LP Review: "Welcome To The Graveyard" by Castle

Welcome To The Graveyard

Art in and of itself is an expression.

Learning a song on guitar recently, it was evident that the players were breaking the rules of the song in order to spice it up.

Learning what the rules is very important to being able to break them effectively.

The song in particular was a 12 Bar Blues Standard that, in this arrangement had some little fills tossed in between measures, effectively creating a song that was more than 12 bars.

So, was this song still a Blues song? Those little melody breaks were far more appropriate in metal than they were blues. Beyond that, the song was original recorded by a man and his guitar, but here I was listening to a 12 piece band performing it. Is it still the same song?

Castle

Well, that question is not going to be answered here, but only reinforced by Castle.

Castle is a doom metal band based out of gloomy San Franciso, CA.

Here we have a band that's been around the block for a little while, but today, we have a departure project.

They have taken two wholly different forms of art and seamless melded them into something new.

This will henceforth be known as Alloy Metal, as it's not just one thing, but more than one thing, like an alloy, get it?

Welcome To The Graveyard has some very strong 70's blues-rock overtones. Think Led Zeppelin meets Black Sabbath meets Deicide.

Are you confused yet? I am.

Before today, I would not have thought it possible for a band to fuse natural amp gain riffs, blast beats, and Pat Benetar ranged vocals and it not be some sort of extreme metal.

This album is heavy, mellow, screaming, mild, bluesy, and emotional. Put it on and take the ride.

Release: 7/15/16
Genre: Doom Metal
Label: Van Records
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Purchase Link (Including LE 100 Pcs vinyl)