[WEDNESDAY, 11:30 PM, after imbibing] Buckle up, kids. I’m not often in the habit of writing my album reviews four drinks deep and after the conclusion of two consecutive fantasy football drafts, but guess what, folks? I’m feelin’ a little frisky this evening, and this new Castle album, Evil Remains, is pretty fuckin’ great. So you guys are just gonna have to deal, mmkay?

[FRIDAY, NOON, once again sober] I mean… I see no lies here.

Modern doom is tricky for me. It’s not a sub-genre I gravitate too heavily toward, these days. I tend not to love when certain bands ape the classics, and I tend to get bored out of my mind when others jump into 20+ minute funeral dirges. This isn’t meant to insult those bands, mind you! They can be quite good at what they do, it’s just that what they do just doesn’t often shiver these timbers. (No idea why I just wrote that. I guess I’m a pirate now?)

But! Every now and then, a doom band sneaks through and finds a way to totally floor me — and that’s kinda what’s happened with Castle here. Evil Remains is the rare contemporary doom record to really dig its claws into me, and also the best distillation of the band’s sound to date. Quite simply, it’s an absolute joy to listen to. And the emphasis on “listen to” is key, here.

From a songwriting and arrangement standpoint, Castle hasn’t exactly reinvented its wheels on Evil Remains. They’ve always had Mat Davis’ meaty, monstrous, Tony-Iommi-hittin’-the-gym-and-gettin’-fuckin’-swole guitar riffage. And for as long as the band’s existed Liz Blackwell’s creepy, compellingly monotonous vocals** have been a treasure. The songs get in, hit their notes, and get out, without over-indulging. In short, everything you’d expect from a Castle album is here, and doing its thing more or less as you’d expect.

_{**Hi! This is a compliment, I promise! I challenge anyone to get more mileage out of a single pitch as Blackwell does on, say, Evil Remains’ opening track, “Queen of Death.” She does more with one note than many singers do with several. She’s fuckin’ GREAT.}

So what’s changed?

Castle’s past albums might have retained their typical sonic calling cards, but they could sometimes sound a bit distant, a bit lo-fi. It could feel like the band was calling out from far deeper within the dreary doomscapes their songs were conjuring up, calling out to its listeners but unable to fully emerge from the mire.

This time, though? Producer Jesse Gander’s snatched them out by pure force and kicked everything into overdrive. The band no longer feels separate from its audience, but fully present and smack-dab in front of you. The tempo on a song like “Black Spell” feels all the more urgent, and Davis’ melodic leads resonate all the more eerily. The band, flat-out, sounds better than they ever have here on Evil Remains.

I enjoyed the hell out of this album, and I reckon I’ll continue to throughout the rest of the year. Do yourselves a favor and give this one a listen.

Keep it heavy,
—Dan

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Evil Remains is available now via Hammerheart Records. For more information on Castle, visit the band’s official website.