You find yourself strapped on a horse, galloping through a rampaged America. You don't know the year; you don't what the fuck happened. Skyscrapers point at empty skies. Civilization has been looted beyond repair. The outlook is bleak at best. For the purposes of this music review, you somehow find an iPod in your back pocket loaded with Palehorse's Secrets Within Secrets. The five songs contained convey the feelings of anger, fear, and hope prior to this state of Armageddon.
Five tracks spew into your ears slathered in hatred with musical influences of Cleveland metallic hardcore (Integrity/Ringworm) and New York beatdown. With Palehorse's debut EP, Secrets Within Lies, this Connecticut quintuplet will begin rooting a fan base. As fun as the intro would be live to get the kids riled up, recorded it's easily skipped and forgotten. Instead of laughing at us with Trustkill Records fashion mosh breakdowns; their speed doesn't break from a fast/mid-tempo. The only problem with this straightforward sound is that it can become cumbersome.
The last song, "Worse Than Death," is an exception though, as the most dynamic and unique song on Secrets Within Secrets. In the span of four minutes, Palehorse starts with a guitar tweaking in and out of consciousness and ends with slow grueling guitars and deep angry vocals reminiscent of Catharsis storming, "A promise worse than death / Close your eyes cultural suicide." The melodic sensibilities evident in this song show much promise. The only problem is the rest of the album isn't as melodic savvy and falls into a generic rut. If they can stick to the blueprints of "Worse Than Death" on a full length, Palehorse would become instantly memorable. The rest of the songs follow a more tried and true path that fans of "tough"er hardcore will enjoy. If tough hardcore isn't your thing, read the lyrics and you'll find no real tough attitudes, but instead almost poetic complaints/worries with our society/world.
While most metal/hardcore bands seem to go extreme in either direction, Palehorse blurs the lines in an old school style that is lacking. The apocalyptic tone evident in Secrets Within Lies might remind one of Y2K. If Mad Max liked metal and hardcore he would gallop alongside Palehorse.
