Crystal Castles

(III)

The success of (III) is how it brings you close enough to the evil that men do to be shocked, repulsed, and affected by it.

I still can’t make up my mind whether Crystal Castles peaked too early and are now coasting, or if this is their new peak.

III is less playful than the duo’s previous couple of offerings, but it’s thematic mood is much tighter and more fully realized.

(III) is the sound of two people jumping off the edge of the world by their own free will.

Rarely is an electronic album like sparked with such radical confidence.

With III, Kath and Glass have refined their sound to a point of supreme clarity and confidence, but its progression is essentially conservative.

III is appropriately titled, as it’s a progression for the band, but one that is also inextricably linked to its predecessors.

(III) is worthwhile in that it is an interesting take on dance music, yet that doesn’t seem quite enough for a group predicated on delivering an onslaught of emotional energy.

In running time and number of songs, (III) may be their shortest album, but it’s also their most cohesive personal statement yet.

It isn't what you'd expect with Crystal Castles. Normally you're left wondering at what point in proceedings they're going to try and set fire to your carpet.

A quantum leap it ain’t – and Glass could do with putting her fangs back in – but ‘(III)’ has just enough up its sleeve to keep Crystal Castles on track.

What’s left is moodier and muddier, overly dark and rarely danceable, with little of the excitement or energy we’re used to from this band.

The third record titled Crystal Castles is considerably less inviting and less extreme than its eponymous predecessors.

Crystal Castles try to go all deep on us, but instead make a flat and boring record that loses what made the band so great in the first place.

Instead of anarchist dance jams full of crunchy 8-bit noise, (III) is more like a static-filled radio station fading in and out of range. 

While Crystal Castles continues writing some decent electropop tunes, on III the Toronto duo sees fit to decorate all of them with generic drum timbres and an overabundance of reverb.

Now though – giving strength to that gloomy notion that most bands get more boring as they go on – it sounds more like music to get off your face to; there's very little on this third LP that could qualify as "experimental".