HARD-EDGED POP PUNKS HEART ATTACK MAN CONTEMPLATE THE INEVITABLE ON NEW ALBUM

ALBUM REVIEW | HEART ATTACK MAN – JOYRIDE THE PALE HORSE by Craig Harston

It’s always great when a pop punk band embraces it’s influences. Too many modern pop punk bands these days just go through the motions and it becomes a bit cookie cutter. Thankfully, Cleveland, Ohio’s Heart Attack Man wear their influences on their sleeves and have created a sound that’s all their own, a subtle blend of melody and aggression. Returning with their fourth album, Joyride The Pale Horse sees the trio – Eric Egan (vocals, guitar), Adam Paduch (drums) and Ty Sickels (guitar) – reunite with producer Brett Romnes and has them baring their influences such as Type O Negative, Quicksand and Unwritten Law. The album has a subtle vein of the macabre throughout as they contemplate the end but also embrace the brief time spent on this mortal coil, also delving a little into existentialism. As Eric puts it “I’m making all of these different allusions to death, but I’m not referencing it outright.”

This is particularly prevalent on the likes of opener ‘One More Song’, which contemplates the anxieties of imposter syndrome and that things could come crashing down tomorrow (“What if this is it, and it’s over, and everyone finds out, that I’m a poser”) and the song is paced well with a quiet LOUD quiet LOUD layout. ‘Lay Down And Die’ is a relentless assault on the senses with a wonderful guitar riff throughout and lyrics about accepting the inevitable. Singles ‘The Gallows’ and ‘Laughing Without Smiling’ have their focus on congratulating someone on surviving life and how the face we present to the world is often not how we feel inside (“Sometimes I wonder why you’re suffering in silence, cos I can hear you laughing but I don’t see a smile on your face”), respectively, the former with a summery punk sound in spite of it’s dark lyrics, with a superb bridge, and the latter featuring spoken word verses that lead into some huge pop punky choruses.

‘Call Of The Void’ is a straight up pop punk banger and ‘Spit’ has some great grungy guitars throughout as Heart Attack Man take a sharp look at how the rise of A.I. might be stifling any form of true creativity (the video is worth a watch, too, though be warned, it’s a little gross!). ‘Can’t Slow Down’ does exactly the opposite and is a super fast melodic hardcore song that laments how hard it can be to continue to stay in touch with people as life gets in the way, while ‘I’ll See You There’ actually is slower, with a floaty sound but some surprisingly venomous lyrics.

Album closer and title track ‘Joyride The Pale Horse’ is a little less subtle with it’s references to death (it’s right there in the title!) but feels surprisingly hopeful considering it’s subject matter. It’s a melodic pop rock song with an equal focus on enjoying a life lived and ultimately ‘moving on’ and is a great note to finish on.

Overall, Heart Attack Man have produced a deeply accomplished album in Joyride The Pale Horse that commands your attention across it’s twelve tracks – it’s energetic pop punk at it’s finest but with something to say! Make sure you tick this one off your bucket list!

Joyride The Pale Horse releases on 25th April.

Heart Attack Man will be playing The Key Club Stage at Slam Dunk Festival 2025 in May, followed by a couple of Slam Dunk ‘side shows’ supporting emo band Free Throw.