When it comes to craving metal with commanding vocal interplay, Trad Heavy Metal, Doom, and even a touch of Motörhead worthy Rock N Roll influences, Castle will really scratch your frickin’ itch. Even if you are a hairy-ass werewolf under a mind-melting moon, this band has enough brooding yet triumphant riffs, psychedelia, and sheer talent to sate your ravenous hunger like no other.
The West Coast force prove their evil ways remain on new album Evil Remains, due out September 6th via Hammerheart Records, their first studio record since the epic Deal Thy Fate six years ago.
They have been my favorite modern metal band for many years now, and that sure aint changing because of this new slab of radness! Eight songs of truly all killer/no filler await the discerning ghost hunters amongst you.
It was awesome to catch up about the inner workings of the band and their unique songwriting with Liz Blackwell (bass, vocals) and Mat Davis (guitar, vocals). They remain as dedicated as ever to their dark craft, creating resonant and valuable music with depth, frights and thrills at the forefront!
Morgan Y. Evans for Ghost Cult. Long time no chat! Worth the wait for new music! Some bands I know I can rely on. Sure enough, the new music fits so seamlessly with older stuff but also sounds even tighter! “100 Eyes” was a killer single. I Love stuff that is kinda doomy but tight and syncopated. Like “These Shrouded Temples” from COC’s Blind comes to mind…that sick intro track. Castle similarly has it all. “Queen of Death” the dissonance is played up. “Nosferatu Nights” even has a few parts that remind me of Slayer and Blue Oyster Cult. And “Black Spell” is so driving and grim! How did you decide on which material made the cut? It has been more than half a decade.
Mat: Thanks, it’s great to hear from you!!
Liz: We took our time with this album, it was less cutting out than creating and building a strong record. There was no time line and became more of an organic creation. If it sounded good and felt good to play, we worked the songs out in their entirety.
M: Cool you should mention COC. They were definitely an influence on several tracks like “She” and “Cold Grave,” especially with vocals and melodies.
GCM: Did I read correctly you are part-time in Vancouver now? You tour so hard it is hard to imagine you in one place only, actually. I just saw a killer doomy band Space Queen from Vancouver play The Redwood in Downtown LA. Do you know that band? You gotta connect sometime.
L: No, I haven’t heard of that band but love connecting to like minded musicians and building strong show bills. I will definitely look into them.
GCM: What did recent years since the previous record teach you about how you wanted to “run” the band? Obviously a lot of crazy shit went down for the music world in general in 2020 and it took a long time to get things moving again.
L: After putting in years of work and road miles, we were able to take a step back and focus on creating with no desired outcome. Taking the pressure off of touring for survival and delivering records reintroduced the fun and freedom in creation. Since Mat and I are aligned with the same goals for our band, how we handle the day to day is pretty solid and only aims to make high quality, fun, powerful music.
GCM: Evil Remains is such a classic sounding title. The cover art reminds me of like a Mario Bava sixties’s horror poster! Black Sunday! It also is a cool name for your first album in awhile. Like, the work is not done! Or a “we cannot be killed” vibe?
L: Glad you picked that up. We always enjoyed fun with wordplay, double meanings etc. It seemed a perfect fit after being away from the music scene for so many years.
M: Yeah, and everything came from the music on this record. Not just the overall sound but also the look and feel of the record.
GCM: How did the Hammerheart records team-up happen? Did you end up working with Jesse Gander, because of the label, or you knew some of the records he worked on like Anciients and stuff?
L: We have been a fan of their label and their output and knew they would do our album justice, put in the work to match our effort, it was a no brainer. They exhibited the perfect amount of excitement to handle our newest offering.
M: Finding Jesse to produce was its own luck. We had mutual friends that brought me round the studio (Rain City Recorders) when they heard Castle were looking to record an album and the vibe was just right. We were already familiar with his work through a bunch of bands he recorded and knew his production would crush. Turned out to be a great fit for sure.
GCM: How excited are you for the European Tour coming up? When was the last time you were there and what are some of your favorite countries to visit or venues to play?
L: We toured Europe exactly 6 years ago to promote our last release, Deal Thy Fate. I have always enjoyed anchoring a strong tour in Germany. They live for Heavy Metal and Thrash and support touring artists.
GCM: “Cold Grave” has solid walk-down, descending staircase kinda riffy parts and the outro ending is a great crescendo to wrap things up. I hate when albums just feel like they abruptly stop. Feels like you think about all these aspects as parts of a whole story, almost?
L: We really take great care in creating music and how it’s presented. I always want to provide an experience, and a vehicle to be swept away in.
M: I like that description of the riffs, pretty fitting. Yeah I agree, we put a lot into the overall flow of the album… and there was no place that “Cold Grave” could have gone except the last track, total closer.
Buy the album here:
https://castlesf.bandcamp.com/album/evil-remains
MORGAN Y. EVANS
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