A night of beasts, battles, blood, and bone, Castle Rat sold out Webster Hall in New York City on October 21st. The female-led four-piece is a fantasy heavy metal group that shreds while fully costumed and charactered, revealing complex stories and reenacting aspects of them on stage. With an immense level of artistry, their shows are music performances structured around story pieces containing lore, performance artists, and choreographed fighting. The product is a unique indulgence into a level of world-building often relegated to theater and film productions.
Setting the stage for the night’s story would be the perfectly placed Wraith Knight. A dungeon synth keyboardist, whose work immediately colors the interior of the venue with a cathedral ceiling and tall stained-glass windows encasing the walls. The keys in front of him sound a mix of synths and organs, his music reverberating off in a collage of religious sound. He himself sits beneath a cloak, with only a glimpse of his mouth during a key strike, or his arms emerging from the folded fabric sporting spiked cuffs that cut through the air between keyboards. The aloof persona is only interrupted between songs by enthusiastic crowd calls, “Fuck yea New York City!” that humanize the amorphous sound machine on stage. With nothing but his keys, set between two battle axes, his powerful sound expanded through the entire venue. Closing my eyes, I was dropped into an environment of his creation. Every song was immersive and atmospheric, and I’d recommend anything in his discography, especially if you’re looking for a Halloween background playlist, or to LARP as a medieval guard in your living room.
Intricately carved Celtic crosses framed the next act of the night, Unto Others. The gothic rock group rounded the perfectly curated showcase of artistry. Full of energy, guitarist Sebastian Silva and bassist Brandon Hill, in particular, were constantly engaging the crowd, perched atop speaker stands, and never staying in one place on stage. A rich mix of New Wave, Heavy Metal, and Post Punk, their sound has a classic goth-band feel. “Butterfly” and “When Will God’s Work Be Done” were highlights of the performance, alongside some covers from the Ramones and Misfits. “[It’s a] combination of things, we’re back in New York City, and it’s the Halloween season, so wanna hear some Halloween songs?” lead singer Gabriel Franco announced before launching into “Pet Sematary” and “Halloween.” Seasoned veterans of the scene, and together for just under a decade, Unto Others are strong performers who understand exactly what the crowd wants from them.
Introducing the headliners would be a larger-than-life sculpted wizard holding a staff and embossed leather book, accompanied by a white wolf-masked woman cloaked in a thin white robe that orbited around her. The first of many of the night’s costumes, which are mostly designed and created by the talented frontwoman Riley Pinkerton. The band emerges from behind the beings: The Count (Franco Vitorre), The Plague Doctor (Charley Ruddell), and The Druid (Joshua Strmic), with Pinkerton as The Rat Queen. A band formed after escaping the deadly plague that infected their village, and chased by Death, Herself, The Rat Repress, to reclaim the escaped souls, the group is now bestowed with a magical book by this powerful wizard, a book capable of summoning mythical beasts that complicate their battle ‘In The Realm,’ as their concerts are referred to existing within.
“WIZARD” explores this lore over spacey vocals and heavy guitar, with quick, percussive cymbal work from The Druid. The band is full of talented musicians, each showcased with a solo of their respective instrument that put their skill on display throughout the night. Each member heavily engaged the crowd and allowed their energy to influence their performance. It’s not often that multiple members of the band get to showcase what they can do when not fitting into the homogeneity of sound for a song, but rather cut loose to explore their own noise, and getting to watch each character from this band explore their unique sound tied to their image enhanced the show like an episodic backstory, glimpsing into their complicated pasts through their instruments.
The show displays immersive art, but their music is heavy. “Dagger Dragger” is one such track. Deep, guttural crawls from the Queen’s guitar push forth the Count’s more aggressive shredding as he holds himself back from the crowd of prey dangled in front of him. Heartbeats by the steady pulsing bass of the Plague Doctor keep them on time and breathing; they join forces to get the crowd pushing and shoving into each other, Pinkerton reminding the crowd that “the only battles will be happening on stage,” to rein in the unruly group of beasts in the pit before them. The song culminates in an iconic scream from Pinkerton that just hammers home this band’s burning desire to put out fantastic music.
Over the course of the night, The Beastiary would unleash multiple forms across the stage. Consisting of a wolf, unicorn, dragon, and serpent, each has a unique oversized sculpted head that sits atop a performer's shoulders, who takes the stage in a foggy haze of smoke, sometimes a harmless friend of the wizard, others a pawn used by the empress to aid in her capture of Castle Rat. Each beast corresponds to a track off the sophomore album, “The Beastiary,” making their appearances depend on the band’s setlist.
The band’s instrumental music, tracks like “PHEONIX I” or “PATH OF MOSS,” would serve as scores to the intriguing story set forth on stage. This meant the story never felt like it was given priority over the music. Instead, it was left to be pockets of music with performances showcasing the level of artistry each of these costumes was given just to add to the show’s story beats. It’s a delicate balance the band was easily able to navigate.
The climactic battle between The Rat Queen and The Rat Repress would be a fight to the death. Unsheathing the sword from her mic stand, the Queen slays a mythical snake before turning her blade on the Repress. Circling each other and lunging in a choreographed sword-and-scythe fight, the Repress would be stabbed on the stage floor. Refusing to stay down, she freezes time to launch an attack on the Queen, one that sees her stomach slit and neck theatrically punctured before collapsing to the stage, adorned with a mess of stage blood across her abdomen. Satisfied with her work, the Repress retreats backstage. Emerging from the stage’s shadows, The Plague Doctor would use the crowd’s chanting to resurrect The Rat Queen with a mysterious potion that would allow her to once again rise from the dead, spill a mouthful of blood, and raise her sword before heading back into The Realm, forced to outrun the Rat Repress for another day.
This band is indicative of an incredibly exciting world of music that refuses to be restricted to a background band. They are innovating just how much of their concert is pure musical performance, and how much is performance of the full scope of art they aim to include in their world of music. Why not have performance artists in full costume enhance the stories you’ve spent so much time crafting through writing? The performance is sure to make a fan of anyone lucky enough to be in the room. This level of commitment and work to put on such a multi-faceted performance and travel with it across the country is an effort that is not lost on the crowd, who were incredibly engaged through the night, invested in the theater battles and stories being shared on stage just as much as the music that circle pits would be opening for.
Though this performance closes their 2026 Summon the Beasts tour, the band has just announced some festival bookings and is sure to have some exciting things down the road. One performance has me fully bought in and excited to learn more about The Realm, and as I’m sure I’m not alone, I look forward to rapid growth with an eager excitement I’ve become spoiled with. What an exciting time to be supporting live music.
