Blacklands

'Blacklands', the band's second album, was recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California and produced by Billy Anderson (Neurosis, Eyehategod, Skeep). '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.'
That said, 'Blacklands' still features classic-sounding heavy metal songs with a thrash temperament, huge character and fluid solos. It's an album of great riffs and strong songs, the backbone of Castle's sound. The album also boasts the classic power trio swagger. 'The power trio aspect is one of our strengths as a band,' Mat says. 'I love that sound.'

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 lommi, all but three Castle songs are in C# tuning.' And who can argue with that?