The Goblin Got Robbed.
I went into this show respecting Castle Rat more than I loved them. Their albums had never quite grabbed me the way I wanted them to — fantasy doom built around songs about dragons, unicorns, and rats, a sound that grows on you slowly rather than announcing itself. I’d always compared them to early Ghost in my head: a small, mysterious five-piece in costumes, lo-fi recordings, a cult following that felt earned. But after the House of Blues Anaheim, I fully understand their explosion. They are a must-see live band.
Before Castle Rat hit the stage, Deathchant opened things up — a local act with something of an open-door lineup that didn’t matter at all once they started playing. The lead singer was shirtless with a rock voice that reminded me immediately of Matt Pike, and the crowd was already into it. Speaking of the crowd: holy shit was this place packed. I’ve been to plenty of shows at House of Blues Anaheim and I know how that room fills, but this was shoulder-to-shoulder in a way I hadn’t seen there before. The venue capacity is listed around 3,300 — I’m not buying that there were only 3,300 people in that room. Castle Rat had opened for Dethklok in Hollywood just a few days earlier, and that exposure translated directly into bodies packed against each other on a Sunday night.
The experience started well before the first note. Their merch booth was built like a castle wall — actual theming, not just a folding table — and they held a full costume contest before the set. The room was full of wizards, knights, goblins, peasants, and sorceresses. Three women took first, second, and third for their sorceress and warrior-champion outfits. A goblin — clearly the crowd’s favorite — was eliminated in the first round despite the entire room chanting “Goblin! Goblin! Goblin!” throughout the contest. If you know, you know.
Castle Rat came on stage in their own costumes — the Druid, the Count, the Plague Doctor, and finally Rat Queen Riley Pinkerton — and the room went wild. They opened with “Dagger Dagger” and the sound filled that venue in a way their records don’t for me at home. That’s the piece I wasn’t expecting. The albums are good; the live show is something else. Riley’s voice was the difference — hypnotic on record, but live she was stunning, moving between a whisper-pull and full-throated power in the same phrase without ever losing the thread. The mythology interludes between songs — story pieces that carry you through the lore of their world — landed differently too. On paper they sound like a gimmick. Committed and in costume, surrounded by 3,300 people who were fully in the lore? Well, it worked. A giant rat rolled onto the stage at some point and somehow that felt like the most natural thing in the room.
By the time “Fresh Fur” kicked off, I found myself smiling and quietly said “wow” to myself. That was the moment. That’s the feeling this site exists for, and Castle Rat gave it to me without me even being a diehard going in. Check them out if they come through your area. They won’t be playing venues this size for much longer.
Score: 8/10
Setlist
- Dagger Dagger
- Wizard
- Wolf I
- Fresh Fur
- Unicorn
- Path of Moss
- Feed the Dream
- Dragon
- Serpent
Encore:
- Cry for Me
- Siren