Photo by Candy Lust

Led by founding Type O Negative and Life of Agony drummer Sal Abruscato, who takes on lead vocals and guitar here, A Pale Horse Named Death are set to release their sophomore album, Lay My Soul to Waste, on May 21. In anticipation, the band is premiering the lead single off the record, titled “Shallow Grave,” right here right now. Check it out below, and let us know what you think in the comments.

This October, Robert will release of his latest comic-book series, Killogy, about three murderers whose characters are based on the likenesses of actor Frank Vincent (Goodfellas, The Sopranos), Ramones drummer Marky Ramone, and actress Brea Grant (Heroes, Dexter). Robert recently sat down with Revolver to look both back and ahead at his life in music and comics.

REVOLVER When and how did you first get into comic books?
ALAN ROBERT When I was about 10 years old, my dad shared with me boxes of the Silver Age comic books that he had collected growing up. The ones my Grandmother didn’t throw out, that is. Lord only knows the valuable books she tossed thinking they were junk! Anyway, he had everything from the very first issues of The Amazing Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, and The Incredible Hulk to Batman/Detective Comics and rare monster books. It was a really great collection and I was hooked from that point. I had always been drawing, even early on, but once I saw those books I was inspired to make my own characters and to start writing my own stories.

In the ’80s, I’d head out to the local New York Comic Cons–nothing close to what they are now–and would meet my favorite artists like Mike Zeck, who drew The Punisher, and to get my books signed. By that time, I was drawing my own comic books, photocopying them and selling them in the local comic shop. It was a lot fun and kept me out of trouble.

As I got older, I became more and more focused on my art and eventually received a scholarship to The School of Visual Arts in NYC. I had every intention on becoming a professional comic book artist and received a Bachelors degree in fine art. That was the very same year that Life of Agony got signed to Roadrunner Records, which postponed my artistic plans by about, I dunno… uh, 20 years or so? The last few years, I’ve been cranking out my own comics professionally through IDW Publishing and it really feels great.

At The School of Visual Arts, you were taught by “Thor” artist Walt Simonson. What was the most valuable thing you learned from him?
Walt is an amazing artist and a great teacher. He’s straight up with his students and really brought up everyone’s game. He prepared us for portfolio reviews, which was very important.  Eventually, the ultimate goal was to land a job at Marvel or DC drawing the characters we all grew up on. Building a powerful portfolio to show around to the various comic book companies in search of work was the main focus.

Walt had a very down to earth approach and I appreciated that. I guess the biggest takeaway for me was learning to translate comic book scripts into effective page layouts. I learned a lot about pacing tricks and storytelling by doing his exercises. In school, I remember having homework where we had to interpret some RoboCop scripts and things like that. It was demanding and intricate. Especially at that age, because at the time, my classmates and I were way more excited to draw these giant splash pages and didn’t want to focus on the sequential art so much. It was all about the big hero shot, because that’s where the action was and was more fun to draw.

But Walt ran a tight ship and kept our heads in the right place, on the fundamentals. He’d bring in some other top comic book talent into the class to lecture us, including his wife Louise. It was all very eye opening and cool–learning the complexities of the comic book industry from an inside perspective. I was a huge fan and enjoyed it.

Just recently, Walt wrote a fantastic introduction to my Crawl to Me graphic novel, which was a huge honor for me. I reconnected with him at NY Comic Con and showed him my published work. It was a real full-circle experience to hear the nice things he thought about my storytelling.

When Life of Agony was signed and started to take off, how hard was it for you to put your passion for comic books on the back burner?
By the time LOA got signed, I was already in my senior year in art school. The band was building great momentum and you could just feel that something was going to happen. There was a definite aura about it. There was something really special going on with the band that I couldn’t ignore.

On the flipside, I was getting close to graduation and the thought of going around searching for work in the comic book industry–in which I had no connections in at the time–seemed like an extremely daunting task filled with rejection and disappointment. It was the early ’90s and the Internet was just in its early stages, so online portfolio submissions didn’t even exist yet. You literally had to meet a comic book editor at a convention, strike up a conversation, show off your work and IF he was interested–which was a long shot–he’d hand you a business card for you to send more stuff along. After that, you might get an interview to meet some more folks who would ultimately give you a low paying job inking a small book or something like that. It sounded absolutely brutal to me.

With the band getting signed and some talk of booking some national and international tours, it became pretty clear to me that I was going to pursue the music at that point. I figured that even if the music didn’t pan out, I could always fall back on my art. The excitement of being a founder of a signed band, recording and performing my own music for a living overshadowed any comic book dreams I had, because they seemed so far away and unreachable.

