Crystal Castles don’t care about the backlash against band, but should they? Well, especially after releasing this, they should be open to any criticism, otherwise things might not end up well. Or maybe it’s already too late?
Canadian group’s first effort since Alice Glass’ departure is a shockingly bad collection of dated and evidently unfinished songs. Duo is clearly out of fresh ideas – Edith Frances tries way too hard to sound like her predecessor, while Ethan Kath’s production falls flat. While more ambitious tracks (Teach Her How to Hunt, Their Kindness Is Charade) don’t work out at all and hit really low lows, surprisingly not everything on Amnesty is that bad. Album’s only decent cuts, Char and Frail (I would have also mentioned Kept, but it has been downgraded last minute to a bonus track) may obviously not be on the same level as highlights from their previous releases, but definitely sound promising.
It’s hard to say if Crystal Castles played it safe this time. They offered us something new and unusual with each record and here we’ve got a bunch of (III)-era rejects with re-recorded vocals. So maybe playing it safe is the new not playing it safe?
1 / 5