aaamusic | On 24, May 2011

Dubbed garage rock, Crystal Swells combine a 90’s Garbage sound with modern contemporaries such as The Arctic Monkeys, sounding particularly similar to their third album Humbug.  The group’s latest release Patent Trolls has a downbeat tone created by the slow yet downtrodden tempo of the guitars, offering up a delightfully sorrowful depressive sound.

Although the song has some impressive stuff, the intentionally crap sound created when the chorus peaks does the group no favours.  Sounding like a gig recording on an old Nokia phone, it manages to wreck some simplistic yet tuneful noise the group had produced.  Although the ‘fuzz’ or guitar feedback has apparently become a cornerstone of the bands work, it’s completely unnecessary and should die a death so the band can grow.

All in all Patent Trolls is a solid rock track, a throwback to garage in the mid-90’s.  Whilst you can bemoan the producers thick decision to add the guitar feedback to the track, aside from this you have a nice rock number that indie/rock fans can both enjoy.

Author: Tom Crowther