Thanks for the RAT ! ! !

I remember when I learned the difference between "lunch" and "luncheon"—lunch just happens, it's the midday meal, for many of us, while luncheons are "held." Ladies hold luncheons—women attend, sometimes girls, sometimes men—but luncheons are held, by ladies, and usually in someone's honor. My fantasy is that Jezebel mag holds a luncheon in Nightbitch's honor—it'll be then that I know we are all truly equal, and fearlessly so, and mere words will cease to have the power we imbue them with, when neo-feminists can celebrate (and they should) such a testosterone-laden TRUE METAL combo as our guests last night. For anyone who ever wore a chain wallet, and / or held up the horns in earnest, Nightbitch are your band, and I joke, as there are plenty of chicks who can raise up music like Nightbitch, and are perhaps even more devoted, true metalheads than many a dude who finds himself swimming in the metal gene pool.

My point? We lost one such woman this week—Katherine Ludwig, founding editor of Metal Maniacs magazine (remember print media, kids?)—a Mom, a generous friend, a straight shooter, and as true as true metal enthusiasts get. She shall be missed, by many. R.I.P., Katherine—your suffering is over, and now you have all the time to fly by night, and soak up all the great metal music the universe has to offer, watch over your son, and carry your righteous nature into the misty afterlife.

Getting back to our special, live guests, rarely if ever has My Castle of Quiet been in more solid, classic-metal territory—with swirling lead guitar (Ryan Adams, also with former Castle guests One Master, their 2013 live set subsequently published on CS by NoVisible Scars), chunky Hammond organ, and the most-solid of solid back lines. Starting with the theme from Phantasm, then launching into a set of their simply great original songs, that also included choice covers from Iron Maiden and Deep Purple, Nightbitch laid it down for all to hear, and their outstanding, new, self-titled 10" releases on The Ajna Offensive on March 15 (beware!)

Last night's horrorcast™ also featured the exclusive premiere of two tracks from the upcoming Leather Chalice / GIDIM split tape on Broken Limbs Recordings, both bands fitting right in to the Castle pantheon—filthy, idiosyncratic, one-man black metal projects that are worthy of your extreme focus—cassette edition of 100 releases on Feb. 17.

Also new last night, another Castle premiere of sorts, by the one-of-a-kind Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom, the 2010 album by this mighty, Pagan, Motörhead-inspired Birmingham combo, to be reissued on tape by the mighty Caligari Records.

Also of note on our playlist, new selections by former Castle guests IDES | the great Vorde | Kyle Eyre Clyd (2014 live Castle collab with Rodger Stella just posted!; Kyle Eyre Clyd on SoundCloud) | ...as well as a track by the ever-present R. Nikolaenko, and some dark dynamite on cassette from México's Horrendus. Our opening set also featured a much-appreciated (see our headline, above) classic track from Deep Purple In Rock.

Thanks for listening, and for your many effusive comments aimed at our special guests. Click above on the translucently pale, alluring Tilda Swinton (having just sampled "the good stuff"), from Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive, an uncommon, landmark vampire saga—to reach the playlist, listener comments and audio stream of last night's horrorcast.