By freeing themselves from the retro chiptune style of their debut, Crystal Castles has managed to leap right into yet another predicament: how will they stand out now? The dreaded sophomore album, Crystal Castles, almost entirely sheds their glitchy sound for a more versatile electro-clash ear melter. Now they come off like a no-wave version of Broadcast. It really isn't an improvement, but respectful. If anything, they prove that they have legs beyond sounding like an old video game.
The first handful of tracks prove that the duo can still create an frightening amount of noise. Nothing is lost in the shock department. Something new this time around are some tracks that actually sound a bit pretty, Alice Glass even sings in a delicate voice from time to time. "Baptism" has a hypnotic rhythm to it. The augmented vocals in "Vietnam" sound like they were plucked right out of the Shatter soundtrack. Looks like they haven't entirely escaped the video game stigma.
Unfortunately, without a central theme, most of this album sails over my head. Even after multiple listens, only few tracks stand out to me. I could have said the same about the debut, but their gimmicky aesthetic kept me coming back wondering what I had just listened to. This album only left me trying to remember what I had just listened to.
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