“Maturity” can be a rather difficult concept to pin down, especially in a genre which so often embraces the inherently unreasonable. Those of us who remember the mass-desertion of Extreme Metal musical trappings that happened in the late-90s can be forgiven for shuddering at the thought of a word used so often back then as shorthand for “we’re embarrassed to be a Metal band” or “we need some new fans”. When sitting down to review the new album from Castle, Under Siege (Prosthetic Records), however, I found that “mature” was the word coming most readily to my mind – and certainly not in a negative way.

 

Castle play a rough, smoky mixture of Sabbath-model Doom and classic Heavy Metal combined with the slightest hint of what has recently been referred to as “Occult Rock”. If you want a lazy journalistic comparison (and who wouldn’t?) the arcane Metal feel of a Manilla Road or Cirith Ungol filtered through smoke-grooved Sabbath riffs with a touch of Jex Thoth will do the trick, but it’s clear that a straight-up description of their sound, no matter how appealing, is fairly unspectacular – what makes Castle a genuinely interesting proposition is that dreaded M word.

 

There’s a depth of emotion, a sense of authenticity, a feeling of – yes, damn it, MATURITY to the eight tracks on Under Siege that is certainly not typical of the genre. It’s hard to pin down exactly where this feeling comes from – possibly vocalist Elizabeth Blackwell’s laid-back, almost lounge-tinged tones; possibly the sinuous, muscular riffing of Mat Davis or the effective simplicity of the songs; perhaps even the lyrics and artwork, which suggest a more personal, symbolic take on subjects which other Heavy Metal bands often play as purely literal.

Under Siege is unlikely to change anyone’s life or redefine any parameters, but it does deliver thirty minutes of powerful, catchy and emotionally-resonant Heavy Metal that manages to be both distinctive and clearly rooted genre tradition.

8/10

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RICHIE HR