| Artist | Crystal Castles |
|---|---|
| Album | Crystal Castles (II) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Album DR | 08 |
| Min. track DR | 05 |
| Max. track DR | 12 |
| Track DR |
09
05
06
10
09
10
10
07
12
06
07
08
08
09
|
| Codec | Other lossy codec |
| Source | CD |
| Label | Fiction Records |
| Label code | LC 6444 or LC 06444 |
| Catalog number | |
| Bar code | |
| Country | Toronto, Ontario |
| Comment | This pointless War claims another victim, & this time it's a potentially enjoyable album. But as soon as the beat/Drums adds to the mess, the entire sound becomes an awful fog of distortion as every sound jumps out of what would have been a sagacious & mysterious mix to fight for the highest volume. The treble has especially taken a pounding. I can only presume that they mastered it for internet playback more than headphones, Sound Systems, AV Receivers or Media Centres. It grinds away at your ear drums at a harsh but limited screech & just doesn't sound pure at all. As it should do. The Mids suffer from this nasty side effect of "all or nothing". It's totally unbalanced to such an extent that many of the snares, Keys, FX, Vocals & other sounds end up pitching in with the higher treble frequencies. This is known as being "swamped". Worse than that; when they're compensating for this, they crackle & clip as the panning, the attack from the lower end, & vocal reverbs gobble up as much wave colour as possible. But the real head in hands moments come from turning the tracks down & beholding the sheer level of ambiguity. This is clearly a case for the new repértoire of incompetence where by a lack of knowledge & experience in perspicacious layering results in a reliance on limiting failsafes’ & compression recklessness. It sounds atrocious yes, & if you were to release this in 1980, it would have been shot down for this very reason. But the sad truth is that many like this new linear brick wall sound, & many think it sounds good. This is because it sounds gritty & powerful. Like guitar distortion did at first. But as for everything else that dynamics entail, they are absent. This is a good album. But I shall never listen to it, for the reasons stated above. 8 out of 13 is still in the RED & it needs to be Mastered by someone who appreciates dynamic range before it's ready for the test of time. Leaving Compression/Limiting Alone: 3/10 Mix: 5/10 Master: 3/10 Ease of Listen: 4/10 Desire to Turn Up: 2/10 17/50 (34%) |
| Algorithm | TT DR Offline Meter (or compatible) |