ALBUM REVIEW: Helix – Crystal Lake

Japanese heavyweights CRYSTAL LAKE have been dominating Asia for quite some time now but over the last couple of years their genre defying, high energy slabs of metal have been taking hold of European and American shores sealing support slots with the likes of BURY TOMORROW and AUGUST BURNS RED as well as being announced for a string of festival dates in the coming months. Their fifth studio album, and follow up to True North, entitled Helix is due for release on February 15th via SharpTone Records and is poised to blow your heads clean off.

The album commences with an incredibly short robotic intro which dives straight into the instantaneous chaos of single release Aeon. Right out of the gates you are bludgeoned with nitrous injected drum work, vicious screams and crushing intensity leaving nothing to the imagination. You will not find a more emphatic statement of intent for the remainder of the year. The weak of heart may need a few moments to catch their breath after this jarring burst of mechanised devastation. Once your head has stopped spinning the energy continues into following track Agony, which follows suit in a similarly crazy fashion but atmospherics and melodic hooks begin to seep through the cracks in the carnage. +81 sounds remarkably different to its counterpart with bouncy, addictive riffing and enticing rapped verses. This is destined to be a crowd pleaser if unleashed in a live setting with its ridiculously intoxicating chorus line and funky bass lines.

The sprinting drums of Lost In Forever come surging into view as CRYSTAL LAKE channel their inner WHILE SHE SLEEPS throwing waves of emotionally charging vocals and a lively melodic hardcore style beat. Helix continues to throw curveballs at every twist and turn which leave the listener wondering what else they can possibly bring to the table. Outgrow allows a little time to recharge as it introduces calming melodies and a subdued pace whilst still maintaining a dramatic energy. Another short excerpt in the shape of Ritual‘s tribalistic chanting tees up the crunchy, hard-hitting riffing of Hail To The Fire. This track is the equivalent of SOULFLY being possessed by the soul of a demonic presence. The pace is significantly increased and the breakdown which follows sounds delightfully evil.

Devilcry immerses you into subtle lead work and spoken word before kicking into another charged burst of intoxicating guitar work and rapid fire vocals keeping the experimentation at the forefront. Just Confusing is quite an appropriate choice of title as the eccentricity reaches fever pitch. Disturbing, wailing vocals and electronic meddling form the basis of an increasingly perplexing handful of minutes before ‘normality’ resumes with the intense blastbeats of Apollo. Mind bending riff work keeps you on your toes as it ducks and weaves between boisterous, heavy tones and tactful melodies which somehow meet in the middle to compose an impressive, inviting arrangement. The rest of Helix is so dramatically diverse that the impact of Sanctuary suffers through no fault of its own. The track structure seems to feel too familiar to previous tracks, this is by no means a negative but CRYSTAL LAKE set the bar so high throughout that you kind of become slightly greedy and expect more from the crescendo.

Helix is a compacted explosion of crazy, eccentric lunacy which will leave you reeling for the majority of it’s run time. If you doubted that CRYSTAL LAKE could match the intensity of Aeon for a full album then you couldn’t be more wrong. There are few bands which could come close to matching the sheer energy expelled from this release and there is no doubt that jaws will be dropping all over the world when this album hits the shelves.

Rating: 9/10

Helix is due for release on February 15th via SharpTone Records.

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