Post by Henny Macc on May 22, 2020 21:03:13 GMT
Sal Abruscato (July 18, 1970 - )
Years active: 1985-present
Country of origin: United States of America
Recorded vocal range: D2-C♯5 (D2-D♭5) - 2.9 octaves
Band history:
- 1985-1989 - Toximia (lead vocals, drums)
- 1989-1990 - Repulsion (drums)
- 1990-1993 - Type O Negative (drums)
- 1993-1995 - Life of Agony (drums)
- 2002 - Suppermassiv (drums)
- 2002-2012 - Life of Agony (drums)
- 2010-2018 - A Pale Horse Named Death (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, drums)
- 2014-2017 - Life of Agony (drums)
- 2018-present - A Pale Horse Named Death (lead vocals, rhythm guitar)
Recorded high notes:
C♯5/D♭5: "Cracks in the Walls", "The Needle in You"
B4: "Cracks in the Walls" live Szene 2011, "Devil Came with a Smile", "DMSLT", "The Needle in You", "To Die in Your Arms"
B♭4/A♯4: "As Black As My Heart", "Two Headed Snake (Propofol Dreams)"
A4: "In the Sleeping Death", "Killer By Night", "Pill Head", "Shallow Grave"
G♯4/A♭4: "As It Begins", "Cast Out from the Sky", "Cold Dark Mourning", "Day of the Storm", "Growing Old", "In the Sleeping Death", "Killer By Night", "Meet the Wolf", "Reflections of the Dead", "Shallow Grave", "Slave to the Master", "The Needle in You", "Two Headed Snake (Propofol Dreams)", "When Crows Descend Upon You"
G4: "As Black As My Heart", "Bath in My Blood (Schizophrenia in Me)", "Cracks in the Walls"
F♯4/G♭4: "Cast Out from the Sky", "Cold Dark Mourning", "Devil's Deed", "DMSLT", "End of Days", "Fell in My Hole", "Heroin Train", "Killer By Night", "One", "Pickup Truck", "Pill Head", "Reflections of the Dead", "Shards of Glass", "The Needle in You", "Two Headed Snake (Propofol Dreams)", "Vultures", "We All Break Down", "When Crows Descend Upon You"
F4: "B.H.A.", "Growing Old", "Prayers for Rain", "Ultra Violence", "We All Break Down"
E4: "Believe in Something (You Are Lost)", "Lucifer's Sun", "Slave to the Master"
Recorded low notes:
D3: "As Black As My Heart", "Love the Ones You Hate"
C♯3/D♭3: "Bath in My Blood (Schizophrenia in Me)", "Believe in Something (You Are Lost)", "Day of the Storm", "Devil Came with a Smile", "DMSLT", "End of Days", "Fell in My Hole", "In the Sleeping Death", "Killer By Night", "Meet the Wolf", "One", "Shallow Grave", "Slave to the Master", "Splinters", "The Needle in You", "There's a Problem", "Two Headed Snake (Propofol Dreams)", "Vultures", "We All Break Down"
C3: "As Black As My Heart"
B2: "Bath in My Blood (Schizophrenia in Me)", "Believe in Something (You Are Lost)", "Devil Came with a Smile", "Devil in the Closet", "DMSLT", "Dreams of the End", "Fell in My Hole", "Pickup Truck", "Pill Head", "Slave to the Master", "Splinters", "We All Break Down", "When Crows Descend Upon You"
B♭2/A♯2: "Growing Old", "Love the Ones You Hate", "Pill Head", "Serial Killer", "To Die in Your Arms"
A2: "One", "Vultures"
G♯2/A♭2: "Believe in Something (You Are Lost)", "Cold Dark Mourning", "Dead of Winter", "Devil's Deed", "Serial Killer", "Two Headed Snake (Propofol Dreams)", "When Crows Descend Upon You"
G2: "When the World Becomes Undone"
F♯2/G♭2: "Cold Dark Mourning", "Devil's Deed", "Die Alone", "End of Days", "Meet the Wolf", "One", "Pickup Truck", "Pill Head", "Shallow Grave", "To Die in Your Arms"
F2: "Growing Old"
E2: "Die Alone", "Love the Ones You Hate", "Pill Head", "The Needle in You"
D2: "Love the Ones You Hate"
.......................................................
*Green marks harsh distorted notes.
*Italics mark spoken or controlled laughed/shouted notes.
*Underlines mark notes in backing vocals or otherwise muffled/obscured in the mix.
{Detailed bio}
Sal Abruscato is best known as the original drummer and co-founder of Type O Negative, and more recently as the guitarist and vocalist for the band A Pale Horse Named Death. Though he is not exactly the flashiest as a singer (mostly singing in his mid range and rarely singing above F♯4 in lead vocals), I was surprised to find almost three octaves of recorded vocal range by him on the three albums where he does vocals, between some of the high notes he achieves in a distorted harsh register, and low notes sung in backing vocals.
