Crystal Castles — Crystal Castles

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A Radiohead
B Fiery Furnaces

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Crystal Castles — Crystal Castles

Crystal Castles

Last Gang

Scott Bryson (CHARTattack)

03/18/2008 4:51pm

3 comments

love it

hate it

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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Thu, 02/26/2009 - 9:16pm — Expendable Crew...

Expendable Crew...
Thu, 02/26/2009 - 9:16pm

I signed up to this site not 10 minutes ago to rebuke a terribly written review of a fabulous record. Afterwards I decided to search the site for a few of my other favorite bands, and see what the good word was.

Immediately I ran into another piece of trash from the same reviewer - Mr. Scott Bryson.

Please tell me, editors of CHARTattack, why is this guy is allowed to write about music? He provides no musical knowlege or insight. He is quick to trash bands. He fails to inform the reader with anything they might want to know. This is tabloid journalism at best.

Perhaps a band does or does not interest a reviewer, but that reviewer provides no value to the reader by searching for new and creative ways to insult the artists. Readers will want to know your personal tastes and opinions to a certain extent, but they're far more interested in what the music is about, what it sounds like, what it is comparable to, and where the artists are coming from.

Please CHARTattack, do no allow Mr. Bryson to continue his petty attacks on the bands we come here to read about. Move him aside and allow a real journalist to take his place.

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Thu, 02/26/2009 - 11:32pm — solaris24

solaris24
Thu, 02/26/2009 - 11:32pm

Take a pill, the review's not half as bad as you say it is. His points seem completely valid to me, and if he attacks the band at all, it's pretty unnoticable.

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Fri, 02/27/2009 - 10:08am — Chris Burland

Chris Burland
Fri, 02/27/2009 - 10:08am

It's interesting to note that you could be accused of the exact same things you complain about in your 'review' of Scott Bryson's review. You seem to provide no insight and you seem to even misconstrue his analysis of the band and their album. As Frank Zappa once said many many years ago, "writing music is like dancing about archetecture." This is especially true when attempting to explain what "the music is about" or "where the artists are coming from".

For my two cents worth, the album reminds too much of a tabloid-throwaway of an Atari Teenage Riot album from a decade ago.