Castle Rat “The Bestiary”
A band that is bringing the energy and vibes of classic heavy metal, combined with the look and imagery of Dungeons and Dragons, or the side of a van in the 1970’s, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat capture the vibe perfectly. Delivering vibes and imagery akin to the classic Heavy Metal magazines, mixed with tasty, doom heavy riffs. Making their debut with 2024’s Into The Realm, the band’s impressive stage show, unique look and relentless touring helped the band develop a cult following and gain the attention of many new fans and critics. One year later, the band returns with their sophomore release The Beastiary. A concept album, according to the band’s vocalist The Rat Queen, about a conceptual book of beasts containing a collection of mystical creatures from a world forgotten. So, let’s open this mystical and mythical book and see the beasts that we will come across on our fantasy journey.
”Phoenix I” starts the album with a rising static, and doom-heavy guitars come roaring in by The Rat Queen & The Count. With so much fuzz on the bass by The Plague Doctor, it creates this ominous, dirge-like pace as the drumming of The Druid creates a funeral-like procession tone and presence with the production. A nice, foreboding and evil-sounding opener. A stoner, bouncy guitar riff and haunting vocals start off “Wolf I”. Love the thundering drum strikes and fuzzy, palm-muted riff rising with the drum strikes. Creating that bombastic, aggressive, doom metal chorus of classic metal like Pentagram and Saint Vitus, along with more modern acts like Lucifer and The Sword. The Rat Queen’s vocals add a beautiful contrast to the war-like, driving drums of The Druid. The intensity increases near the closing of the song, with a building and rising lead guitar solo that just crescendos to a beautiful conclusion.
“Wizard” really hits with the doomy guitars soaked in reverb and chorus right from the start. Very bluesy riff, with the vocals soaring above the mix, and delivering an angelic vocal performance over that nasty sounding main riff that makes me want to learn it on guitar. Drumming is very prevalent and is the real pulse of the song, as the guitars hang in the ether. I love the huge, anthemic feel at the halfway mark before heading back into the sludgy guitar groove. Instantly picturing the band conducting an epic battle on stage while performing this song. Definitely a banger of a track and captures that 70’s/80’s doom sound with modern production. Commanding drums open “Siren” and are front and center in the mix. I LOVED the bass tone bringing that gurgle to the drums and adding that beastly tone, just before the rest of the band kicks in and vocal harmonies shine on the chorus. I was banging my head along during the musical breaks, and stank facing as soon as the riff slowed-down to an Iommi-level guitar pace.
“Unicorn” slows the pacing down to a brooding and dark delivery. Being the longest track on the album, the band really takes their time with building atmosphere and tension. Before rising from the depths to continue the barrage of classic doom metal that just gets me every time. Creating that occult-like performance with simplicity, before bringing the hammer down to add that powerful hammer strike of slowed down riffs. Following the short instrumental “Path of Moss”, “Crystal Cave” brings acoustic guitars into the mix. Forming a tone of sadness, somberness and longing in the playing and vocals. The addition of strings just adds some extra heft to the band’s sound when they kick in with the electric guitars. Truly amplifying the band’s sound to a truly epic scale. A New Wave of British Heavy Metal style riff opens ”Serpent”. Creating that instant, headbang along with the riff feeling as the drums add such power to the riff.
“Wolf II” has some beautiful production on the acoustic opening. Creating a true medieval vibe to the track. Strings come in as well to accompany the strings and the choir-like vocals of The Rat Queen. A track that really showcases her impressive vocal range. I loved that opening riff on “Dragon”, giving that Electric Wizard-esque dark tone on guitar, contrasted by the vocals. Creating a complex combination of gritty guitars and angelic vocals. The same vibe of “Wolf II” continues on “Summoning Spell”. Bringing violin and simplicity in just vocals and strings. Forming a cinematic image of casting a spell and an aura soaked in mysticism caused from the vocal ambience and sheer grandeur of the production. The opening riff to “Sun Song” just hits with a powerful thud, As the sludgy, chugging riff, soaked in fuzz, just keeps that downtrodden dirge going throughout the song. Making a beautiful contrast as the vocals try to compete with a soaring lead guitar solo after the halfway mark. Album closer “Phoenix II” closes the book with a reflective combination of acoustic guitar that are mixed ascending and descending strings.
On their second album, Castle Rat truly improved their sound to a larger, grander scale. I love the album’s pacing on The Beastiary. For every chugging riff attack like “Dragon” or “Unicorn”, you get the more self-reflective and ambient-driven tracks like “Wolf II” or “Summoning Spell”. The band definitely nailed everything I was expecting on their follow-up, while also improving and scaling up their sound and production quality. I can picture a lot of these songs killing it live and delivering that stank-face, slow burn headbang that I just loved so much on this album. I plan to re-open the book that is The Beastiary again and continue to enjoy the spell that Castle Rat casts on my love of their take of doom metal.
SCORE: 5 / 5
