REVIEW

ALL HAIL THE RAT QUEEN — Castle Rat let Chicago into their rat kingdom on Thursday, October 15, transforming a sold-out show at Concord Music Hall into a fantastical battlefield where heavy metal grandeur collided with medieval mythology, pagan mysticism and 80s sword-and-sorcery spectacle. At the center of it all stood frontwoman and guitarist Riley Pinkerton, known as “The Rat Queen,” a sovereign defender of The Realm who commanded the stage like a Frank Frazetta heroine come to life.

Supported by her bandmates — “The Count” (Franco Vittore) on lead guitar, “The Plague Doctor” (Charley Ruddell) on bass and “The All-Seeing Druid” (Joshua Strmic) on drums — Pinkerton led the charge against the band’s eternal nemesis, “The Rat Reaperess.” Throughout the set, Castle Rat brought its elaborate mythology to life with towering beasts, including a wizard and a dragon, immersing the sold-out crowd in a mythical realm.

The band is on tour celebrating their latest full-length opus, The Bestiary, an epic tale of mysticism, magic and maleficence that deepens Castle Rat’s ever-expanding lore. The album catalogs the creatures inhabiting The Realm while confronting its ultimate adversary: death herself, embodied by the fearsome Rat Reaperess. The Bestiary universe has continued to expand alongside the band’s growing momentum. Following the release of The Bestiary, Castle Rat stepped onto larger stages earlier this spring alongside Amon Amarth and Dethklok while continuing to sell out its own headlining shows.

As Pinkerton previously told Luna, the creatures that populate Castle Rat’s mythology are rooted in her own experiences. “They're all metaphorical representations of people or experiences in my own life,” she explained. “I'm always partial to dragons and unicorns. Those are my two favorites. They’re like yin and yang.”

Opening with “PHOENIX I,” Castle Rat quickly plunged into “Dagger Dragger” before unleashing “WIZARD,” a crowd favorite from The Bestiary. As Pinkerton delivered the song’s incantatory lyrics, “O, Wizard, the spells you′vе cast are broken / I can hear its cry / Thе creature has awoken,” her vocals cut through the venue with a bewitching intensity.

Castle Rat’s sound fuses the occult groove of doom with the grandeur of classic heavy metal — imagine the thunder of Black Sabbath refracted through a Frazetta painting.

“Feed the Dream” and “UNICORN” continued the fantastical procession. Each member also received a dedicated solo spotlight.

But Castle Rat’s greatest trick is how seamlessly it integrates spectacle into the music. Choreographed battle sequences, theatrical confrontations with the Rat Reaperess and an interactive call to arms invite fans into The Realm. The night’s defining moment arrived with the long-awaited clash between Pinkerton and the Rat Reaperess. With swords drawn, the two faced off in a dramatic battle that brought the album’s central conflict to life. Pinkerton initially defeated her adversary in a choreographed sword fight, only for the Rat Reaperess to return from the brink and strike down the Rat Queen. The Plague Doctor intervened by giving Pinkerton a magical potion that revived her just in time for the encore.

Reborn and ready to reclaim her kingdom, Pinkerton raised her battle sword, blood dripping across her gold scale loincloth, and led the audience in the Realm’s rallying cry: “Now is forever!” The crowd answered with a thunderous “IN THIS REALM!”

Castle Rat returned for an encore with “Cry For Me,” then brought the night to a powerful close with “SIREN.” Castle Rat’s fantasy-metal celebration of The Bestiary is immersive, unapologetically theatrical and driven by a genuine love of the realms heavy music can create. Once The Rat Queen raises her sword and calls the Realm to arms, resisting the spell is all but impossible.