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While plenty of artists have drawn from high fantasy, few have truly lived the mythical existence. Certainly, they might embellish their record jackets with monsters, beasts, chained damsels and muscular warriors, but has an artist ever needed to retrieve a missing horn from a unicorn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Did anyone devoted hours straining their eyes in the rear of a road transport, repairing their own armor?

Immersed in the Legend

Created in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have encountered both these scenarios and more as they live out their grand tales. Starting with heraldic, earworm-heavy anthems to stunning concerts, outfit creation, videos and album art, they’re more than a heavy metal group as a complete sensory journey.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a themed musical group,” states vocalist, guitar player, sword-carrier and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle speeds from a sold-out gig in Cologne to another in another town – they have multiple performances in the UK now. “After a couple of performances and were scheduled on a October show, where I made a last-minute decision to wear a costume. The entire setup was highly handmade, but we had a blast and the atmosphere was electric. It occurred to me, ‘What if we could have so much excitement always?’”

Development of Castle Rat

Since then, the group – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” together with a plague doctor (bassist), haughty vampire (guitarist) and mysterious druid (rhythm keeper) – haven’t looked back. The Bestiary, the band’s second album, evokes images of legendary heavy bands collaborating to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that positions them on the brink of bigger achievements.

This album was a first for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her collaborators. “This helped a lot stronger project,” she says of the collaborative process. “I struggled at first – I’d always felt a specific level of accomplishment being a woman in music working independently. I’ve had numerous occasions where I’ve got off stage and an audience member will say, ‘The band compose cool melodies!’ and I’m like, ‘Hey – I wrote all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

With their growing popularity has expanded, so has the scope of their stage presentation. “The saying I live by is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. She was originally on track for a university studies in art before pulling back at the idea of so much debt. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to apply creativity,” she says. “From making masks, costume design, mastering post-production song visuals … everything is I am unfamiliar with, but it’s exciting to discover in the moment.”

Even though creating the ensemble’s complex backstory (“Everyone’s urging me to write it down because it’s all in here,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and sewing costumes were insufficient, the vocalist self-educated how to craft metal mesh – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly delegated her all-new scale armor design to a New York-based specialist. “It feels like actual armour,” she beams.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

As for audiences? They loved the fake blood, toy blades and papier-mache rat skulls with as much gusto as the musicians. “We had a gig in Detroit and it looked like a medieval event,” remembers Riley happily. “All attendees was in robes, sheepskin, metal wear.”

This isn’t to say, though, that life on the road as mythical wanderers has been easy. “All our gear is constantly breaking and gets fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Plus I come up with endless ideas as to how I want things to look, but we’re traveling in a van with limited room. It’s a unique problem to create the impression like a mythic tale, then store it into nothing.”

There have been other logistical problems that wouldn’t have troubled legendary fantasy heroes. “We experienced an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we performed at a music event in Portugal and my suitcase – which had my blade in it – went missing,” says Riley. “This became a nightmare, because we don’t have an backup plan of the concert where I don’t have a blade.”

Future Ambitions

In the spirit of a hero, Riley is eager about the future. “My goal is as far as possible – let’s do large venues,” she says. “The key element that’s truly essential to me is maintaining the handmade style, making sure everything is custom-made. This is a feature I want to keep true to, no matter what we grow into. Plus, I want to appear on a unicorn every night. You know how famous musicians ride bikes on stage? That, but using a unicorn.”