Van Records
2012
1. Ever Hunter
2. Corpse Candles
3. Storm Below The Mountain
4. Blacklands
5. Curse Of The Priests
6. Venus Pentagram
7. Alcatraz
8. Dying Breed
Blacklands marks the second album from California based doom/heavy metalers Castle and it is an album I've been looking forward to. Just last year I first heard this band and they are a fairly young one as that was their debut release. What the debut brought was a nice retro, stripped down, and dirty sound that mixed traditional heavy metal and doom into an occult themed rocker. Always nice to have some new blood in the scene and their debut, In Witch Order, left me wanting more. You don't hear a lot of no frills, dark metal like this these days.
Listening to Blacklands I can't help but think this sounds kind of like the soundtrack to some 70s/80s occult/satanist themed horror movie. Vocalist Elizabeth Blackwell is fully capable of rocking out, but also has a haunting sort of vibe to her at times and the music just conjures a great dark vibe. Think a little bit of Hellion, mixed with a little King Diamond for flavor (minus the falsettos), and a little Cathedral meets Black Sabbath. This is a bit too upbeat and traditional to call strictly doom, but the influence is obvious and the music just goes for raw, dark, and heavy. Overall, I'm very satisfied with this release, but if I had to nitpick there would be a couple things. At times things can get a little familiar as the tracks don't have a Huge amount of variation, but I do think there is enough. I can just feel the need for this band to expand and maybe even polish their sound a bit more in the future. Nitpick number two belongs to guitarist/vocalist Mat Davis, who might be better off sticking to the guitarist tag. His gruff vocals aren't bad, but honestly they don't seem necessary as Elizabeth just has a much better sound. They're not bad and open pop up occasionally, but they don't really add much to the band's sound. These are just as I said though, nitpicks. Castle does a lot more things right than wrong and their sound is pretty killer.
Basically, this band continues to follow the sound they started on the debut, In Witch Order, and it still sounds good. If you heard their last and liked it then this is certainly worthy. If you have not and like traditional with flavors of doom and darkness then you should check this out. This fills a nice spot in my collection that needed new blood. I really think this band is onto something great and I look forward to hearing more material in the future.
Highlights: Corpse Candles, Blacklands, Ever Hunter
Rating - 3.5/5
2. Corpse Candles
3. Storm Below The Mountain
4. Blacklands
5. Curse Of The Priests
6. Venus Pentagram
7. Alcatraz
8. Dying Breed
Blacklands marks the second album from California based doom/heavy metalers Castle and it is an album I've been looking forward to. Just last year I first heard this band and they are a fairly young one as that was their debut release. What the debut brought was a nice retro, stripped down, and dirty sound that mixed traditional heavy metal and doom into an occult themed rocker. Always nice to have some new blood in the scene and their debut, In Witch Order, left me wanting more. You don't hear a lot of no frills, dark metal like this these days.
Listening to Blacklands I can't help but think this sounds kind of like the soundtrack to some 70s/80s occult/satanist themed horror movie. Vocalist Elizabeth Blackwell is fully capable of rocking out, but also has a haunting sort of vibe to her at times and the music just conjures a great dark vibe. Think a little bit of Hellion, mixed with a little King Diamond for flavor (minus the falsettos), and a little Cathedral meets Black Sabbath. This is a bit too upbeat and traditional to call strictly doom, but the influence is obvious and the music just goes for raw, dark, and heavy. Overall, I'm very satisfied with this release, but if I had to nitpick there would be a couple things. At times things can get a little familiar as the tracks don't have a Huge amount of variation, but I do think there is enough. I can just feel the need for this band to expand and maybe even polish their sound a bit more in the future. Nitpick number two belongs to guitarist/vocalist Mat Davis, who might be better off sticking to the guitarist tag. His gruff vocals aren't bad, but honestly they don't seem necessary as Elizabeth just has a much better sound. They're not bad and open pop up occasionally, but they don't really add much to the band's sound. These are just as I said though, nitpicks. Castle does a lot more things right than wrong and their sound is pretty killer.
Basically, this band continues to follow the sound they started on the debut, In Witch Order, and it still sounds good. If you heard their last and liked it then this is certainly worthy. If you have not and like traditional with flavors of doom and darkness then you should check this out. This fills a nice spot in my collection that needed new blood. I really think this band is onto something great and I look forward to hearing more material in the future.
Highlights: Corpse Candles, Blacklands, Ever Hunter
Rating - 3.5/5
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