Crystal Castles — Crystal Castles

The hype machine's been in overdrive for a few months and it's finally time for this Toronto duo to show and prove. Are Crystal Castles going to be the next biggest band on Earth? With only this debut full-length as evidence, the answer is still "maybe."

The problem with this self-titled effort, is that two very different bands showed up to make it. Half of its tracks were made by the Crystal Castles everyone has heard about — the pair who describe their music as "thrash/thrash/thrash" and routinely cause riots at their live performances — and it's clear that this is when these two are at their best. The other Crystal Castles on display here are better suited for post-rave chillout listening and bears no resemblance to their psyche-smashing alter-ego.

At 16 tracks, there's just too much here. This disc could have easily been cut down into something truly mind-blowing.

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