HEART ATTACK MAN (JOYRIDE THE PALE HORSE) ALBUM REVIEW!
- The Pop Punk Dad
- 11 minutes ago
- 5 min read
The wait is over for Joyride The Pale Horse, the latest album from rising punk band Heart Attack Man. Featuring recent singles “Joyride The Pale Horse”, “The Gallows”, “Spit”, and “Laughing Without Smiling”, Joyride The Pale Horse marks the band’s 4th studio record. Fans can purchase the album, including two exclusive vinyl variants and exclusive merch, now at https://heartattackman.com/collections/all.
Shares front man Eric Egan: “At some point in time, every author writes their last word; every comedian tells their last joke; every musician writes their last song; so on and so forth. We feel the urgency that comes with an acute awareness of death bleeds into and pumps through this entire record, and it’s our proudest accomplishment yet. As satisfying of an ending this all could be, we still feel like we’re just getting started, and it’s with great pleasure that we share our fourth record Joyride The Pale Horse with the world.”
Fans can look forward to hearing new music live for the first time as Heart Attack Man hits the road this spring. The band will be on the road in Australia supporting Dear Seattle, before heading to the UK with Free Throw and upcoming performances at Slam Dunk Music Festival.
It's very rare that an album kicks off with my favorite track of the entire record; in fact, I don't think that's ever happened, but with Heart Attack Man's Joyride The Pale Horse album, I guess there's a first time for everything. The track opens up with one of the catchiest openers and tracks I've heard with "One More Song (Imposter Syndrome)". The album bursts into track 2's "End of the Gun", a total melodic hardcore banger. I can see the entire crowd at a live show not only moshing, but singing along to this hardcore anthem.
Track 3's Spit, and one of the band's latest single is a more 90's grunge vibe, it's got a total laid back "fuck you" Nirvana vibe to it whereas track 4's Lay Down and Die has the exact opposite sound with a more modern pop-punk alternative feel to it, like a pissed off Story of the Year (if that makes sense.)
Laughing Without Smiling has a sick experimental guitar part in the beginning, with the verses having this droning talking lyrical part that kicks into this almost pop-punk Limp Bizkit chorus. (I hope I'm not offending the band by dropping these references. For the record, I don't reference bands that I don't like.)
OKAY! Now that that's all clear, Track 6's Call of the Void feels like a natural extension of the band's previous 2023 album Freak of Nature with the stop breaks, weird grungy chords, and sing-a-long parts. Erupting into track 7's Can't Slow Down, the track reminds me of good old-fashioned melodic hardcore, think, Sum 41 with hardcore beats.
I call track 8's One Good Reason the "pallet cleanser" of the album. Every record has one, and it's basically the slower, laid back track that has catchy "ooo's and ahhh's" and lets fans catch their breath from the rest of the record. This is that track. Track 9's I'll See You There is the "wave your hands in the air back and forth" track of the song. I can totally see that happening during this track live. I love the harmonies and the pace of the track, you don't have to mosh, but you can definitely move along and sing this track word for word.
Track 10's The Gallows has the feel and vibe of the "pop-punk anthem" of the album. It's so god damned catchy and makes sense why it's a single off this album. Track 11's Quit While I'm Still Ahead is another one that has that Heart Attack Man Freak of Nature circa 2023 vibe and even brings it back to roots with 2019's "Fake Blood" album. Final and title track Joyride the Pale Horse has a "dare I say" indie-rock vibe to it while still having that melodic hardcore pop-punk Heart Attack Man vibe to it.
Every track on Joyride The Pale Horse has a mind of its own. Every track has its own sing-along parts, which makes me extremely excited to see these new tunes live. I love how each track is under 3 minutes, giving the entire album an old school hardcore punk feel, while each song has enough time to tell its story. The growth o Heart Attack Man from when I discovered them in 2019 with Fake Blood is evident while the band as a whole is still at their humble roots.
HEART ATTACK MAN's latest album JOYRIDE THE PALE HORSE is OUT NOW!
Check out tour dates and more below!
Upcoming International Tour Dates: 5/8 – North Perth, AUS @ Rosemount Hotel 5/9 – Thornbury, AUS @ The Croxton Bandroom 5/10 – Adelaide, AUS @ Jive 5/15 – Newcastle, AUS @ King Street Hotel 5/16 – Camperdown, AUS @ Manning Bar 5/17 – Brisbane, AUS @ The Triffid 5/24 – Hatfield, UK @ Slam Dunk Festival – South 5/25 – Leeds, UK @ Slam Dunk Festival – North
Upcoming North American Tour Dates: 6/4 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Thunderbird Café & Music Hall 6/5 – Buffalo, NY @ Rec Room 6/7 – Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground ** 6/8 – Albany, NY @ Empire Underground 6/10 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall 6/11 – Amityville, NY @ Amityville Music Hall 6/13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Meadows 6/14 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry at The Fillmore 6/16 – Allentown, PA @ Archer Music Hall 6/17 – Richmond, VA @ The Canal Club 6/19 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall 6/20 – Greenville, SC @ The Radio Room 6/21 – Orlando, FL @ The Social 6/22 – Miami, FL @ Gramps 6/24 – Atlanta, GA @ The Loft 6/25 – Nashville, TN @ Eastside Bowl 6/27 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall 6/28 – Indianapolis, IN @ Hi-Fi 6/29 – Lexington, KY @ Manchester Music Hall 7/8 – Detroit, MI @ The Shelter 7/9 – Milwaukee, WI @ Vivarium 7/10 – Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge 7/11 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line ** 7/12 – Rapid City, SD @ Aby’s Rapid City 7/13 – Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s 7/16 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room 7/18 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck 7/20 – Colorado Springs, CO @ The Black Sheep 7/21 – Denver, CO @ Marquis 7/23 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Soundwell 7/24 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Social Club 7/25 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile 7/26 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre 7/27 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre 7/29 – Sacramento, CA @ Goldfield Trading Post 7/30 – Berkeley, CA @ Cornerstone Berkeley 7/31 – Fresno, CA @ Strummer’s 8/1 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room Highland Park 8/2 – Mesa, AZ @ The Nile Theater 8/4 – El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace 8/5 – Dallas, TX @ RBC 8/6 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger 8/8 – Austin, TX @ Come and Take It Live 8/9 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Beer City Music Hall
** - without The Dirty Nil |
Joyride The Pale Horse Tracklist:
1. One More Song (Imposter Syndrome)
2. End Of The Gun
3. Spit
4. Lay Down And Die
5. Laughing Without Smiling
6. Call Of The Void
7. Can’t Slow Down
8. One Good Reason
9. I’ll See You There
10. The Gallows
11. Quit While I’m Still Ahead
12. Joyride The Pale Horse
You can check out more info on HEART ATTACK MAN in the links below:
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The Pop-Punk Dad features bands from all around the globe. Email me awesome bands at: ThePopPunkDad@gmail.com
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