Helix

Helix is the fifth studio album by Japanese metalcore band Crystal Lake. It was released on 28 November 2018 in Japan and on 15 February 2019 worldwide through SharpTone Records. It was produced by Daihei Yamanaka and the band themselves. It is the first release on this label since the band's departure from Artery Recordings. It is also the last album to feature their founding rhythm guitarist Shinya Hori before he left the band in 2020, and vocalist Ryo Kinoshita before his departure in September 2022. Background and promotion On 28 November 2018, SharpTone Records announced that they had signed the band to the label. The band released a new single and accompanying video for the song "Aeon". On the same day, the band released the album exclusively in Japan with no release dates yet for a worldwide release. Later in 2018, the band revealed the date for worldwide release. Critical reception The album received mostly positive reviews, but also mixed reviews from several critics. Already Heard rated the album 2.5 out of 5 and stated, "Working from the standard metalcore template new album Helix has the potential to succeed, throwing a whole host of electronics and wild vocal ideas into the mix. Listening to it is like reaching blindly into a party bag, surprising but ultimately, disappointing." Carlos Zelaya from Dead Press! rated the album positively calling it: "Crystal Lake clearly have plenty of dexterity and talent in abundance, but sometimes you're left wishing they could flex their left-field muscles a little more. To say that Helix is a bad album would be totally unfair, but at worst, parts of this album leave a lot to be desired. Including more songs such as 'Aeon' would be a big improvement for sure. The metalcore scene is only getting more and more crowded, and you've got to offer more than occasional glitchy bits in order to truly stand out." Distorted Sound scored the album 9 out of 10 and said: "Helix is a compacted explosion of crazy, eccentric lunacy which will leave you reeling for the majority of its run time. If you doubted that CRYSTAL LAKE could match the intensity of 'Aeon' for a full album then you couldn't be more wrong.