A lot of female fronted doom metal bands have sprung up during the last few years and out of all I have listened to, Castle is certainly one of the better ones. Their addictive form of doomy heavy metal have been played frequently ever since I first found out about the band.

Blacklands is catchy as hell and full of great guitar solos and riffs that make it hard not to lose yourself in the groove. In addition to the catchiness, the stand out thing about this album in my opinion is the vocal performance by Elizabeth. She has got a fairly deep voice which fits perfectly for this kind of music as well as the ritualistic and occult themed lyrics. There are some male vocals on a couple of the songs which I was not a huge fan of but in the end that is just a minor gripe for an otherwise great album.

Not good at all. ONce again a band that gets hyped because they have a female voalsit (and extremely weak one at that) and play retros doo/heavy metal

Nope... I find this much more enjoyable than other retro-female-fronted releases this year like Christian Mistress, Witch Mountain, Huntress and Jess And The Ancient Ones

Female fronted doom that Marcel doesn't like.

It's probably awesome then

Soundcloud link to a track (via Ván Records)

Not bad actually. It's not mindblowing or anything but once they get going they're pretty enjoyable stuff.

Yep, not mindblowing. but enjoyable. Instead of Marcel's "not good at all". I mean... I don't even hear / read people talking about it, so I don't see any hype in it in the first place =P

Written by Ag Fox on 31.10.2012 at 17:18

Yep, not mindblowing. but enjoyable. Instead of Marcel's "not good at all". I mean... I don't even hear / read people talking about it, so I don't see any hype in it in the first place =P

Indeed, "hype" is not a word I'd use here. I've seen the band name mentioned in odd places very infrequently at best, next to zero discussion on Last.fm etc. It's not like it's another Ghost or anything. This album will be lucky to break 10 votes to be honest (it's only had 3 since the end of April). No hype whatsoever. Marcel's probably just annoyed that they share their name with a Dutch Death/Doom band who he probably loves

Somewhat amateurish performance but they have their own character, which is really what matters for me in this sort of music. Also despite what Marcel says I think the vocalist isn't played out as the centerpiece which is also nice to hear, some solid catchy songwriting.

Written by [user id=4365] on 31.10.2012 at 17:22

Indeed, "hype" is not a word I'd use here. I've seen the band name mentioned in odd places very infrequently at best, next to zero discussion on Last.fm etc. It's not like it's another Ghost or anything. This album will be lucky to break 10 votes to be honest (it's only had 3 since the end of April). No hype whatsoever. Marcel's probably just annoyed that they share their name with a Dutch Death/Doom band who he probably loves

to be fair, this album has been added on the 28th of October. I only realised it's featured here because Fundersam posted haha
Anyway, I can happily recommend this to anyone looking for some melodic heavy metal with slight doom tendencies, whether they are into this retro-female-occult themed thing.
I don't even remember what the vocalist looks like. I just use my ears

Quote:

Written by Ag Fox on 31.10.2012 at 18:15

to be fair, this album has been added on the 28th of October. I only realised it's featured here because Fundersam posted haha
Anyway, I can happily recommend this to anyone looking for some melodic heavy metal with slight doom tendencies, whether they are into this retro-female-occult themed thing.
I don't even remember what the vocalist looks like. I just use my ears

True, but there's still only one fan on the site apparently ; ) Yeah I'd second that recommendation too.

This Castle is hyped like mad over here in The Netherlands and also in Germany, but that probably has to do with them being on Van records which also has the hype The Devil's Blood (which is way way beter than this though not comparable)

Tbh I really did enjoy their debut In Witch Order http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showreview.php?id=18791&lang=en
But found this one to be less enjoyable. I would rate it 66 instead of the 76 I rated the debut

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 31.10.2012 at 18:20

This Castle is hyped like mad over here in The Netherlands and also in Germany, but that probably has to do with them being on Van records which also has the hype The Devil's Blood (which is way way beter than this though not comparable)

Tbh I really did enjoy their debut In Witch Order http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showreview.php?id=18791&lang=en
But found this one to be less enjoyable. I would rate it 66 instead of the 76 I rated the debut

haha, perhaps you live in odd parts of Netherlands?
jokes aside, I wish Castle would have the hype you're talking about in Hong Kong. Nothing metal (music) is hyped in Hong Kong D:
I agree The Devil's Blood is better, but as I said, this is enjoyable too (=

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 31.10.2012 at 18:20

This Castle is hyped like mad over here in The Netherlands and also in Germany, but that probably has to do with them being on Van records which also has the hype The Devil's Blood (which is way way beter than this though not comparable)

Tbh I really did enjoy their debut In Witch Order http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showreview.php?id=18791&lang=en
But found this one to be less enjoyable. I would rate it 66 instead of the 76 I rated the debut

I think their debut was a little better as well, though there isn't a great deal of difference for me.

Written by Ag Fox on 31.10.2012 at 07:16

Nope... I find this much more enjoyable than other retro-female-fronted releases this year like Christian Mistress, Witch Mountain, Huntress and Jess And The Ancient Ones

I listened to them last night and this morning. And I totally agree.

A band that quickly faded into oblivion if you ask me. But this is album remains good and it's their only album worth listening to.

Guess which band is playing at Dutch Doom Days this year? Perfect moment for me to grab me dinner.

Oh wait since I am DJing dinner is included for me.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 11.06.2018 at 13:36


Oh wait since I am DJing..

Wait, what?

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 11.06.2018 at 14:38

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 11.06.2018 at 13:36


Oh wait since I am DJing..

Wait, what?

Spinning tunes before the first band starts, in between bands, and after the last band finishes.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 11.06.2018 at 14:45

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 11.06.2018 at 14:38

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 11.06.2018 at 13:36


Oh wait since I am DJing..

Wait, what?

Spinning tunes before the first band starts, in between bands, and after the last band finishes.

That is hot, DJ Marcel Parcel.