Customer Ratings & Reviews

Crystal Castles is made up of two members: Ethan Kath who creates the music in each track and Alice Glass the main vocalist. They make vocally inspired electronic music. Each track is different ranging calming and gentle vocals and instruments to loud distorted and abrasive instruments with screaming vocals pushed to the point of clipping the audio. Most people will find listening to the calmer tracks to be enjoyable while being turned off to the loud abrasive nature of some of the other tracks. I personally enjoyed the louder tracks, especially the transition on the album from celestica to doe deer. Its such a sudden change of pace and i love it. For the average listener some parts can be unappealing and noisy but i recommend giving it multiple listens to really get into the harder tracks. The cd is a jewelcase with a mini fold out booklet inside, very nice looking but a bit of a dull design, the disk itself looks nice though. Id strongly recommend this record (8/10). Favourite Track: Doe Deer, Made of Chalk

This is the second Crystal Castles CD, and while hardcore purist fans may find it to be too "pop" compared to their first CD, which was noted for its underground 8-bit video game samples, the obvious "maturity" of their new sound is still the cutting edge in electronica and will definitely make you shake and jump like you're at an all night rave or an exclusive underground techno-goth club straight out of the Matrix (or you may just start bustin' kung fu moves like you're moving in bullet time). The lyrics are buried in the mix, which may frustrate newer, more pop-oriented fans, but they can be deciphered from their website (www.crystalcastles.com) and reveal a band who is definitely in tune with the ennui of today's troubled world, but yet able to transcend it through emotional epiphanies. At times noisy, confrontational, and yet also exhilarating, It is definitely an alternative to the similarly artistic, but banal pop sensibility of Lady Ga Ga. Give it a shot and play it LOUD.