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Aug 29, 2016It would be unwise to view Amnesty (I) as the rebirth of Crystal Castles; it's simply the next step in the band's evolution, a welcome return.
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Aug 18, 2016At best, it suggests that Crystal Castles are entering a more mellow and accessible phase in their career, potentially welcoming new fans, and at worst, it suggests that Crystal Castles have lost the bite that made them so exhilarating in the first place.
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Sep 7, 2016Even if Amnesty lacks some of the intensity of Crystal Castles' earlier work, it accomplishes the tricky task of providing common ground and a fresh start.
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UncutSep 2, 2016Kath pillages heartily from Belgian new beat, braindance, electroclash and EDM cheese to forge brutally effective industrial lullabies. [Oct 2016, p.26]
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Sep 1, 2016At its best, this proves a smart move, and elsewhere, it just shows that albums need only be as long as they can remain interesting.
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Aug 18, 2016Like him or hate him, Kath can compose stirring electro-maniacal rhythms like no one's business. And Frances captures and carries the tortured exclamation of the first three Crystal Castles albums with conviction.
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Aug 18, 2016The band's melancholic core remains intact on a record that's best listened to through headphones in a big coat while crying. What is noticeable in its absence is any foray into flat out, ear-grating noise á la 'Doe Deer' or 'Alice Practice'.
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Sep 1, 2016So as good as it often is, Amnesty feels like a missed opportunity, the first safe album from an act that once would have recoiled at such a thought.
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Aug 19, 2016This is an unpredictable album, thrillingly and engagingly so.
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MojoSep 6, 2016Amnesty's dark, metallic electro-pop creates an overwhelming Strum Und Drang. [Oct 2016, p.99]
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Aug 24, 2016Ultimately, it’s confusion that remains at the end of Amnesty (I). Crystal Castles always were an uncomfortable band, but the bumpy conception of this album and the awkward introduction of new ideas dampen even its most teeth-chattering moments.
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Aug 22, 2016If the sense of overfamiliarity is a bit disappointing for a band once lauded as experimentalists, producer Ethan Kath has also retained his knack for writing terrific hooks and warped melodies. Ornament and Kept are nuggets of brilliantly disjointed electropop.
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Aug 19, 2016The record doesn’t achieve a great deal in saying anything new. It’s far from a disaster, though. ... The main issue with Amnesty (I) is that Crystal Castles needed to say something different.
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Aug 18, 2016The result is an album that, while impressively intense, lacks the human urgency of their earlier work.
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Aug 18, 2016No alarms and no real surprises, yet the execution carries Crystal Castles 2.0 through.
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Aug 18, 2016The album meets all goth-adjacent indie-dance needs squarely. It doesn't, however, ever transcend those needs.
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Aug 22, 2016The first product from Crystal Castles 2.0 is a mixed bag of nostalgia, proficiency, and carefully staged continuity.
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Sep 13, 2016Sometimes, Kath will try to replicate the past with a house-oriented number like Frail, where Francis tries her best to replicate Glass’s contagious shrieking but without the same stage presence. In spite of this, Amnesty (I) isn’t afraid of glossing over its faults in hopes of trying out new things.
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Sep 7, 2016The central dichotomous tension is blandly predictable (loud-quiet-loud-quiet), the songwriting occasionally sharp, but its political themes--like its vocalist--are lost in the fury.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 61 out of 86
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Mixed: 18 out of 86
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Negative: 7 out of 86
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Aug 19, 2016
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Sep 24, 2016
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Sep 1, 2016