Artist: CASTLE
Album: BLACKLANDS (DIGI)

Release date: 2012
Media type: CD

Having decided on the name Castle the band recorded their debut album ‘In Witch Order’ which was released by Germany’s Van Records in the spring of 2011. The band had come to the label’s attention via a demo of the first three songs from the ‘In Witch Order’ recording session. “We hand-screened a cover and put it all together and sent a bunch out to labels we liked and Van responded with a lot of enthusiasm,” recalls Mat. On its release, as both a CD and vinyl LP, ‘In Witch Order’ picked up a number of accolades including Metal Hammer Norway’s album of the year as well as Roadburn Festival’s ‘newcomer of the year’.

‘Blacklands’, the band’s second album, was recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California and produced by Billy Anderson (Neurosis, Eyehategod, Sleep). “It’s an altogether different beast to ‘In Witch Order’” is how Mat describes it. “The debut took five years start-to-finish, whereas the new one was done relatively quickly, in six months. It was deliberate on our part to do it like that. We wanted to have a live feel and an edginess to the album and I think we got that. It sounds bigger and hits harder. And I wanted the songs to be epic. There were elements of that on our debut but I deliberately set out to achieve that with most of these songs.”

Castle often refer to themselves as ‘witch thrash’ in interviews, the explanation being quite simple: “there's a definite thrash element to our music even when we’re playing at slower tempos. It’s a different sound, a little more complex maybe than your average doom or heavy metal band; and our lyrics do tend to dwell on themes of the occult. And,” Mat adds, “inspired by Tony Iommi, all but three Castle songs are in C# tuning.” And who can argue with that?

TRACKLIST:

Ever Hunter 4:23
Corpse Candles 5:32
Storm Below the Mountain 3:19
Blacklands 4:23
Curses of the Priests 5:19
Venus Pentagram 2:52
Alcatraz 3:53
Dying Breed 6:05