Do you think that your interest in comics had any impact on what you created in Life of Agony?
Absolutely. For one, I illustrated the band’s iconic skull logo. The LOA logo not only became really popular with our fans, but it became super important to the band’s marketing and branding. When fans would see that logo on a poster or T-shirt, even if it didn’t have our band name next to it, they would immediately associate it with our music. It really became a powerful icon.

The logo went on to appear on all of our merchandise and albums over the years, not to mention on the countless fans themselves, who got the logo tattooed on them permanently. Over the last two decades, I’ve designed every Life of Agony T-shirt, poster, and website design the band has ever produced. I also provided creative direction for other fine artists to execute album covers and arranged cover art photo shoots. Being an artist has been so helpful in communicating visual ideas: everything from illustrating designs for staging scrims to contributing ideas to video directors for music video treatments. It’s been a great way to keep my drawing skills up, and staying creative while keeping busy and make a living with music.

What’s the origin of your latest series Killogy?
Ah, Killogy, my new baby! This is such a fun project for me. I’m working with some of my childhood heroes on something very new and different. It’s a mixture of horror and dark comedy told in intertwining stand-alone tales. The main story follows three murderers who’ve been arrested and thrown into a police holding cell overnight. To their surprise, they are not alone. They’re left to their own devices in order to figure out the impending supernatural events, which threaten their survival in captivity. Their individual stories slowly reveal information that may lead to their escape…

The three main characters are all based on the likenesses of actor Frank Vincent , Marky Ramone , and actress Brea Grant . I’m writing and illustrating the books and it’ll come out this Halloween through IDW Publishing. I’m super stoked about it.

What possessed you to want to model murderers after those three people? And how did you get their permission?
The characters are very different from each other and very specific looking. When I first started my character designs for the book, I quickly found that my illustrations resembled the celebrities in which I ended up approaching. I haven’t really seen something like this done in an original comic book series and thought it would be a lot of fun to draw, as well as being a challenging thing to take on. I also think that from a reader’s standpoint, it’s very cool to have these celebrity’s voices in their heads while reading the dialogue. It gives the characters life and believability, which helps to drive the story forward. In my opinion, it definitely adds a unique feel to the series, separating it from other books in the genre.

Approaching the stars for their involvement seemed like such a long shot at first. I mean, I didn’t know any of them personally and I really didn’t know if they would be receptive to the idea. This wasn’t a typical licensing situation. It’s not like I wanted to make a comic book based on an existing property of theirs, this was an all-new property, which involved my original characters. One by one, through my various contacts, I found mutual friends to these people and met with them. I pitched the idea and got them interested. It actually went pretty smooth, once they heard the concept behind it. They were all very flattered that I wanted to turn them into comic book characters and I couldn’t be happier to do it.

I’m about halfway through issue one and it’s going great. It has a very different art style than my previous works and I’m anxious to see what everyone thinks about it.

How far along is the film adaptation of Crawl to Me?
We’re about a week away from receiving the first draft of the movie script from the screenwriters. We have David A. Armstrong, the popular cinematographer from the Saw franchise, on board to direct. I cannot wait to sit down and read the script. Up until a few months ago, we went through a lengthy screenwriter search, which involved meeting with over a dozen screenwriters who submitted treatments to adapt the property. We got our hands on some great up and coming talent, screenwriters TJ Cimfel and David White. The creative process has been going super smooth and judging from their treatment, I think the film will be even more terrifying than the book.

Quite a few rockers have also worked on comic books, from Rob Zombie to Claudio Sanchez to Glenn Danzig. Are you a fan of any other rockers’ comics?
I’m always interested in checking out other musician’s comics. I think it’s awesome and I feel connected to them in some way because of that mutual passion. Last year, at the Revolver Golden Gods Award show, I actually caught a few minutes to chat with Rob Zombie at the after party. I handed him my Wire Hangers graphic novel to check out. It was a very cool experience chatting with him. He had actually heard of Wire Hangers and had seen some of my artwork online. I have the utmost respect for Rob: He’s super talented as a musician, director and as a comic writer. I hope to work with him one day on something.

Do you think Life of Agony is dead for good now that Keith has transitioned into Mina? And how did that transition affect you?
First off, I fully support Mina and her decisions to live her life the way she wants to. I think it’s great that she’s finally able to be comfortable in her own skin. I can’t even imagine what she’s experienced, dealing with all of those feelings bottled up for years and years. Anyway, we’ve been friends since childhood, so whether LOA is active or not, I will always be there for her, and she knows that.

