Pale Horse Ritual
Diabolic Formation
Black Throne Productions
Pale Horse Ritual are a stoner, doom, heavy psych quartet hailing from Ontario, Canada. ‘Diabolic Formation’ is their debut seven-track album, which catapults the listener back to the 70s dark psychedelic sound reminiscent of some of the Godfathers who pioneered it. The lyrical themes are inspired by all things dark, think the occult, demons and selling your soul to the prince of darkness. Kicking off ‘Deflowered’ is almost 6 minutes of instrumental music where they really flex their guitars and other skills. For those fans of this genre, you’ll love it. ‘Wickedness’ brings in the vocals, with the rhythm within the chorus being reminiscent of Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’, which we can only assume is an intentional nod to them. They also use voice samples of what we think is a preacher, which adds that extra ominous flair to the song. ‘Holy Lies’ vocal style and distortion give it that authentic retro vibe, which they excel at throughout. ‘Save You’ is the shortest track of the album, which is just over 3 minutes and begins with an acoustic guitar and has a more talked type of singing, and then onto a soft melodic style. We aren’t sure if this is what they were going for, but we were reminded slightly of some of Ghost with this one; however, no other track on the album is like it. ‘Bloody Demon’ features guest artist Dom Varela’s ethereal vocals in the intro. ‘D.E.D.’ showcases a more guttural vocal style, mixed with clean vocals, adding another dimension to the record. They aptly close with ‘A Beautiful End’, which features chanting-type vocals and samples of an Italian preacher and guest artist Valela again, perfectly rounding up the album and ending on a high note. We love the darkness that radiates from each track, and we believe even if this genre isn’t your bag, and you are interested in those types of themes, you could be swayed.
https://www.facebook.com/PaleHorseRitualBand
Review by Aggy Gillon