Sal started his musical career as far back as 1985 with a band called Toximia, and recorded his first demo with them, entitled Another Beautiful Day, in 1986 when he was only 16. Initially he only played drums in this band, but when they later recorded a second demo in 1987, entitled War, he also handled vocals in addition to drums. I can't say the vocals on this EP were particularly impressive, however, as the band's style was a very punkish type of thrash metal that largely just consisted of raw, shouty vocals (and not even particularly high or powerful shouting either - mostly topping out around E4 or so) that did not require much skill. This EP would ultimately remain Sal's only recorded output as a vocalist for the next 20 years or so, as he proceeded to focus on drums for his next few bands afterwards.
In 1989, Sal co-founded Type O Negative (originally called Repulsion at the time) alongside bassist/lead vocalist Peter Steele, guitarist/vocalist Kenny Hickey, and keyboardist Josh Silver. Together they recorded the None More Negative demo in 1990, followed by the studio albums Slow, Deep and Hard and Bloody Kisses in 1991 and 1993, respectively, and the "fake live" album The Origin of the Feces in 1992. Bloody Kisses came to serve as Type O's breakout album, and brought them widespread recognition for the songs "Black No.1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" and "Christian Woman". However, shortly after this breakthrough, Sal decided to quit the band, and was replaced by drummer Johnny Kelly, who would later go on to become Sal's own drummer in A Pale Horse Named Death.
After Type O Negative, Sal joined alternative metal band Life of Agony as drummer and released the albums River Runs Red in 1993 and Ugly in 1995, but then left after the tour for the latter. He seemingly disappeared from music for several years after this (or at least did not play with any major names during that time, as far as I've been able to find), but reappeared in 2002 to partake in a reunion for Life of Agony, who had temporarily disbanded a few years after his departure. He continued playing with them for the next ten years (departing again in 2012, but then rejoining once more from 2014 to 2017), but in 2010 formed his own project A Pale Horse Named Death, for which he stepped up to handle guitars and vocals in addition to drums. Initially A Pale Horse consisted of only Sal and guitarist/bassist Matt Brown (formerly of Seventh Void), which served as the band's lineup for the recording of their first two albums - 2011's And Hell Will Follow Me and 2013's Lay My Soul to Waste. Other musicians were hired as live members for touring purposes, but it wasn't until after the release of the latter album that other studio members started to be brought on. In 2018, Johnny Kelly became A Pale Horse's official drummer, at which point Sal relinquished drum duties and began focusing strictly on guitar and vocals in the band. With this lineup, they released a third album in 2019, entitled When the World Becomes Undone, as well as a covers EP that same year, entitled Uncovered. Since his third departure from Life of Agony, A Pale Horse Named Death has been Sal's full time commitment, and has continuously been active with recording and touring.
A Pale Horse Named Death's music is very slow, doomy and depressing, and Sal's vocals typically reflect that - often sung in his mid or low range, without much in the ways of energetic belting found in faster, more upbeat music. However, on Lay My Soul to Waste, Sal began to demonstrate a gritty, more harsh vocal-oriented register, which he could carry well into the fourth octave for more climactic, heavy sections of songs, even getting as high as C♯5 at one point on "The Needle in You". For some reason he discontinued use of this register on When the World Becomes Undone, perhaps due to difficulties replicating some of these passages live. I would welcome hearing more of it if he can continue to pull it off though, as it definitely added more variety to his singing in my opinion. Meanwhile, he is much less shy about singing low - as many of his songs with A Pale Horse Named Death go into the second octave, demonstrating strong amounts of resonance down to at least F♯2. In some ways, his approach to writing vocal parts reminds me a bit of a higher-voiced version of David Gold, as he frequently writes lead vocal melodies in the third octave that he then doubles with a backing vocal melody in the second octave. Between this, his general avoidance of clean high notes, and his use of distorted harsh vocals when he does go for high notes (plus the fact that he originated as a drummer before moving up to the role of vocalist/guitarist), there are actually a surprising number of parallels between him and Gold as vocalists.
Sal Abruscato is best known as the original drummer and co-founder of Type O Negative, and more recently as the guitarist and vocalist for the band A Pale Horse Named Death. Though he is not exactly the flashiest as a singer (mostly singing in his mid range and rarely singing above F♯4 in lead vocals), I was surprised to find almost three octaves of recorded vocal range by him on the three albums where he does vocals, between some of the high notes he achieves in a distorted harsh register, and low notes sung in backing vocals.
Sal started his musical career as far back as 1985 with a band called Toximia, and recorded his first demo with them, entitled Another Beautiful Day, in 1986 when he was only 16. Initially he only played drums in this band, but when they later recorded a second demo in 1987, entitled War, he also handled vocals in addition to drums. I can't say the vocals on this EP were particularly impressive, however, as the band's style was a very punkish type of thrash metal that largely just consisted of raw, shouty vocals (and not even particularly high or powerful shouting either - mostly topping out around E4 or so) that did not require much skill. This EP would ultimately remain Sal's only recorded output as a vocalist for the next 20 years or so, as he proceeded to focus on drums for his next few bands afterwards.
