Anonymous Ophelia artist Caster uncovers eerie Halloween-themed EP, ‘Black Sands’

November 2, 2020

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Twelve months ago, mysterious bass producer Caster released his debut single, “The Summoning,” on New Dawn Collective. The track surprised listeners with its brutal take on dubstep, blending the elements of horror and orchestra into bass music. With each single, he took on a different genre while keeping the cohesiveness of his horror-driven sound. From dubstep, trance, drum & bass, melodic, midtempo, and even “witch trap,” the one thing known of Caster is that he has a heavy love of spooky sounds. On the one year anniversary of his project launch, Castor now releases his debut four-track EP, titled Black Sands, on Ophelia Records.

The Black Sands EP gleans extremely ominous and foreboding, with Caster bringing about moments of heavy midtempo madness and breaths of eery bliss. From the glitched-out tones of openers “Ishtar” and “Ifrit,” to the Earthlinger-assisted “Khnum” with its middle Eastern inflections, to the haunting, trashing energy of the closing track, “Curse of the Silk Road,” Caster builds a highly-cinematic allure to pull listeners into his records. Then he takes them into wildly-unexpected and highly-experimental territories. When asked what influenced the direction of the EP, Caster stated that it was inspired by Seven Lions‘ more experimental tracks “Summer Of The Occult” and “Isis.”

After releasing a track almost every month since his debut, Caster finally locked down a collaboration with friend and inspiration, Swarm. The two horror-themed artists brought forth utter chaos with their track, “Blood.” Caster then revealed a track on Ophelia Record’s new annual compilation, Advent, with his track “Chimera,” which impressed Seven Lions himself, who Caster has stated is his “biggest inspiration.” Recently, Caster unleashed his earth-shattering track, “The Lunar Ritual,” on Excision‘s new label, Subsidia Records.