Castle Rat

Castle Rat is a Brooklyn heavy metal band led by Riley Pinkerton, who performs as The Rat Queen alongside The Count on lead guitar, The Plague Doctor on bass, and The Druid on drums. Formed in 2019 after a last-minute Halloween booking turned a band name into a full mythology, the group plays what they call medieval fantasy doom metal: Black Sabbath riffs dropped into a Frank Frazetta painting, delivered live with handmade chainmail, swords, and a choreographed on-stage battle against their nemesis, The Rat Reaperess. Their 2025 album The Bestiary funded itself in thirty-seven minutes on Kickstarter, debuted at number eleven on the UK rock and metal chart, and landed on Rolling Stone's fifteen best metal albums of the year. Decibel Magazine ran them as its October 2025 cover story, and the spring 2026 tour has them opening arenas for Amon Amarth and Dethklok.