Band:	Castle Rat
Album:	Into The Realm
Style:	Doom metal
Release date:	April 2024

01. Dagger Dragger
02. Feed The Dream
03. Resurrector
04. Red Sands
05. The Mirror
06. Cry For Me
07. Realm
08. Fresh Fur
09. Nightblood

This Castle Rat is here to take you Into The Realm of the most obscure traditional doom.

Castle Rat are a rather unique occult themed 4-piece doom act who formed in the US back in 2019. Behind their peculiar dress sense is a group of talented musicians going by the eccentric titles of The Rat Queen (vocals/guitars), The Count (guitars), The Plague Doctor (bass), and The Druid (drums). But believe me when I tell you, these musicians are by no means a parody act; they're very much the real deal, presenting some of the finest examples of doom around today.

Recorded in an abandoned Philadelphian church that was temporarily converted into a studio, the band's 9-tracked full-length debut takes you Into The Realm of traditional doom throughout its half-hour duration, albeit with a freshly modernized twist. Starting with opening track "Dagger Dragger" the band's heavy guitar distortion, catchy and memorable riffing, powerful, groovy basslines and stylistic drumbeats all hark back to the 70s hard rock/early doom era. Add in an excellently performed Iommi-esque solo, and what you have here is something along the lines of Manilla Road meets early Black Sabbath: a fun and catchy delight for traditional doom fans.

The following song "Feed the Dream" is approached in a slightly different manner, yet it's equally memorable. In contrast to the harder and more upbeat approach of the opening track, it begins with an exceedingly heavy, down-tuned sound and a trudging doomy tempo. Even the solos are heavily slowed down, as are the haunting wailing female vocals. Following is "Red Sands", which is introduced by a jazzy bass solo on the short interlude, "Resurrector". "Red Sands" is not only the longest track by some distance, it's one of the most impressive and structurally varied; behind the slow doom instrumentation and eerily doomy, echoing vocals are mysterious extraterrestrial synth sounds. The tempo does eventually pick up, unleashing some exceedingly groovy bass and exceptional guitar work, the leads in particular. The way in which the song presents itself reminds me very much of Black Sabbath's classic debut title track, except with a creepy cosmic vibe to it.

From here, things only get more interesting. After an ultra-trippy psychedelic interlude, "The Mirror", comes the slow doomy ballad "Cry For Me", featuring a stunning vocal performance and very impressive acoustic guitar work. Then the short creepy ghoulish intro "Realm" leads to the 60s psychedelia-inspired "Fresh Fur", containing more crazy psychedelic synth effects, extra-distorted vocals, and finishing with a brilliantly performed solo.

Castle Rat are off to an impressive start, kicking things off with a debut that could well go on to become one of this year's most memorable releases in doom. The band certainly has the potential of becoming one of the finest occult-themed doom acts on the scene right now, bringing elements of early traditional doom and heavy metal, together with psychedelic and hard rock, creating a fresh and original style of their own whilst calling back to the great bands of old. On top of that, they've brought a breath of fresh air to the scene by introducing unique fantasy-themed characteristics, proving to us, they aren't just here to create good music, but to bring a bit of light-hearted fun as well.