it to make the waters appear deep. What PALE HORSEMAN does here is what the slow, prodding music is supposed to do – both solicit and impart responses both cerebral and emotional, and in the course of six tracks, the band manages that to a very fine degree, both musically and lyrically. Dare I say, it's music not designed for the casual fan but more for the select few in touch with the insides it seeks to penetrate?

Full review of the PALE HORSEMAN's new album, "For Dust Thou Art" can be found here.

PALE HORSEMAN is:

Rich Cygan - Bass
Jason Schryver - Drums
Eric Ondo - Guitars, Vocals
Andre Almaraz - Guitars, Vocals

MORE INFO AND PRE-ORDERS:

https://www.facebook.com/palehorsemanband
https://palehorseman.bandcamp.com/