Castle Rat – Into the Realm
April 12th, 2024
Doom Metal
King Volume Records
Brooklyn, New York, USA
After much ado, the long anticipated debut full length record from Brooklyn-based fantastical doom metal quintet Castle Rat has finally arrived. This band had garnered attention from me through the release of a few singles that came out over the course of the past year and their retro aesthetic utilized in the music videos for said songs. There’s a particular vibe associated with this band’s image that other retro-focused doom bands don’t really tap into, especially when it comes to the band’s live performances.
Utilizing the services of the Rat Reaperess, portrayed by Madeline Wright, the band makes a big deal out of their stage show, involving a lot of inter-song narration and interplay between the Reaperess and the Rat Queen, otherwise known as Riley Pinkerton. On top of that the band members each wear costumes that exemplify different aspects of medieval, pagan, and fantasy tropes. In essence this band would not look out of place at a ren fair, given the Rat Queen’s Conan the Barbarian-inspired chainmail get-up, their drummer’s “Horned God” pagan look, the vampiric aesthetic of the guitarist and the Plague Doctor who serves as their bassist. But what does the music sound like?
In essence the music of Castle Rat isn’t that far removed from the earliest roots of doom metal and indeed the wider spectrum of heavy metal as a whole. This is pure, unfiltered Black Sabbath worship, including everything from the song structure and melody construction all the way to the guitar and bass tone. Even the way this album is produced makes it sound like an older recording that’s been dredged up from the past. I ultimately can’t come down on Castle Rat too hard for this since this is undoubtedly exactly what they were trying to do. I just wish there was a bit more flair added to the typical Sabbath-worship doom that is so prevalent these days.
The vocals from the Rat Queen are exactly the kind of singing that this music needs. They’re often comprised of long, drawn out notes that help to produce a bit of a hypnotic, drugged out feeling in accordance with the slow, dooming pace of the instrumentals. There’s no doubting Pinkerton’s ability as a vocalist here as she nails every note with certain power and accuracy, totally assured and confident with every belting wail.
The riffs from The Count (Franco Vittore) on guitar and The Plague Doctor (Ronnie Lanzilotta III) on bass are, as I already mentioned, pretty much just straightforward Sabbathian offerings of fuzzed out tone and heavy power chords that exude occultic energy. As far as this style of doom metal goes Castle Rat do things wonderfully. The whole record is also chock full of tons of psychedelic, strung-out lead guitar work that adds a lot of flashy colour to many of the tracks here, no doubt taking influence from some of the long form jam band-adjacent material that was common in Sabbath’s day, even if most of these songs aren’t that long. The bass playing is also quite tasteful and is noticeably audible and pushed up in the mix to give each song the extra oomph that this style of retro metal requires. Perhaps the fact that this record was recorded in an abandoned church in Philadelphia also adds to the production value.
I also really appreciate the drumming from The Druid (Josh Strmic) on this album. Especially on a track like “Cry for Me” it’s very tasteful. He keeps things restrained for the most part, holding down the beat not unlike Bill Ward, but every now and then gets flashy with it just enough to keep the audience guessing. I love the softer moments on this record purely just for how The Druid accentuates the whole passage with soft tom hits before the harder parts cut in.
Ultimately while this record treads a bit too far through safe territory in terms of doom metal I think its a solid offering for a first full length effort. This is the kind of doom metal that no doubt has a huge audience on account of just how popular and well known and important Black Sabbath are in the context of heavy music. There are some great riffs on here as well as a great vocal performance and solid songwriting going on. That said I would be curious to see what Castle Rat do in the future, and I hope that whatever they do next is a bit more lose and creatively interesting than Into the Realm. That said, I hope I get to see a live performance from them in the very near future.
Final Verdict: 7/10
Good
Favourite Tracks:
“Dagger Dragger”
“Red Sands”
“Cry for Me”
“Fresh Fur”
~ Akhenaten
Where Strides The Behemoth? 