The Bestiary, Castle Rat’s second album, arrives as the clearest entry point yet into the band’s expanding world, one that’s been building momentum since their New York City formation in 2019. And they make their approach clear right away, leaning fully into the band’s fantasy concept both musically and visually.

At the center is The Rat Queen (Riley Pinkerton), steering the charge on rhythm guitar and vocals, flanked by the Count (Franco Vittore) on lead guitar, the Plague Doctor (Charley Ruddell) on bass, and the All-Seeing Druid (Josh Strmic) on drums. Their sworn enemy, the Rat Reaperess, looms over it all, turning the band’s mythology into something that carries from the songs onto the stage.

That commitment to concept could easily tip into gimmick. Instead, it’s the engine. During their live show, Castle Rat truly go for it with choreographed battles and a sense of spectacle that pulls from classic fantasy art and doom metal’s slow-burn weight. It’s part theater, part ritual, and it’s helped build a following that’s as invested in the story as the riffs.

They’ve put in the road work to back it up, sharing stages with bands like Monolord, Acid King, and Green Lung, while making the festival rounds at Desertfest NYC, RPM Fest, and Hopsmoker. By the time Into The Realm landed in April 2024, the groundwork was already there. The debut connected, pulling in over a million streams and landing at No. 1 on Bandcamp’s hard rock and alternative chart.

What followed in 2025 pushed things further. A Kickstarter campaign for their second album hit its goal in 37 minutes and kept climbing, eventually closing at $139,000, one of the most successful metal campaigns in recent memory. They moved quickly from there, heading into the studio with producer Randall Dunn, whose credits run from Sunn O))) to Wolves in the Throne Room and beyond, a fit that makes sense given the band’s balance of atmosphere and weight.

Touring kept pace. Sold-out runs at the end of 2024 gave way to a headlining U.S. tour and a six-week stretch across Europe in 2025, with stops at Desertfest, Hellfest, and Copenhell, the kind of circuit that separates buzz from something more durable.

The Bestiary builds on the foundation of the debut while sharpening the band’s identity, leaning harder into both the narrative and the sound without losing the immediacy that brought people in to begin with. The response has followed, pushing Castle Rat into a wider conversation in heavy music without sanding down what made them stand out in the first place.