MINDFUL OF CASTEVET

By some incredible combination of having my head up my ass and just being too busy, until this past Saturday I’d never witnessed NYC’s Castevet play live (though I’d enjoyed their wares online). But the minute they started playing I immediately knew why Decibel Magazine, our own Kip Wingerschmidt and countless friends had been so excited about them… they’re an astonishingly tight live band.

Please believe me when I say “astonishingly tight” — that’s probably even an understatement. More like 3-year-old’s-asshole / hipster-jeans / Riker’s Island security tight — so, so, so tight.

Joshua Scott’s rumbling bass and Andrew Hock’s atmospheric guitars and unique harmonic structures create the sonic palette that pulls the listener in and defines the shape of their sound. No disrespect meant at all to those two tremendous musicians, but it’s really drummer Ian Jacyszyn that holds the whole thing together. It’s rare you see a drummer who plays as precisely, creatively, as full of finesse and hits as hard as Ian does behind the kit for a band whose sonic framework is grounded in black metal. And that’s what makes Castevet so awesome; they’re totally next-level, like post- or -uber- or experimental- or progressive or SOME new breed of black metal, though I’d like to avoid sticking to any of those prefixes because they all have pre-conceived associations which don’t apply to Castevet.

Trust me on this one and check out Castevet on Bandcamp and Myspace, and of course make sure you see them live when they come around. Boston-area residents can catch them at The Midway on march 5th. Thanks to Atanamar at Mindful of Metal for the excellent show write-up; sorry I missed you that night, buddy.

Download a free Castevet track on Volume 1 of NYC Sucks, our free digital compilation highlighting the best of NYC’s metal scene.

-VN