At this point I think it's obvious the Isis-clones have reached the end of their short lives (fingers crossed), and the bands that were unjustly lumped into that silly category have survived. I'm fucking sick of reading about how this band sounds like Isis. You reviewers need to slap your own wrists for sheer lack of a creative comparison. Now that is out of the way...

Dark Castle sounds like Dark Castle. A two piece band with enough volume and riffs to stand up to any other band in the doom metal genre, Dark Castle also holds power over every aspect of the group, musically and visually. Singer and guitarist, Stevie Floyd, contributes all artwork for the duo, and the band also makes all their own merch. Shove that punk ethic up your metal twat. After the self-released demo, "Flight of Pegasus", Dark Castle have pulled every aspect of their sound up ten notches. Solid songwriting, tight guitar-work, alongside punishing riffs, and equally heavy drumming makes for a pretty fucking entertaining album. Instead of sticking some half-assed "noise" track in for filler, Stevie and Rob pull some classical guitar out for the title track, only to hit you in the head again with "Growing Slow." Vocally, Stevie pisses all over the place and shows you the heaviest female vocals in metal today. Rob isn't playing fills to jerk off. He's playing what needs to be played, hitting hard as balls, and adding a disgustingly awesome low-end to Stevie's vocals. "Flight Beyond" drifts out of the doom genre into a psychedelic rock feel, that ends up sliding right back into heavy groove.

As watered down as newer "doom metal" is these days, Dark Castle proves there are still bands lumped into this genre that can involve other influences wisely. This is their first full length, and I'm very anxious to hear what's next.