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Latest album True North channels Korn and (alas) Limp Bizkit, but it should still go off like a load of Semtex when they play Hong Kong

Review | Japanese metal heads Crystal Lake are ready to connect at Hidden Agenda

Latest album True North channels Korn and (alas) Limp Bizkit, but it should still go off like a load of Semtex when they play Hong Kong

Mark Peters
Crystal Lake
True North

Artery Recordings

Wildly popular in their homeland but relatively unknown elsewhere, Japanese metalcore veterans Crystal Lake look set to change that with the release of True North and its supporting tour, which will bring the headbangers to Hidden Agenda on April 2.True North finds the quintet expanding their sound by incorporating more breakdowns and blasts of nu-metal into their furious hard-core riffing, maybe in an attempt to appeal to a more Korn-fed audience. Unfortunately, with some of the rapped vocals, this effort often veers close to Limp Bizkit territory. Following the atmospheric instrumental opener, Alpha, frontman Ryo’s guttural growls and the pummelling twin bass drums explode like Semtex on Omega, a racket itself overwhelmed by the onslaught of Six Feet Under, which will surely terrify the boys and girls who go to see them in Kwun Tong.

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