In regards to LOA, I actually don’t think Mina’s transition is the ultimate reason the band isn’t active right now. We’d been doing a lot less touring over the last bunch of years, way before she announced her personal news. The whole Broken Valley record affected us in such a bad way. I’m still very proud of that album, but we were completely mishandled by Epic Records. We didn’t accomplish what we set out to do and it was a big disappointment for all of us. As a result, we became disheartened by the music business to the point that we didn’t even want to write new music together anymore. We still enjoyed playing live, so we did that a few times a year in short stints. But it became a lot less frequent.

We started to realize that if we were going to continue as a band, that we would have to sit down and write a new record together. We couldn’t just go out there tour after tour performing the same old songs. We started to talk about writing new material more seriously and passed around some musical ideas amongst the four of us. But that never really went anywhere. We were already on different pages, musically and emotionally. We had all moved on to other things, other projects. I honestly don’t have any hard feelings that we were unable to get it together. We had an amazing run, a successful career lasting 20-plus years. We did amazing things together and I’m grateful for that. I would never say that’s it’s over for good, or close the door forever because life continues to offer unexpected opportunities all the time. You never know what’s gonna happen. As long as we’re all still breathing and healthy people, there’s always the chance of doing it again.

I can only speak for myself, but I can say that starting a family has definitely made me want to tour and travel a lot less in general. For that reason in particular, I’m much happier being home working on my comics and film projects. It fulfills my creative needs and allows me to live the life I want to at this stage.

So comics are your focus now? Or are you also working on some new music with another project
I have my hands pretty full with the Killogy comic series and the Crawl to Me movie through ’til next year. I’ve also been developing a limited edition Crawl to Me hardcover book that will be released by IDW Publishing later this year. It’s an oversized edition and includes some never-before-seen artwork. It’s really something special. There will also be some very cool variations of the book, too. I can’t announce the details just yet, but keep your eye out for it soon. For more info, check out my site alanrobert.com for updates and I always like to post in-progress shots of my artwork on Twitter: @arobert

But I’m far from done with creating music. It will always be a passion of mine. Besides the movie soundtrack stuff, I’d also love to complete the follow-up album for my punk band, Spoiler NYC. Our debut, Grease Fire in Hell’s Kitchen, was received really well a few years back and it would be great to crank out some more punk rock tunes again! Just gotta make the time to do it.

1. Black Sabbath reunite
The rumors had been swirling for a while, but it seemed like every time things were looking good for a reunion of the original lineup of the original metal band, someone came in to dash the hopes of pretty much every headbanger on the planet. And then it happened: a press conference hosted by Henry Rollins and featuring Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward, announcing not only a world tour together in 2012 but also that they have been working on a new album together! Never say die, indeed.

2. The West Memphis Three are freed
In the 18 years since the West Memphis Three—three men who, as metalhead teenagers, were convicted for the allegedly Satanic-ritual murder of three young children—were first arrested, their case has galvanized heavy-music fans the world over. Everyone from the aforementioned Henry Rollins and Metallica to Pearl Jam and Marilyn Manson—who spoke at the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods Awards on their behalf—had gotten behind their cause, but as appeal after appeal was denied despite mounting evidence of their innocence, that cause did not appear very hopeful. Then, this August, the seemingly impossible happened when the WM3 were finally released from prison. Justice, long overdue.

3. Judas Priest play on American Idol, embark on farewell tour
If a Sabbath reunion and WM3 release seemed unlikely going into 2011, then Judas Priest performing on TV’s most popular show and pop music’s biggest forum seemed like just about the closest thing to a sign of the apocalypse that we could imagine. Well, then maybe the end is, in fact, nigh in 2012, because Priest did take the Idol stage this year, rocking with finalist James Durbin in front of the some 30 million viewers who tuned in to see the season finale. Sadly, we know that the end is nigh for Priest themselves, who played the first leg of their farewell tour this year. But at least Rob Halford & Co. are going out with a bang.

4. Dave Mustaine plays Metallica songs onstage with Metallica
The double takes continued this year when Dave Mustaine took the stage with Metallica earlier this month to play five ‘Tallica classics as part of that band’s 30th anniversary. Dave jamming on Diamond Head along with all the other members of the Big 4 was one thing. This, a whole other level of jaw-dropping. Can’t we all just get along? Why, yes, we can.

