Location: Brooklyn, New York
Country: USA
Genre: Doom metal, traditional heavy metal
Full length: The Bestiary
Format: CD digipak, cassette in ice blue, digital album, all format bundle
Label: King Volume Records
Release date: September 19, 2025
Drawing inspiration from the lasting influence established by Black Sabbath, Trouble, and The Obsessed, the New York doom metal band Castle Rat gives the genre a massive push forward with a conceptual twist usually associated with traditional heavy metal. The band crafts a world of occult fantasy lore reminiscent of the Robert E. Howard/Roy Thomas sword and sorcery themes that captivated power metal fans in the eighties.
Their 2024 debut album, titled "Into the Realm," has been described as a cautious journey into this mythology. It demonstrated promise through its direct heaviness and the world it portrayed, referred to as The Realm. From the enchanting beings dwelling in The Realm to the personas the band created to represent it onstage, "Into the Realm" distinguished itself with the haunting, alluring vocals of Riley Pinkerton, aka The Rat Queen.
Relatively rare in doom metal, Pinkerton’s approach was more likened to Stevie Nicks and Ann Wilson in the seventies. She showcased an uncanny ability to sing like an angel and scream like a banshee while the band (Franco Vittore, The Count, Charley Ruddell: The Plague Doctor, and Josh Strmic, The Druid) evoked classic rock artists like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Jethro Tull, and could sound quite ominous when they chose to.
The band truly began to find their identity recording "The Bestiary" with Randall Dunn and entrusting mixing responsibilities to Jonathan Nuñez. This collaboration offers a more theatrical exploration of The Realm, crafting a narrative with a wider variety of supernatural entities. With improved production, confident songwriting, and a sound that boasts greater depth and atmosphere, "The Bestiary" shows Castle Rat advancing towards a full realization of their vision.
The similarities to classic rock on "Into the Realm" are more deeply integrated into their songwriting. There’s also a stronger inspiration from traditional heavy metal, particularly Rainbow and Dio. "Wizard: Crystal Heart", "Siren: The Pull of Promise", "Crystal Cave: Enshrined", "Serpent: Coiled Figure" and "Dragon: Lord of the Sky", embody the beings they're penned about, animating the storyline like a skillfully written novel or a thoughtfully produced film, prioritizing depth and substance.
Pinkerton's vocal performance has significantly improved with the music. As you listen to her voice, you can imagine her engagement with the other characters on record and on stage as she demonstrates increased confidence, a more haunting, ethereal quality, heightened seduction and greater harmony with the songwriting (observe the gradual buildup to "Wolf I: Tooth & Blade" in "Phoenix I: Ardent" and the exquisitely performed chants of "Summoning Spell" and "Sun Song").
Castle Rat is investing more time and effort into developing their ideas on "The Bestiary", evolving their concept into a substantial work that aims to make a significant impact on the doom metal genre as a whole. –Dave Wolff
Their 2024 debut album, titled "Into the Realm," has been described as a cautious journey into this mythology. It demonstrated promise through its direct heaviness and the world it portrayed, referred to as The Realm. From the enchanting beings dwelling in The Realm to the personas the band created to represent it onstage, "Into the Realm" distinguished itself with the haunting, alluring vocals of Riley Pinkerton, aka The Rat Queen.
Relatively rare in doom metal, Pinkerton’s approach was more likened to Stevie Nicks and Ann Wilson in the seventies. She showcased an uncanny ability to sing like an angel and scream like a banshee while the band (Franco Vittore, The Count, Charley Ruddell: The Plague Doctor, and Josh Strmic, The Druid) evoked classic rock artists like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Jethro Tull, and could sound quite ominous when they chose to.
The band truly began to find their identity recording "The Bestiary" with Randall Dunn and entrusting mixing responsibilities to Jonathan Nuñez. This collaboration offers a more theatrical exploration of The Realm, crafting a narrative with a wider variety of supernatural entities. With improved production, confident songwriting, and a sound that boasts greater depth and atmosphere, "The Bestiary" shows Castle Rat advancing towards a full realization of their vision.
The similarities to classic rock on "Into the Realm" are more deeply integrated into their songwriting. There’s also a stronger inspiration from traditional heavy metal, particularly Rainbow and Dio. "Wizard: Crystal Heart", "Siren: The Pull of Promise", "Crystal Cave: Enshrined", "Serpent: Coiled Figure" and "Dragon: Lord of the Sky", embody the beings they're penned about, animating the storyline like a skillfully written novel or a thoughtfully produced film, prioritizing depth and substance.
Pinkerton's vocal performance has significantly improved with the music. As you listen to her voice, you can imagine her engagement with the other characters on record and on stage as she demonstrates increased confidence, a more haunting, ethereal quality, heightened seduction and greater harmony with the songwriting (observe the gradual buildup to "Wolf I: Tooth & Blade" in "Phoenix I: Ardent" and the exquisitely performed chants of "Summoning Spell" and "Sun Song").
Castle Rat is investing more time and effort into developing their ideas on "The Bestiary", evolving their concept into a substantial work that aims to make a significant impact on the doom metal genre as a whole. –Dave Wolff
Lineup:
Riley Pinkerton (The Rat Queen): Lead vocals, guitar
Franco Vittore (The Count): Lead guitar
Charley Ruddell (The Plague Doctor): Bass
Josh Strmi (The Druid): Drums
Track list:
1. Phoenix I: Ardent
2. Wolf I: Tooth & Blade
3. Wizard: Crystal Heart
4. Siren: The Pull of Promise
5. Unicorn: Carnage and Ice
6. Path of Moss
7. Crystal Cave: Enshrined
8. Serpent: Coiled Figure
9. Wolf II: Celestial Beast
10. Dragon: Lord of the Sky
11. Summoning Spell
12. Sun Song: Behold the Flame
13. Phoenix II: Cinerous
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