Concert Review: Castle Rat Brings Medieval Doom Metal Mayhem to a Packed Worcester Palladium

6 minutes ago

6 min read

Castle Rat has been one of the bigger rising acts of 2026. I think that their following has tripled since earlier this year when they were the opening act on the Dethklok / Amon Amarth tour, plus Liquid Metal now has them in regular rotation, leading to their rise. Now they are a headlining act bringing along another great new band, Unto Others, for the "Summon The Beast" tour. I liked both bands instantly, but this is my 1st time seeing Unto Others. I covered Castle Rat earlier this year at the MGM in Boston, and they played a really great opening set.

This year Castle Rat has toured extensively by today's standards. They played 25 dates opening for the AmonKlok Conquest in the US from April 15th to May 24th, plus a date at Sonic Temple. Then they went to Europe for the Summer Festivals, playing 12 shows total, including dates at these prestigious festivals: Wacken Open Air, Alcatraz, Bloodstock, Summer Breeze and the Dynamo Festival. Then they went out on their 21-date US headline tour, which started on September 23rd in Baltimore, Maryland, and ended the day after this show at the Webster Theatre on October 21st in NYC. In total, they played 58 shows, gaining thousands of new fans all around the world. I can't wait to see what is next for this group, but I fully expect them to continually climb the ranks.

Onto the show, like I've said before in many of my reviews, the Worcester Palladium is a great venue. It has a super large, tall stage, a big floor area with raised standing areas up to the top bar level, making every spot a very good visible location, plus a large, seated section in the upstairs balcony. The show was packed to the rafters; many fans were dressed in medieval attire. The club didn't open the upper seated balcony level, but the lower level was completely packed. Leaving the pit to return to my spot on the first raised level above the pit/floor was a chore.

Opening the show is Wrath Knight, a single darkish, ghoulish keyboardist playing darkish, gothic, medieval-inspired themes, dressed in a hooded black cape and arm studs on each arm. There's really not much information about this artist known as Old Nick (Nick Superchi) other than two album releases: Deep in The Dungeons of the Dragon Lord (2022) and Of Arcane Magic & Forbidden Knowledge: The Necromantical Passage (2024). His style of music fits the Halloween season; I'll say that much. It could easily be cool background music for a scary movie!

Up next is Unto Others. I've been waiting to see these guys for a while since I first heard them a few years ago. They formed in Portland, Oregon, in 2017 under the name "Idle Hands," releasing one album called Mana, but in 2020 they were forced to change their name to Unto Others due to legal reasons. Their sound is a mix of gloom, punk and traditional heavy metal. They've released two full albums: Strength in 2021 and Never, Neverland in 2024. The last album has had some good commercial success with the singles "Butterfly," "Raigeki," "Angel of the Night" and "Suicide Today." The band also has released a bunch of official videos for: "Butterfly," "Raigeki," "Suicide Today," "Momma Likes the Doors Closed," "Heroin," "Downtown," "Give Me to the Night" and their most recent version of the Ramones' "Pet Sematary." All of their songs are very catchy, heavy and doomy all in one, and I just really like them. Seeing them live for the 1st time was a treat. They rolled through their 11-song set, which was filled with many of the expected songs you'd probably expect to see. They are no strangers to the Northeast, having played the Boston area a few times in the past, but at smaller venues. I'm sure that any fan who's seen them before was thrilled for them being on a bigger stage.

Unto Others features vocalist and rhythm guitarist Gabriel Franco (2017 - present), who has a great deep and haunting voice with a cool stage presence. Lead guitarist Sebastian Silva (2017 - present) was a wild man on guitar and a very good guitarist. I've never really noticed his abilities until I saw him live; he commanded the stage, playing solo after solo with his long hair flipping around. He reminded me of the guitarists from the late '80s and early '90s with his stage presence. Drummer Colin Vranizan (2018 - present) and bassist Brandon Hill (2019 - present) were also very good. The crowd liked them, I liked them, and I'm glad that I finally got to see them. Hopefully, they'll be back soon. I'd expect them to have a new album coming out soon. They'll be heading to Europe in three months for a 19-date tour starting on January 22nd in Hamburg, Germany, stomping around Europe before closing the run on February 14th in Tilburg, Netherlands.

Castle Rat hails from Brooklyn, NY. They formed in 2019 and are known as a "medieval fantasy doom metal" band. I really like their sound, and I was really excited to see them as a headlining act. They played a bunch of tracks from their two released albums, Into the Realm & The Bestiary, plus their newest single, "Siren." They also included bass, guitar and drum solos. I've never seen crowd surfing during a guitar solo before, so this was something new. They are a 4-piece band featuring Riley Pinkerton (vocals) as "The Rat Queen," Franco Vittore (guitar) as "The Count," Charley Ruddell (bass) as "The Plague Doctor," and Joshua Strmic as "The Druid," with stage performer Madeline Wright as "The Rat Reaperess." They performed countless rituals, sword fights and magic potions, and featured multiple costumed creatures, highlighted by the "Rat Reaperess," joined by a giant wizard, a wolf, a Pegasus-looking unicorn and a snake.

It was a pleasure to see more from this band; when I last saw them, they only played four songs. This longer set featured the added onstage performances with the extra characters. This show featured those additional props coming out during almost every song. I made it a point to photograph all of these added creatures, along with some of the fight scenes, which makes for excellent photography and visuals, turning it into a full-out performance! If you're unaware of the band's stage presence and the acts they perform, there are plenty of online video performances showing you all of the key parts. One recommended performance is a great live video on YouTube on KEXP. This is an excellent showing of this band, and you can see many of their stage antics. They put on a great entertaining show and, if you get a chance to see them, definitely do so! I really enjoyed the show. Castle Rat has been playing in the background at work for the past few days. Also, I loved how they closed the show to a recording of "Blue Öyster Cult's" "Don't Fear the Reaper," such a fitting song to close out the show. Another highlight I don't usually see is that no one left early. The crowd roar was intense when they finished their set. I expect a lot of great things for this band in the future. I'm sure they know they've got something special going and they need to release their next album and maybe get onto a major tour as the main support act, kinda like what Ghost did by opening for Iron Maiden years ago. Look out, world - The Rat Queen and her loyal subjects are coming to get you!