Crystal Lake; conjures images of peaceful waters or New Age hippy stuff. How about a hardcore/metalcore band from Japan? No? Well, now you know! This band crushes relentlessly on their latest release. True North will make your teeth rattle, cause your blood pressure to rise and your head to bang furiously!
I love a dash or two of metalcore and this band do it in a very classy way. They lull you into a false sense of serenity, then unleash a barrage of riffing and growling that makes you truly terrified.
The band are made up of Yudai Miyamoto on guitar, Shinya Hori on guitar, Ryo Kinoshita on vocals and Gaku Taura on drums.
Their sound is a quirky mix of metalcore and more melodic hardcore. However, the results are aggressive but forged on a solid bedrock of melody and interesting time changes. Key song is “Metro” to provide a counterpoint to the frantic pace and give the album a real quality anthem. Likewise, “Breathe Deeper” shows the real musical maturity of the band, bringing a Jimmy Eat World/Rise Against vibe to the record. This shows admirable ambition and a willingness not to get shackled to one genre of metal. Powerful.
Other standout tracks include “Black And Blue“, with its Nu Metal sensibility and the panoramic “Walk On Water“, which breaks into end song epic “Waves“. This is so good, it literally demands your attention and crackles with a seemingly endless energy.
The album is well produced, with a modern sound that pushes the shredding to the fore and the whole collection sounds like a band on fire. It is a fine record, full of ambition and a true sense of knowing that this is something special being provided. Needless to say, I am very interested to see what the future holds for these guys and how they will continue to evolve on their chosen path.
Great album…Interesting sound…Crystal clear?
Buy: Crystal Lake – True North
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