MASSEMORD / THE FRONT / VALDUR
3-Way Split
(BlackMetal.com)

FUNEBRARUM
The Sleep of Morbid Dreams
(Cyclone Empire)

EASPA MEASA / SILENCE
Split
(Acclaim / Sadness of Noise)

BURMESE
Monkeys Tear Man to Shreds, Man Never Forgives Ape, Man Destroys Environment
(Enterruption)

CONSTANTS
The Foundation, The Machine, The Ascension
(The Mylene Sheath)

AMBASSADOR GUN
When in Hell

(Pangea)

DUSTED ANGEL
7"

(Corrupt Rcordings)

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This is what I call ‘delicious crunch’. A fat, fuzzy, foggy, blurry, hazy, muzzy, bleary, enduring, lasting, withstanding distortion that through sheer chunk lets you peek into its insides. The structure, the construction, the geography, the mapping, the melody may not be audible to most ordinary humans, but to you, lover of the heavy, metal fan, underground possum, elitist fuck, it sounds just like heaven and a strawberry. And Dark Castle are all about that.  What could be banal to most, is gold to this duo.  Too fat to move. Too heavy to be dynamic. Too metal to call ‘sweet’' its beat. My ass. Spirited Migration is so good, just listening to it will make you less dumb.

Dark Castle hail from St Augustine, FL. A city so old it could be nothing but rubble and a memory. Spirited Migration is this co-ed’s duo first full-length and it follows a self-released 2007 EP. It sounds like a stoner rocker’s wet dream. Not because it sounds like Kyuss, or because it derives into a form of frenetic distorted heavy blues  but because it is dense as fog, it grooves in unfathomable ways and dooms like a foreseeable tragedy. It is also strangely beautiful, with brown notes not so intent on making us shit but directly attacking you with a sentimental bent. The moods of “Into the Past” for instance, are totally nostalgic. And heavy. Yeah, really heavy.

Some of the credit must go to producer Phillip Cope. This is his best work yet. Maybe it is the fact that as a duo, Dark Castle don’t clutter the ambience but Spirited Migration enjoys a soft and cushy but crushing sound.   It also sounds crystal clear. The girth of the fuzz is just the right measure. It let’s you hear the outstanding work of Stevie Floyd. She also sings, like an astral wounded monster telling you her woes. 

As a doom band, it is as much as the heaviness as it is about the pace and Spirited Migration alternate between mid-to-slow, right before the point of slumber. It’s a cadence that lets Dark Castle express monumental grief without the hassle of sounding boring and vacant like most funeral doom bands. Hands down; stellar record.

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