In 1989, Sal co-founded Type O Negative (originally called Repulsion at the time) alongside bassist/lead vocalist Peter Steele, guitarist/vocalist Kenny Hickey, and keyboardist Josh Silver. Together they recorded the None More Negative demo in 1990, followed by the studio albums Slow, Deep and Hard and Bloody Kisses in 1991 and 1993, respectively, and the "fake live" album The Origin of the Feces in 1992. Bloody Kisses came to serve as Type O's breakout album, and brought them widespread recognition for the songs "Black No.1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" and "Christian Woman". However, shortly after this breakthrough, Sal decided to quit the band, and was replaced by drummer Johnny Kelly, who would later go on to become Sal's own drummer in A Pale Horse Named Death.
After Type O Negative, Sal joined alternative metal band Life of Agony as drummer and released the albums River Runs Red in 1993 and Ugly in 1995, but then left after the tour for the latter. He seemingly disappeared from music for several years after this (or at least did not play with any major names during that time, as far as I've been able to find), but reappeared in 2002 to partake in a reunion for Life of Agony, who had temporarily disbanded a few years after his departure. He continued playing with them for the next ten years (departing again in 2012, but then rejoining once more from 2014 to 2017), but in 2010 formed his own project A Pale Horse Named Death, for which he stepped up to handle guitars and vocals in addition to drums. Initially A Pale Horse consisted of only Sal and guitarist/bassist Matt Brown (formerly of Seventh Void), which served as the band's lineup for the recording of their first two albums - 2011's And Hell Will Follow Me and 2013's Lay My Soul to Waste. Other musicians were hired as live members for touring purposes, but it wasn't until after the release of the latter album that other studio members started to be brought on. In 2018, Johnny Kelly became A Pale Horse's official drummer, at which point Sal relinquished drum duties and began focusing strictly on guitar and vocals in the band. With this lineup, they released a third album in 2019, entitled When the World Becomes Undone, as well as a covers EP that same year, entitled Uncovered. Since his third departure from Life of Agony, A Pale Horse Named Death has been Sal's full time commitment, and has continuously been active with recording and touring.
A Pale Horse Named Death's music is very slow, doomy and depressing, and Sal's vocals typically reflect that - often sung in his mid or low range, without much in the ways of energetic belting found in faster, more upbeat music. However, on Lay My Soul to Waste, Sal began to demonstrate a gritty, more harsh vocal-oriented register, which he could carry well into the fourth octave for more climactic, heavy sections of songs, even getting as high as C♯5 at one point on "The Needle in You". For some reason he discontinued use of this register on When the World Becomes Undone, perhaps due to difficulties replicating some of these passages live. I would welcome hearing more of it if he can continue to pull it off though, as it definitely added more variety to his singing in my opinion. Meanwhile, he is much less shy about singing low - as many of his songs with A Pale Horse Named Death go into the second octave, demonstrating strong amounts of resonance down to at least F♯2. In some ways, his approach to writing vocal parts reminds me a bit of a higher-voiced version of David Gold, as he frequently writes lead vocal melodies in the third octave that he then doubles with a backing vocal melody in the second octave. Between this, his general avoidance of clean high notes, and his use of distorted harsh vocals when he does go for high notes (plus the fact that he originated as a drummer before moving up to the role of vocalist/guitarist), there are actually a surprising number of parallels between him and Gold as vocalists.
{Album ranges}
A Pale Horse Named Death:
A Pale Horse Named Death:
- And Hell Will Follow Me (2011) - E2-G♯4-C♯5
- Lay My Soul to Waste (2013) - E2-G♯2-C♯5
- When the World Becomes Undone (2019) - D2-F♯2-F♯4-G♯4
- Uncovered (2019) - F♯2-F♯4
{Best displays of vocal range}
"The Needle in You" (E2-C♯5)
"Pill Head" (E2-A4)
"Shallow Grave" (F♯2-A4)
"Growing Old" (F2-F4-G♯4)
"Meet the Wolf" (F♯2-G♯4)
"Cold Dark Mourning" (F♯2-G♯2-G♯4)
"Devil Came with a Smile" (B2-B4)
"DMSLT" (B2-B4)
"One" (F♯2-F♯4)
"Pickup Truck" (F♯2-F♯4)
"The Needle in You" (E2-C♯5)
"Pill Head" (E2-A4)
"Shallow Grave" (F♯2-A4)
"Growing Old" (F2-F4-G♯4)
"Meet the Wolf" (F♯2-G♯4)
"Cold Dark Mourning" (F♯2-G♯2-G♯4)
"Devil Came with a Smile" (B2-B4)
"DMSLT" (B2-B4)
"One" (F♯2-F♯4)
"Pickup Truck" (F♯2-F♯4)
sustained G♯5s and quick B5s?