Crystal Castles III (Crystal Castles)

THE third full-length album released by this Canadian electronic duo lacks the sonic punch that made their first two albums such compelling listens.

Crystal Castles

THE third full-length album released by this young Canadian electronic duo lacks the immediate sonic punch that made their first two albums such compelling listens.

It's their darkest set yet, but that isn't such a bad thing. It shows that producer Ethan Kath and vocalist Alice Glass seek artistic growth, and that they're not content to stay within their comfort zone.

With their 2008 self-titled debut, Crystal Castles emerged with a fully formed sound that merged synth-led pop ideals with ugly, distorted chiptune sounds, born from Kath's experimentation with bending circuitry. The music they produced was unique four years ago and remains so.

As with previous releases, the vocals on Crystal Castles III often take on an eerie quality, as Glass rarely sings without the aid of pitch-shifting effects. Those few phrases that are allowed to penetrate through the wash of sound are stark and blunt: "Catch a moth, hold it in my hand / Crush it casually," she sings sweetly on Affection, yet the song ends with a cold, cyborg-like voice stating: "We drown in pneumonia, not rivers and streams."

This merging of man and machine seems to be one of Crystal Castles' main goals and they're bloody good at it; most of the time there's little sense that human beings had a hand in creating this work. They did, of course, and they undoubtedly worked hard, yet Crystal Castles III gives off no sense of struggle. This isn't their most accessible release - that is 2010's II - but it's still a fine extension of their effortless sound, at once beautiful and ugly; intentionally flawed, yet polished to near-perfection.

LABEL: Shock
RATING: 3.5 stars