Castle Rat - Blood, Swords, and Doom in Oklahoma City

Nearly seven years after their 2019 formation, fueled by relentless touring, one Kickstarter campaign, five years of sobriety, a theatrical DIY ethos, and two full length albums; Castle Rat has carved out a distinct identity—one that feels as theatrical as it is sonically crushing.

Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Castle Rat sets itself apart by fusing traditional doom metal with a fully realized fantasy narrative. Each member embodies a character within a medieval-inspired world, transforming their performances into something far beyond a standard live set. This commitment to immersive storytelling has helped them stand out in an increasingly crowded scene, earning growing attention from fans and critics alike.

Comprised of Riley Pinkerton (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Joshua Strmic (drums), Franco Vittore (lead guitar, backing vocals), and Charley Ruddell (bass), the band has built a reputation for elaborate stagecraft and intricate songwriting. Their well earned inclusion on the AMONKLOK 2026 tour alongside Amon Amarth and Dethklok marks a major milestone—one that’s introducing them to wider audiences with every stop and gaining more fans along the way.

Their shows function as immersive storytelling experiences, where characters interact onstage as part of an unfolding narrative. This fusion of music, performance art, and fantasy world-building has positioned Castle Rat as one of the most distinctive new voices in modern metal.

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The stage is set

The torches dim, a cold blue light casts a spell across the Criterion in Oklahoma City. A low hum rolls through the crowd like distant thunder. Castle Rat does not simply take the stage—they arrive as if summoned from another realm cloaked by shadow and candlelight

The Count emerges first. Then the Druid. Then the Plague Doctor.

At last, the Rat Queen glides forward from the shadows.

Around her, the band assembles like a shrouded council: armored, deliberate. The air feels heavy and charged, as though the boundary between audience and myth has quietly dissolved, revealing a portal to another realm.

The music does not begin so much as it awakens; a single riff coils upward, thick and ancient, echoing the primordial weight of Black Sabbath while bending into something, more theatrical. Drums crash like siege engines against castle gates, and the bass rumbles like something stirring beneath the earth. Between songs, characters clash, alliances fracture, and the Rat Queen commands it all with a voice that shifts between prophecy and battle cry.

It feels less like a concert and more like bearing witness to a living saga.

The Count plays in madness, baring his fangs to the crowd, his gaze blazing with a ferocity that would unsettle even the oldest vampires.

The Druid offers no smile. He bends wholly to the rhythm, forging each beat until your heart trembles and hammers, as if seeking escape from the cage of bone.

Drawing the crowd into the performance of defeating The Rat Reaperess, as the music softens, The Rat Queen addresses the crowd;

Will you do as I say?

When I say, now is forever…
You must reply

IN THIS REALM!

The audience answers in unison, pulled fully into the spectacle. What follows is not just performance, but participation—the climactic battle between the Rat Queen and the Rat Reaperess unfolding with the crowd as both witness and accomplice.

The Plague Doctor’s bass tolls like a death bell within your soul. He does not speak—only chants: “NOW, IS FOREVER,” the words that call the fallen Rat Queen back from oblivion.

By the final passage, the room has transformed into a hall of legend. Time stretches; faces in the crowd flicker in firelight like painted figures in a medieval tapestry. When the last chord falls it does not end, it lingers in suspension, as if the story refuses to be sealed away. And when the lights return, the illusion fractures just enough to remind you where you are… but not enough to shake the sense that you’ve crossed into something older, stranger, and not entirely finished with you.