Blood Save the Rat Queen - Castle Rat Review

Blood Save the Rat Queen – Castle Rat Review

Editor’s Take by Shawna O’Hara

Like any other Halloween night in Chicago, I found myself at a music venue surrounded by cloaks, masks, wizards, and vampires. Except it wasn’t Halloween. It was a Thursday night at Concord Music Hall, and I’d mistakenly assumed I was headed out to just another rock show, this time for a group called Castle Rat, with a review to write.

Instead, whether I liked it or not, I became part of a community known as The Realm. And I’d do it again.

The enthusiastic audience came in ready for a show. I had no idea what I was about to witness. Frankly, I felt underdressed in a slip dress and motoboots. Where was my cloak? My wizard hat? My chain-link bikini? The stage would take care of that.

At first, from my obstructed vantage point, I couldn’t even tell Castle Rat’s first opener was performing. I thought the keyboard-heavy doom emanating from the stage was pre-show music. Wraith Knight took the stage for a keyboard performance in a dark cape and studded sleeves, appropriate for the music he played, which sounded straight out of a fantasy video game or movie. The audience ate it up. Unto Others, a rock band out of Portland, followed.

Then, before I realized what was happening, I was already mesmerized by Castle Rat’s commitment to the creative entirety of their performance. Crew members worked hurriedly to set up the stage and tune instruments, all while dressed in cloaks and capes. The stage soon turned into a fantasy world, complete with moss-covered amps, faux stone Celtic crosses, and torches, while the crew checked equipment to the sound of howling wolves. It became clear the audience wasn’t only curious onlookers and fans, but also players in the theatrical story Castle Rat was about to tell.

Castle Rat has four musicians, but its cast is considerably larger. The band is led by captivating lead singer Riley Pinkerton, the Rat Queen; guitarist Franco Vittore, the Count; bassist Charley Ruddell, the Plague Doctor; and drummer Joshua Strmic, the Druid. But crucially, a handful of players don’t wield instruments. A wizard, the Rat Reaperess, a cobra, a horse, and a dragon all help tell the 90-minute musical tale onstage.

Pinkerton, as the Rat Queen, finds herself in the center of the chaos, telling The Realm (the fans) the story of Castle Rat as the show goes on. She possesses a peculiar stillness that makes her the most compelling part of the show. Instead of a larger-than-life frontwoman presence driven by loud, unforgiving screams and over-the-top performance, Pinkerton’s voice is so effortlessly powerful that she remains controlled in both spoken word and vocals while still delivering a gut punch to the audience. While monsters stalk the stage and her bandmates shred beneath blood-red lights, Pinkerton rarely seems interested in competing with any of it. She doesn’t have to. Her Rat Queen is appropriately regal: stoic, watchful, and almost unnervingly composed.

Though her voice is measured and light at times, there’s a distinct hint of Chrissie Hynde in its texture. She strums her guitar with spellbinding lightness, a visual counterpoint to the burst of doom metal coming from the stage. Then, before we can go any further into the music, she announces that the audience is The Realm. Everyone cheers.

Though I never played, I felt like I’d been dropped into a live game of Magic: The Gathering.

I couldn’t look away.

Every few songs, band members are given their solo moments. The Count spends a few minutes shredding beneath a stream of red lights, commanding The Realm with the lift of a hand. Audience favorite, the Plague Doctor, gets his solo, set to roaring cheers. The Druid pounds his drum kit nearly punitively to the delight of those of us in The Realm. Each performance reads like an interlude before a new chapter of the band’s lore is displayed unto us. Even “doom metal” feels insufficient at times; certain melodies recall Rush, dragged somewhere considerably heavier and darker. There are light moments, too.

The Rat Queen began another chapter of storytelling when she caught herself.

“Oops,” Pinkerton announces with a laugh. “We already did that.” The Realm laughed with her as she corrected herself and set the scene for the next chapter.

Early in the band’s lore, we learn about the powerful potion the Plague Doctor possesses. This elixir is, of course, the Forbidden Potion of Vampiric Blood. If we were in medieval times, this would need to be a mainstay on the shelves of the castle’s Walgreens apothecary. It can revive the dead, and, crucially, the Plague Doctor always seems to have some on hand.

As the set progresses, the wizard periodically reappears while a cobra, horse, dragon, and Rat Reaperess cycle through the increasingly elaborate production. Between battles, the Count shreds beneath blood-red lights, producing an otherworldly sound worthy of the spectacle surrounding him.

The Rat Queen fights the Reaperess while the band provides a perfectly metal soundtrack to the battle, an experience so surreal I was certain I was dreaming. I realized I was taken by the performance when, to my upset, our beloved Rat Queen was down! Thanks to the Reaperess, Pinkerton lay motionless onstage while the band kept slaying the audience with riffs.

But we all knew what would happen next.

Triumphantly, the Plague Doctor had the Forbidden Potion of Vampiric Blood handy. As he administered it to the Rat Queen, I couldn’t help but wonder who the real hero of the show was. Those of us in The Realm cheered loudly when Pinkerton rose.

We are saved!

Castle Rat is fully committed to the bit; they have to be, and they did a phenomenal job involving the audience in a way that didn’t feel cheesy or overly theatrical, adding a call-and-response battle cry used throughout the show.

“Now is forever!” shouts Pinkerton.

“In! This! Realm!” we respond.

Yes, “we.” I am now fully in, and I wouldn’t want it any other way, thank you very much.

I entered Concord Music Hall expecting another rock show. Ninety minutes later, apparently, I had pledged allegiance to a Rat Queen.

In this realm.