Crystal Lake "The Weight Of Sound" - ALBUM REACTION / REVIEW
Added 2026-01-28 18:04:05 +0000 UTCBeen a fan of Crystal Lake for years, and now with John taking over vocals with Ryo leaving the band, let's find out how he does with "The Weight Of Sound"
Comments
Hey Birb and Chat just thought I should let you know if you waiting on New Deafheaven I think you should check out the new album DREAMCRUSH by this band called MOL. Similar style Blackgaze I think you might enjoy. Hope you all have a great day!
Trevor Burns
2026-01-30 08:53:31 +0000 UTCFor me, I'm a huge fan of Crystal Lake and somewhat owe it a lot to them since Omega and the True North album was what got me into Metalcore to begin with all those years ago, so they hold a very special place in my heart. Needless to say, it was VERY heartbreaking to learn of Ryo's condition and subsequent departure from the band, but since the first auditions that they've posted on YouTube, I've been following John's journey, as well as the various interviews that the band members released (in both Japanese and English media), so I've been feeling quite open-minded and really understanding of the band's mindset when it comes to YD (The only OG Crystal Lake member left from 2002) and the others' decision to be continuing as a band (They almost decided to disband after Ryo's departure), how they're approaching music now as opposed to 10 years ago, and the journey to not just cultural exchange with John who comes from the completely different side of the world, but understand one another on a humanity level, rather than just the band being a "business". So now when it comes to The Weight of Sound, with the context above, a LOT of these songs are written both during their first few tours with John (Dystopia and Sinner was, which was a bit over 2 years ago at this point), and some are un-released concepts from the Ryo days that they never got to refine until now (Don't Breathe is one of them). in my humble opinion I'd like to consider this as more of something akin to a "Concept Album" where they're both experimenting with certain sounds, as well as show the existing fanbase that "John can do these sounds that we did previously well too" rather than trying to reinvent the wheel too much from the get-go. There's a saying in my language that goes something along the lines of "Throwing rocks to find the correct path". And with this Album showing the range and experimentation of sounds that they can now do and refine with John moving forwards, they will now have a much better idea and direction on what kind of sounds the fans like WITH John, and really try to nail that general style either by the next releases, or the entire album as a whole. To me, I feel like True North was that "Concept Album" for Ryo, before going straight into the Helix sound, which is vastly different from originally Crystal Lake's sound with Veron (their original singer before Ryo). So overall with that in mind, I'm very happy with this album, and if anything it just makes me more excited to see what they can do for the future with John. Personal favorites are Everblack, The Undertow, Dystopia, and Don't Breathe, hoping they can try to expand on the interesting ideas from these tracks and mold them into something "unique" to Crystal Lake! Thanks for checking out the album and opening up the discussion, Birb! P.S. YD (Guitarist and Songwriter) says that Final Fantasy is his favorite game series, and Rebirth was actually kind of written as a small "tribute" to Final fantasy 16 haha
Azelyra
2026-01-29 19:33:35 +0000 UTCLmao ngl that’s actually pretty funny how backwards they got it
METALBIRB
2026-01-29 02:48:30 +0000 UTCLMAO the whole bridge in Dystopia has the wrong lyrics, and the song is actually very much anti-authoritarian. The actual lyrics are: “Broken in the mind, train your people to deny Infiltrating the home, systematically divide Bang, bang, bang, spiral deeper, open wide Slip away into a dream, breathe deep, close your eyes” Spotify FUCKED up big time. I think that the lyrics for most of the songs on this album are incorrect on Spotify. In all honesty, you’re better off using genius for song lyrics because Spotify fucks up the lyrics for so many songs. They probably just use a shitty AI to try and figure out what the screaming is saying.
Cam Drouilhet
2026-01-29 00:50:25 +0000 UTC