5. Metallica records album with Lou Reed
If Metallica’s series of 30th-anniversary shows this December was one of the most badass things these tried-and-true metal badasses have ever done, then their collaborative album, Lulu, with art-rock kingpin Lou Reed ranks up there among the most head-scratchingly bizarre moves they’ve ever made. “I am the table.” And we are dumbfounded.

6. Slipknot play first shows since Paul Gray’s death
After the passing of founding bass player and major songwriter Paul Gray in 2010, it was unclear whether Slipknot would pack up the masks and jumpsuits and call it a day or if they would forge ahead. This summer the band–who were the subject of a Revolver special issue this year–returned to the stage and did it in triumphant fashion, paying respect to their fallen bandmate and to their own origins, while looking ahead to the future. Which includes highly anticipated shows in the U.S. next year.

7. Phil Anselmo performs Pantera songs onstage for first time in a decade
His surprise appearance at this September’s Metal Masters Clinic 2 was a heavily guarded secret (which the Revolver staff may have been privy to, if not behind), but when Phil Anselmo stomped onto the stage and banged through absolutely rip-roaring renditions of Pantera’s “A New Level” and “Fucking Hostile” backed by Kerry King, Scott Ian, David Ellefson, Frank Bello, Mike Portnoy, and Charlie Benante, it resounded around the metal world. And only made us mourn more deeply the senseless death of Dimebag Darrell and the fact that a Pantera reunion is utterly impossible. If you weren’t there in September, kick yourself. Now.

8. Evanescence release first album in five years, debut at No. 1
One of the best-selling hard-rock acts of the last decade, Evanescence had all but fallen off the map when they returned with this year’s self-titled album and the relevance of their gothy nu-metal-infused sound was very much in question. Consider that question definitively answered as the record debuted at No. 1 on the charts and the group hit the road to overwhelmingly sold-out shows–not to mention the fact that frontwoman Amy Lee was voted by Revolver readers to be the single Hottest Chick in Hard Rock. Amazing accomplishments all, for a band that clearly had been very much been missed.

9. Anthrax release first album in eight years
It has been a tumultuous decade for the thrash legends, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and while their trials and tribulations did nearly take the band down, Anthrax endured and reasserted their place among metal’s best with the critically acclaimed Worship Music, not to mention their ass-kicking sets at this year’s Big 4 shows.

10. Avenged Sevenfold dominate the Revolver Golden Gods awards
Absolutely proving their supremacy among their generation of hard-rock and metal bands, and completing their inspiring rise-from-the-ashes story since the death of founding drummer Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan, Avenged Sevenfold claimed the 2011 Revolver Golden Gods as their own. They all but swept the fan-voted awards, including the biggest trophy of the night, for Album of the Year, and crushed with their closing set, which featured guest turns by GN’R's Duff McKagan and Pantera’s Vinnie Paul. All hail the heirs apparent.

11. Disturbed go on indefinite hiatus
They are the only rock band to have four consecutive records debut at No. 1, other than Metallica and Dave Matthews Band, so when Disturbed announced, while headlining this summer’s Mayhem Fest, that they would be going on “indefinite hiatus,” fans were understandably shocked. But then, what better time to go out then when you’re on top? Only time will tell if the bandmates are just taking a break or if they’ve broken up—but there’s no arguing that these guys have earned a little rest.

12. Metal goes dubstep
It was this year’s biggest trend in heavy music—the fusion of metal and the electronic-music style known as dubstep—and while, like any trend, it led to some less than stellar music, it also led to our controversial pick for 2011 Album of the Year, Korn’s The Path of Totality. We at Revolver hate it when we see heavy music getting stagnant and conservative—music needs to evolve and cross-pollinate to stay vital—so we’re excited that everyone from Five Finger Death Punch to Asking Alexandria to Periphery are experimenting with dubstep and exploring alternative definitions of “heavy.” And it’s cool knowing that the style’s biggest producer, Skrillex, is a friend of hard rock and metal, having gotten his start fronting screamo band From First to Last and, this year, collaborated on the new Korn record. Let’s see where this new hybrid takes us in 2012.

13. System of a Down play first shows together in five years
In late 2010, System of a Down, one of the last decade’s most unique and innovative metal bands, announced that they would be reuniting to play shows after a five-year hiatus. When the first of those performances finally came to pass, in Canada this May, SOAD proved that they had not missed a beat. Welcome back. And make a new record. You know you want to.

