Friday, November 20, 9 PM Castle, Humungus, Bestial Evil, Dirt Merchant @ Strange Matter – $8 Old-school 80s-style power metal will reign once more at Strange Matter this Friday night, making this show the perfect end to a week that has no doubt featured its share of struggles for all of us. Castle come our way from the Bay Area, and though I can definitely tell what leads people to occasionally lump this band in with the ever-popular doom trend, I think that’s ultimately a misnomer. No, this band draws from the sort of spooky, heavy, epic-tinged metal that dominated the British scene in the early 80s–though there’s also a significant dose of mid-70s boogie thrown in there. Think Holocaust mixed with Pentagram, maybe? Either way, you’ll need to be prepared for serious headbangs, and not just because of Castle’s set. Local 80s-throwback power metal ragers Humungus have been blowing RVA metal fans away for years with their killer riffs and wild, beer-fueled warrior metal. Now they’re finally satisfying everyone who’s been waiting years for a followup to their “Drinkin’ A Beer” single, and they’ll have copies of their new CD for sale at this show. But the opportunity to buy one of those is less than half the fun–as any local metalhead whose been paying attention knows, these guys have an incredible live set to unleash upon us all, and headbanging will be a must! With some rough death-thrash from Maryland’s Bestial Evil, and a raging stoner-ish hard rock set from RVA’s own Dirt Merchant, this show will get started in fine fashion promptly at 10 PM. Get ready to rock!