Castle – Evil Remains
Hammerheart Records – 2024
Rock, Metal, Proto, Doom, Thrash
Rated: *****
We lost the big write-up we had finished about the Castle album that came out early September through Hammerheart Records. We felt we had written something worthwhile, which does not happen that often. At first we tried to recover the actual words and thoughts we had about Evil Remains. But it always fell short of the original piece. So, time passed by. Days turned into weeks and now we’re already in December. It’s not like mustard after the meal, cause we post about older albums on a regular basis and have no issue with that fact. In fact, we love it and we also mention albums from way back on occasion. This time however, we decided to go a different route. There is no way we can recall those words and convey our love for this album, the way they marry traditional metal, to proto doom, thrash and speed. The way the drums and guitars are able to conjure up the right kind of wickedness, so that the vocals can become the witchy marvel that they are…
Instead, we will focus on stating what the seminal track is for this album in our humble opinion. The second track Nosferatu Nights. The way it manages to translate that darkness, to sound like a thousand bats flying are whirling around your head, to turn that doom sound so incredibly thrashy and grimy. And then those vocals, breathing life into the occult touched melody lines and with it, give so much room to those ever circling riffs and pounding drums. The middle bridge gives way to a small push forward to come back to those vocals, setting up for the final delivery and the final shifts, offering their minor takes on progressiveness for thrashy doom metal. So much power displayed in their ability to take the song everywhere, the vocals and the amount of layers it all involves. And that is what this album is all about, the different layers, the leads tumbling over each other, the confident vocals and that vile ominous atmosphere permeating the entire album. For indeed, Evil Remains…
(Written by JK)
Bandcamp
Old bandcamp
Homepage
Facebook
Youtube
Instagram
Hammerheart Records
