A Rat Queen, a Count, a Druid and a Plague Doctor walk into a chapel. There’s no joke here, because the audience is screaming their catchphrase: “In this realm, now and forever.”
On Oct. 3, Castle Rat shattered a Molotov of doom metal, retro ambiance and fantasy storytelling on North Carolina, setting fire to Chapel of Bones.
Introduction
Riley Pinkerton, aka the Rat Queen, and her troupe first debuted with the song Cry for Me on a small Brooklyn venue in 2019. Since then, they’ve captured the hearts of thousands of metalheads still itching for the classic sounds of Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath.
Castle Rat is a female-fronted band in more ways than one. In addition to starring as lead singer, Pinkerton is also Castle Rat’s rhythm guitarist, lyricist, music video director, music video editor and costume designer. Beside her are lead guitarist Franco Vittore as The Count, bass guitarist Charley Ruddell as The Plague Doctor and drummer Joshua Strmic as The Druid. With a total of twenty-two singles and instrumentals from their two albums Into the Realm and The Bestiary, there’s a lot to dissect and a lot to love.
The Concert
Tickets were sold out a whole two weeks before Oct. 3, so you know that Chapel of Bones was packed to the brim. I barely squeezed my way through the crowd, just managing to get a direct view of the stage–and what a view Castle Rat is from the front row.
The first thing you’ll notice when the Rat Queen strides into view is how unapologetically campy she seems in her scale mail bikini, downy 80s blowout and powdery makeup. The second thing you’ll notice is how utterly ethereal she is. In the stage’s neon-blue lights, the Rat Queen shimmers like a newly born angel. Wielding her battleaxe of a guitar, her voice opens ears with a valkyrian charisma.
In their live show, Castle Rat leads their audience through a slowly brewing narrative about a warrior and her party venturing to find the Book of Beasts, a relic containing the power to control a menagerie of powerful monsters. With some dramatic monologues, flashy lighting, faithful roleplaying and excellent audience engagement, Castle Rat sweeps the crowd into their story and invites them to let loose and have fun.
At that moment, I was a wonder-struck child watching cartoons on Saturday morning again; He-Man and She-Ra were coming to life right before my eyes. The grizzled middle-aged gentleman hollering Castle’s Rat’s chant at the top of his lungs next to me must’ve felt the same.
So the stage presence of Castle Rat is impeccable–but what about the music? A common misconception about metal as a genre is that only death metal exists. For concert goers who have shied away from the genre because of that reason, Castle Rat is an excellent way to dip your toes into the intense, yet melodic tones of doom metal.
The Rat Queen’s silvery voice is beautifully contrasted by the trio of the Druid’s rhythmic drumming, the Count’s frenetic riffs and the Plague Doctor’s growling strums.
Conclusion
The night of Oct. 3 was a magical experience, not only because of the excellent stage direction, but also because of the sheer heart in the audience.
Chapel of bones has long been the stomping ground for college students hungry for the unusual and exciting; I admit, I’m one of them myself. Castle Rat however, has clearly struck a chord with an older audience too. Gazing over a crowd and seeing a medley of different ages, knowing that for just three hours, all of us will be experiencing variants of the same feeling is surreal. That’s something special.
My favorite track from The Bestiary is “The Wizard.” It won’t reach the highs of being pressed up against people from all sides and having a Rat Queen vomit blood all over you as a choir of guitars blast your eardrums, but… it gets close.
– Killian Le
