California's underground occult maestros, CASTLE, have just set sail on a 24 date US tour.  The thing that is so astounding to me is that those 24 dates are in a row.  No days off.  Denver to D.C., Baltimore to Austin.  24 fucking days in a row.  Holy shit.  Seriously, who does that?  While it may seem like complete insanity to me, Castle's lead vocalist and bassist, Liz Blackwell, makes it sound like it's the only way to do it.  To which I replied that I would have murdered everyone in the van by day 4 so it's a good thing she's a metal monster and I'm a hermit.  

 

Day 3 of the ironman tour saw the band playing Madison's Willy St Pub and Grill.  It's a dive and it's also the only place in Madison consistently putting on metal shows from bands across the globe.  I had a very nice discussion with the drummer from German death metallers, Placenta Powerfist, about his first time in the United States once.  And while it may not have the best sound or best set up (it's just a bar, no stage) it's still got a cool vibe and a bathroom wallpapered with band logo stickers.  90% of them you can't decipher.  In any event, our local metal promoter, Randy, has a knack for bringing in interesting bands including Night Demon and Savage Master and his final Madison show of 2015 was Castle.  

 

I became acquainted with Castle several years ago when they made a stop in Madison on tour with Bible of the Devil.  Castle is a 3 piece metal outfit from San Francisco, formed in 2009, released their first album "In Witch Order" in 2011, their last album "Under Siege" in 2014 and have toured seemingly non stop the entire time.  I have no idea where to categorize them.  I hate having to do that, label every single band's sound.  I'm not going to lie, any band fucking around with the occult immediately has my ear.  But there better be something else there besides the image.  There better be some good Goddamn songs or else you're just a t shirt.  Probably sold at Hot Topic.  Castle nestles in nicely with the heavy yet not inaccessible sound of Ghost.  Castle has hit songs, I've heard them.  It's up to you fuckers to listen now.  

 

I can't say how much energy the band will have by show 21 but tonight they were able to turn a small room into a nice big heavy rock n roll show.  The only analogy I can make is that they felt California, they felt Sunset Strip circa 1987, they had THAT energy.  While I suspect this is true with a lot of touring metal bands, Castle's albums don't capture that energy they excrete live.  The albums have a somewhat retro production sound, at times a little thin for such a big sounding metal band, but the songwriting and detail to their individual crafts and talents isn't up for debate.  The songs are there, the live show is there.  They're killer, the fuck else you want from me?  Don't take my word for it, click on the link below for their website and tour dates, pretty sure they're coming close to wherever you are.  Get out of the damn house and go see a metal show.  

 

I had a brief conversation with Liz who assured me that 3 weeks is the most you can do on a tour.  After that it starts to wear thin.  I suspect that's the reason for the 24 consecutive dates, 3 weeks solid, no off days, or as Liz said "boring days", get in as many shows as far across the country as possible and then go home and fucking purge the whirlwind that a tour like this must feel like.  I have incredible respect for anyone that can go out on tour with people they aren't married to and not suffocate everyone with a pillow in their sleep after a week.  Seriously.  3 days is my threshold, after that everyone starts to get old.  But these guys obviously get along and rightfully so.  When you meet other people with whom you can make music that sounds like Castle's, you get along and you continue to innovate and fine tune your band until you all become a machine capable of taking over the United States 24 days at a time.