Castle Rat - Into The Realm (2024)

 

9/10 ★★★★★★★★★☆

This has been a highly anticipated record for me since I discovered this band last year and it lived up to the hype I created. I can hear the comments now “Why don’t you just listen to Sabbath, they sound just like them.” Yes, there’s no mistaking sabbath’s influence on them (and really all of rock, metal, and doom metal especially), but they are doing something new while also treading old ground. My favorite of those is the theatrics. At its heart metal is probably the most theatric of contemporary music, from the first shock rocker with Alice Cooper to the modern heavy-hitter Ghost folks love to hear metal coming from costumed characters. Castle Rat plays into that with their own realm that has been created with lead vocalist Riley Pinkerton’s Rat Queen. My next favorite thing is how absolutely terrific this style of doom metal sounds with a female vocalist, especially one with pipes like Rat Queen.

I thoroughly enjoyed this record, my chief complaint is that it was only 9 songs and less than 33 minutes because I could definitely listen to double that amount. I can't wait to see what else these guys create.

Highlight: "Feed The Dream" This was the first song I heard from Castle Rate and what got me hooked on their sound. I think it's a great encapsulation of what sound to expect from the album and a good way to get your feet wet to see if you want to hear the full album (you do).