Castle Rat Share 'Cry For Me' Single From 'Into The Realm' LP

Castle Rat — the story-driven Medieval Fantasy Doom Metal band from Brooklyn known for its theatrical, action-packed live shows complete with full costumes, choreographed sword fighting, and fake blood — is releasing their highly anticipated album, Into the Realm, through King Volume Records on April 12th, 2024. 

“It's taken a couple years to see this record through, and it is so exciting and rewarding to finally be welcoming it into the world. A huge part of the time it's taken to release it has been finding someone we could trust to see our vision and bring Into The Realm into the universe with the same amount of love and passion we poured into it — and King Volume is undoubtedly that label," wrote vocalist Riley Pinkerton.

Following the release of the project's first two singles ("Feed the Dream" and "Dagger Dragger"), the group returns today with a third cut entitled "Cry For Me."

"'Cry For Me' is a reawakening," writes Pinkerton. "It's the reintegration of every fragment of yourself you've ever pared off or given away, and the sensation of regaining control over a vessel you had once thought to be shattered, unworthy of repair.  It is pain and it is becoming well enough to feel that pain, while cherishing this very ability to finally feel. It is the song of the first tingling footstep landing on a treacherous, overgrown path to seek the strength of self-unification."

The arrival of "Cry For Me" comes alongside an accompanying music video, additionally featuring intro track "The Mirror." The visual, filmed entirely on VHS in Upstate NY, finds The Rat Queen in the midst of a snow-shrouded battle, later joining forces with her bandmates for an epic performance of the track.

As Pinkerton wrote on the video and its creation:

"Via the power of The Realm, I was fortunate enough to successfully manifest New York's first (and perhaps only) heavy snowstorm of the winter, in alignment with our video shoot. However, the journey to the location was harrowing — watching cars slip and slide off the highway kept tensions high on the 2+ hour long drive from NYC — but miraculously, the band made it safely upstate. They arrived shaken, but in one piece, and we managed to pull off the entire music video shoot in a matter of hours. 

The entire video was shot on VHS by our friend and longtime visual collaborator Kathryn Barnish, who directed and edited the video as well. I also collaborated with Dillan Archer on creating the classically campy castle archway for the video set, which was hosted in his backyard. I am very proud of how this DIY-style production turned out. My aim was for this video to feel like looking through a portal to another time, and the whole team nailed it start to finish."

Photo by Olivia Cummings