ALBUM REVIEWS

Crystal Castles
CRYSTAL CASTLES (II)
FICTION 6.7.10
@www.vanguard-online.co.uk


Crystal Castles divided opinion a fair bit when they released their debut album, despite it making it into NME’s 50 Albums of the Decade. The word used by the band’s Press Release is “uncompromising”, which I think also nicely sums up the sound of this, their second offering, titled following the Led Zeppelin method of just making all of their albums eponymous.

Opening track “Fainting Spells” will do exactly what it says on the tin: it’s a harsh opening that made me worry about what I was in for. When you move onto “Celestica”, things get a bit more Goldfrapp, but this solemnity is short lived, with “Doe Deer” a hardcore mess of a track. By the time we hit track four, the appropriately-named “Baptism”, we’ve seen the full spectrum of the band’s repertoire, and if you’re still hanging on, then it looks like you’ve passed the test.

The variety of musical styles on this album is just staggering. Every track is markedly different to the two either side of it, while somehow keeping enough similarity between them so that you can recognise them as being Crystal Castles tracks. That’s a skill. A skill that was quite likely aided by the fact that each track on this album was recorded in a different environment around the world, from a garage behind an abandoned convenience store in Detroit, via a cabin in Ontario through to a church in Iceland. That’s some dedication to their sound. Suddenly things start to make a bit more sense.

Beyond the opening salvo, things start to normalise a little; the tracks are slightly less varied and the true sound of Crystal Castles is brought out; that of the layered synth and techno music behind Alice Glass’s light vocals. Perhaps the best example of this combination comes with “Suffocation”.

This is very much a love it or hate it album. In my opinion, it’s a good offering once you’ve made it through the noise of the opening tracks; for all the hype about it being recorded across the globe, what Crystal Castles do best is the meat in the middle of this album.

Simon Middleyard

www.crystalcastles.com