Castle – Blacklands
Castle – Blacklands CD (Ván Records)
The new breed of Bay Area thrash? Possibly. Sort of. The first time I listened to ‘Blacklands’ in its entirety, I went in blindly. I was unfamiliar with the band and didn’t know much about them in advance. My initial impressions centered largely around doom metal, but there are definitely other influences afoot. I was flummoxed. I was captivated with the band’s sound and felt compelled to listen to ‘Blacklands’ over and over again but I couldn’t quite put my finger on that ‘where are they coming from?’ button. Since that time, I’ve read up on the band and learned a few things. Castle – vocalist/bassist Elizabeth Blackwell, guitarist/vocalist Mat Davis, and drummer Al McCartney – hail from the Bay Area. They refer to their music as ‘witch thrash’ because of their shared affinity for Black Sabbath – and in particular for Tony Iommi’s guitar playing and songwriting – and further cite many of the legends of thrash as influences too. So how does the band translate these influences into their music? Pretty much by mixing vintage doom with classic metal of all stripes, and to great effect. ‘Storm Below The Mountain’, which features Davis on lead vocals, has a black metal feel, while ‘Corpse Candles’, with Blackwell on vocals, feels reminiscent of both Cirith Ungol and Chastain – just with the riffs slowed down to more of a Saint Vitus meets Candlemass pace most of the time. ‘Blacklands’ is Castle’s second album, and it was produced by the one-and-only Billy Anderson – so it’s got a razor-sharp bite, and no mistake. Some of the riffs on ‘Blacklands’ do sound fairly thrashy, and on some songs – like the stellar title track – things amp up to classic heavy metal tempos if not to full-on thrash-attack speed (with the exception of the drumming, which charges along at a breakneck pace more often than not). Blackwell sings lead on all but two tracks, and while I dig the evil metal feel of Davis’ vocals, I find Blackwell’s voice to be more original and engaging overall, lending the songs an element unlike anything else I’ve heard in the modern metal scene. Castle is definitely a band to keep an eye on, and ‘Blacklands’ is definitely worth a listen. The Impaler @impalerspeaks
