From PandoraoceanbluCastle Rat's costumed Halloween show in Brooklyn in 2019 began the show - they simply never took the costumes off. For this second record they brought in Randall Dunn, who has recorded Sunn O))) and Wolves in the Throne Room, and built the whole thing as a bestiary: a Wizard gathers the souls of dying mythical creatures, and each song is a cautionary tale about one of them. It opens and closes on the Phoenix, which tells you how they mean it to be heard. They opened Beyond the Gates in Bergen this July, and I picked this one on the tail of an Unto Others and Castle Rat show in Seattle yesterday, swords and all.
- Does the fantasy costume-and-character concept enhance the music on The Bestiary or does it risk overshadowing the songs underneath?
- Which track would you play to convince a metal skeptic that Castle Rat is worth their time?
- How well does the two-part Phoenix framing pay off by the time the closer arrives?
- Do the interludes PATH OF MOSS and SUMMONING SPELL add necessary breathing room or break the album's momentum?
- Where do you land on SUN SONG as the penultimate track, essential mood shift or tonal detour from the doom?
Generated by AI to get the conversation going.