Castle - Under Siege (CD Review)

01.Distant Attack
02.Be My Ghost
03.A Killing Pace
04.Pyramid Lake
05.Powersigns
06.Labyrinth Of Death
07.Temple Of The Lost
08.Evil Ways

Liz Blackwell (Vocals/Bass)
Al McCartney (Drums)
Mat Davis (Guitars)

San Francisco heavy metal band formed in 2009, their debut album “In Witch Order” was released in 2011 this earned them “Album of the Year” honors from Metal Hammer Norway, as well as Roadburn Festival’s “Newcomer of the Year.”

Shortly after, the band signed with Prosthetic in North America and released their critically acclaimed sophomore album “Blacklands,” they supported the release playing over 200 shows worldwide alongside acts including The Sword, Intronaut and Witch Mountain in addition to appearing at some of the scene’s largest festivals including Roadburn and the London Desertfest.

Of their latest album Liz Blackwell said, “We wrote this album in Los Angeles, San Francisco and in the mountains of Northern California. It’s a California record. We drew from the heavy sounds of those places to write electric witch hymns of death and doom.”

They are currently on a major european tour, with more dates and festival apearences expected soon.

Right from the off i was surprised, i was expecting doom laden riffs, but 'Distant Attack' reminded me more of old bands like UFO and Heart, pounding yet flowing riffs, nice melodic guitar and smooth vocal delivery.

'Be my Ghost' has a goth feel, but that punchy guitar sound keeps it metal, not unlike the Devils Blood, could be an early 70's band but without sounding dated, same can be said of the next couple of tracks as well.

Some frantic drumming on 'Powersigns' blends with a slow riff, and another solid vocal performance, create an atmospheric rocker.

Doomy feel to 'Labyrinth Of Death' like Dio era Sabbath, superb vocals and some guitarwork to kill for, Hendrix meets Iommi !
Would have liked this one to be a lot longer than the four and a half minutes we are given, this one has 'Epic' written all over it.

This darker vibe continues with 'Temple Of The Lost', but this one is very heavy some dark and evil male vocals are thrown into the mix as are some intresting timing changes.

'The final song 'Evil Ways' continues this dark and heavy mixture as well, this one is almost an instrumental were it not for the low down growl of "evil ways" popping up every now and then.

Rating 8/10

For Fans Of : Devils Blood, Purson, Blood Ceremony, The Sword, The Oath

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