By Nicholas Kobe, Staff Writer

[King Volume; 2025]

Rating: 7/10

Key Tracks: “WOLF I,” “SIREN,” “SUN SONG”

Arguably one of the biggest rising names in doom metal, Castle Rat is bringing back the Sabbath-inspired grooves of the past, while taking pages from the theatrics of today to create a metal band perfectly poised to take off in the modern age. Their new record The Bestiary is a perfect sign of that, as old meets new on a record that isn’t reinventing the wheel, but is nonetheless very strong. 

The riffs on singles “WOLF I” and “SIREN” are some of the album’s strongest. The former lays down a simple, catchy groove that nicely builds the first big moment of the album. “SIREN,” on the other hand, has a slower, nastier riff that feels ominous and enticing, perfect for the subject matter of the song. Even with these earwormy riffs, Castle Rat is smart to never let simplicity overstay its welcome. “WOLF I” slows down to sit in a heavier, more sweeping section two-thirds of the way through, while the record’s longest tracks like “UNICORN” and “SUN SONG” keep you off guard with time signature changes and an ever-growing wall of sound, respectively. 

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The drumming is the record’s instrumental standout, holding down the longer, more complex tracks and throwing in some incredible fills throughout. The guitar and bass tones are perfect for a record like this, soaked in fuzz and distortion while still remaining very clear. Castle Rat’s honed songwriting chops deliver an incredibly easy-to-listen-to album. While “digestible” isn’t what everyone is going to want from their metal, repeated listens felt rewarding as I noticed additional moving counter melodies, vocal harmonies and a slew of cool riffs and fills. 

The most accessible part of Castle Rat is the vocals, which remind me a lot of Ann Wilson of Heart for the way she’s able to lean into these full, beautiful melodies as easily as grittier moments, with or without a much heavier instrumental behind her. Even with the clarity of the vocals making Castle Rat more accessible than many other doom bands, there’s no denying the crushing nature some of these songs possess. 

Castle Rat, since their inception, has taken cues from bands like Ghost and has created lore around the “Rat Queen” (lead singer Riley Pinkerton) and her assembled crew of medieval misfits as they defend the realm from The Rat Reapress. While it seems to be a big focus of the live show, not much of this is referenced in the lyrics of The Bestiary. As the name suggests, The Bestiary mostly tells tales of medieval fantasy creatures, but things get a little weirder as the album progresses. 

I like how “WOLF II” expands the story of “WOLF I” to be a pretty clear allusion to the Norse myth of Fenrir. Ironically, for a fantasy album, “DRAGON” is a sympathetic track to what Castle Rat implies is a misunderstood creature. “SUMMONING SONG” is as it says on the tin, but it’s unclear if said creature being conjured is what wreaked the destruction spoken of in “SUN SONG” or if that was a product of Castle Rat’s travels and encounters explored in the album so far. 

The description of the album on Bandcamp describes it as the last collection of mythical beasts gathered by a wizard, who is telling cautionary tales about the creatures. Reading any further than that, I’m a little surprised by the lack of a clear overall narrative, as trying to connect each of the records’ vignettes feels like a stretch. However, as individual songs, each is well written and evocative. These basic fantasy creatures are described in ways that don’t feel stereotypical, but like there was an attempt to approach them from a somewhat different, more symbolic angle. As a fantasy nerd, I appreciate that, even if a larger point isn’t clear to me yet. 

Fantasy lyrics in metal are as old as the genre itself, but just as Castle Rat is able to take an off-angle both musically and lyrically to keep them from being like, say, Greta Van Fleet, Castle Rat can straddle the line of influence without becoming a one-to-one copy. They’re clearly operating off the blueprint of Black Sabbath, Pentagram, and other doomy but still accessible metal bands. Castle Rat succeeds on this well-trodden path by not only exaggerating certain aspects of their influences but also just writing bangers. Although fans looking for something more progressive or eclectic should look elsewhere, The Bestiary has substance while being an easily digestible, exciting romp through some of the fantastical elements that make metal so fun.