Castle Rat The Bestiary Review
Castle Rat
The Bestiary
King Volume Records (US) / Blues Funeral Recordings (UK/Europe)
2025
I have to admit here, first and foremost, I am late to the party and have been ill-informed on the meteoric rise NY’s Castle Rat have been on the last couple of years. I am also late in reviewing their latest album, which we will be discussing here. First and foremost, I have to preface that if you are writing them off as all gimmicks, theatrics, and schtick, bite that tongue. Castle Rat is the real deal, as the thirteen song The Bestiary displays loud and clear.
If you count yourself as someone (as I was) unfamiliar with Castle Rat, then you need to understand that they do operate with an elaborate mythos surrounding the band. Their press explains it thusly: “Castle Rat is a Medieval Fantasy Doom Metal band hailing from NYC, led by ‘The Rat Queen,’ Riley Pinkerton, on rhythm guitar and lead vocals. On her mission to expand and defend ‘The Realm’ from those who seek to destroy it, The Rat Queen is joined by ‘The Count’ (Franco Vittore) on lead guitar and backing vocals; The Plague Doctor’ (Charley Ruddell) on bass; and ‘The All-Seeing Druid’ (Joshua Strmic) on drums. Together they face the relentless wrath of their archnemesis: Death, Herself — ‘The Rat Reaperess.’” How can you not love that? Upon cultivating a fanatically loyal following, Castle Rat shows are interactive between fans and the band. There are choreographed battle scenes, a bit of swords and sorcery, battle-babes, beasts, and stoner doom. Again, their press puts it perfectly in describing it as “Frazetta and Sabbath.” So now that we (me and you, the reader) are hip to where they're coming from, let's dive in.
The 13 songs on this newest offering are sludgy, fuzzed out, and heavy. Riley's vocals interweave in and out of the music perfectly and carry with them an almost Middle Eastern tonality in her phrasing and melodies. Her choices are very ethereal and droney, and she occupies an upper midrange which suits the proceedings beautifully. “The Count” proves an adept and fantastic lead guitarist, as his leads showcase plenty of shred capabilities, yet are nothing but tasteful, melodic, and in service of the song. The rhythm section of “Plague Doctor” and “The All-Seeing Druid” anchor things with in-the-pocket grooves, appropriate moments of flash, and lockstep tightness. The production (handled here by Randall Dunn — Sunn O))), Wolves in the Throne Room, Björk) is worthy of note too, as most bands of this ilk tend to set the fuzz pedals to 11, and everything is lost in a cavernous, muddy, woofing mess. Thankfully, Castle Rat marries those genre trappings with some polished high-end frequencies and keep a perfect balance between vintage and modern. Make no mistake, this is stoner doom, but it's much cleaner sounding and less mucky than many of their contemporaries.
As far as the songs? They are all equally rocking, mournful, beautiful, and captivating in the same breath. The Bestiary is a tad on the longer side of the listening spectrum these days, but again, it's stoner doom, so we aren't exactly expecting three-minute radio-ready songs, are we? No. the nearly 47-minute playtime here is nowhere near as long as some of their counterparts for 13 tracks. “Trance-like” is a phrase I would absolutely use for the entire album. You don't skip anything — you sit, transfixed and fully engaged. Personal highlights for this here scribe are the galloping riffery and thunderous drums of “Wolf I” and the depressive, mournful, double-bass-fueled aura of “Wizard.” “Serpent” grooves and plods with harmonized guitars, minor key–inclined vocals, a chorded arpeggiated chorus, and that familiar Sabbath chug. This is by far my favorite cut. The lead guitar work is nothing short of incendiary and brilliant. “Dragon” has that patented doom swagger/boogie that just makes it infectious. Throughout the album, we are also treated to some acoustic-led shorter tracks such as “Crystal Cave” and “Wolf II” that sound nearly baroque in nature, proving that Castle Rat can also completely get medieval on us — authentically.
When I went into this record, I had no idea what to expect. For full transparency, I figured they were amongst the latest crop of underground bands that had all kinds of hype, hipster cred, and art-geek love but ran short on substance and quality material. How wrong I was. As I said at the beginning of this writing, they absolutely are the real deal, and with The Bestiary, I am now a fully-fledged Castle Rat fan. They are a unique and freshly exciting entry into the genre they claim, and here is hoping that they continue to wage war on “The Rat Reaperess” for aeons to come. Simply otherworldly and outstanding…
RIYL: Black Sabbath, The White Swan, Frayle, Green Lung, Trouble
~TB