14. Atreyu go on indefinite hiatus
In the 12 years since their formation, SoCal’s Atreyu have morphed from metalcore pioneers to a more straight-up hard-rock outfit, and they’ve graced the cover of Revolver more than a few times along the way. So when, this year, the bandmates broke the news that they would be putting the band on ice, it was a bummer, no question. The consolation is that the members are not exactly sitting on their hand since the decision: Frontman Alex Varkatsaz has a new band in the works with Bleeding Through’s Brendan Schieppati, called I Am War; drummer-vocalist Brandon Saller now fronts Hell or Highwater; and guitarist Travis Miguel has new project Fake Figures.

15. Ministry re-form
Ministry’s breakup never seemed particularly set in stone. After all, their “final” album, 2007′s The Last Sucker, was followed by not one record of covers and remixes but two—not to mention a 2009 live album. Still, it was hard for any fan of the seminal industrial-metal band not to be excited when main man Al Jourgensen announced in August that the group would not only be touring in 2012 but releasing a new, original studio album, fittingly called Relapse. Lead single, “99 Percenters,” hits iTunes on December 23.

16. Life of Agony frontman Keith Caputo transitioning gender to female
It might just be the biggest “WTF” revelation in a year full of “WTF” moments: the news that Life of Agony vocalist Keith Caputo was becoming a woman, Mina. As with Priest’s catalog after Halford came out of the closet, now we hear LOA’s songs just a little differently.

..And finally, Revolver releases 100th issue.
Is it 2011′s biggest story? No. But it might be for us here at Revolver. We’ve been told repeatedly over the years that rock is dead, metal is dead, the music industry is dead, print media are dead. So to make it to 100 issues—100 real, tangible, bathroom-ready printed issues—feels like a real accomplishment. And maybe even more importantly, it feels like a big, fat middle-finger to all the disbelievers, doubters, and haters who didn’t think we would make it. Fuck you. And thank you to all our readers who have stuck with us, whether for all 100 issues, or only for this year’s six. You rule. Happy holidays.

“Wooster St. has some of the most amazing tattoo talent around, so I was thrilled to get my piece done by Megan,” Robert commented. “Her style is perfect for the ink I chose,” said Robert. “Being on the show was a trip and it was interesting to see, first hand, just what goes into making a hit series like this. I give the artists a lot of credit, too. It’s one thing to deliver kick-ass tattoos day in and day out… but it’s another thing to try and do that with a bunch of cameras jammed in your face. No pressure, right?!”

Check out “Pill Head” off And Hell Will Follow Me below:

Mexican Black King Snake
“A solid jet-black snake that derives from the desert. It is cannibalistic and feeds on rattlesnakes!”

Mexican milk snake
“Looks almost identical to the venomous Southern Coral snake and I own it.”

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
“The essence of the Wild West of America.”

Mangrove Snake
“Rear fanged venomous snake that is solid black with yellow rings that screams hazardous material.”

Spitting Cobra
“Fascinates me because this venomous snake can spit venom into your eyes at 20 feet!”

REVOLVER What’s this song about?
SAL ABRUSCATO “Pill Head” is about a person who is addicted to pills, and taking pills is the only way they can deal with life. A manic depressant that won’t leave their bed and just pops pills over and over to just get by.

Which part of it did you come up with first? And what was the inspiration?
I came up with the main chorus music first, then the verse and bridge music. I had a rough melody but it all came together as I wrote the lyrics and fine-tuned it.

Was this an easy song to record?
Yes, it was easy to record… I had everything done and all we had to do was re-record it. Vocals were a bit harder, especially in the bridge.

What sort of feedback have you gotten on this song so far?
So far its been great. It’s one of our favorite songs to perform, and I am pleased on the positive feedback so far.

Interview Highlights

Bello Interviews Rob Zombie and John 5

Bello Interviews His Bandmates

Bello Interviews Himself!

Bello Interviews David Coverdale of Whitesnake and Deep Purple

Bello Interviews Duff McKagan of Loaded and Velvet Revolver

Bello Interviews Comedian Craig Gass

Bello Interviews Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed

Bello Interviews Fozzy Frontman and Golden Gods Host Chris Jericho

Bello Interviews Machine Head

Bello Interviews Pretty Reckless Frontwoman Taylor Momsen and Adult Entertainment Star Jenna Haze

Bello Interviews Ozzy Osbourne Drummer Tommy Clufetos

Bello Interviews Volbeat

Bello Interviews Alan Robert of Life of Agony