Following their well-received first album ‘In Witch Order’, Castle have slowly but surely been winning people over whilst collecting awards and accolades along the way from Metal Hammer and Roadburn. There’s certainly something about the San Franciscan power trio that manages to capture the attention; an admission that puzzled me after the first listen of new album ‘Blacklands’, for whilst I couldn’t find a great deal wrong with it, it didn’t exactly grab me either, yet I had a strong sense that there was more to Castle than a rough around the edges rock band. I’m rather glad I persisted.

Castle describe their sound as witch thrash, saying that there is a definite thrash element to their music. Now I can’t comment on their live sound, but I wouldn’t say there is much thrashy about ‘Blacklands’ at all. What you have is classic metal with doom overtones and a Hammer horror feel about things which is never bad. Opener ‘Ever Hunter’ chugs away with a dirty great riff whilst singer Elizabeth Blackwell sings with an altogether intoxicating mixture of crooning and hard rock delivered with a breathy suggestiveness that is very hard to ignore. So often now bands strive for perfection in their sound through over production, but there is none of that with Castle. There is a very raw sound about them with no bells or whistles on the production, and the whole album sounds as if it could have been recorded in one take. Guitar riffs, whilst never sloppy, sound less than perfect, the odd drum beat very slightly off, a note here and there a touch flat. It gives the whole thing a very organic, very natural feel to it which is pleasing.

Elizabeth Blackwell’s voice is the thing that keeps you coming back for more with Castle, a fact that is particularly evident on ‘Corpse Candles’, where her voice croons away in the verses, punctuated by a grating guitar riff that needed a bit of tidying up. The overall package works though, and this again holds true on ‘Blacklands’ and ‘Dying Breed’. Although the guitar can be a bit untidy, some of the riffs are glorious, such as on ‘Curses of the Priests’ and ‘Alcatraz’. One issue I did take with ‘Blacklands’ is that whilst the main focus is on Elizabeth’s vocals, there are some tracks where her husband, guitarist Mat Davis provides the main vocal. There’s nothing wrong with his style at all, but because the nature of the track changes with the singing style it makes this sound like a split with two different bands contributing. ‘Curses of the Priests’ and ‘Shadow’ both have an early Celtic Frost influence about them, specifically in that raw, edgy sound and in the heavy downtuned riffing.

‘Blacklands’ is by no means an instant hit and I was quite dismissive of it on my first listen, but subsequent spins have found me not only appreciating it more but also to a point of specifically electing to listen out of choice rather than review purposes. There is something strangely addictive and intriguing about this band and I’m finding myself hooked. Perhaps there is an element of witchcraft about this witch thrash? It’s not perfect by any stretch, but in this instance it is the imperfections that make this one all the better. A rough diamond.

(7.5/10, Lee Kimber)

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