CRYSTAL LAKE: Comebacks, changing lineups, and carrying The Weight of Sound

The Japanese metalcore five-piece CRYSTAL LAKE formed in 2002, and in that time they have solidified their place as one of the world’s leading bands in the genre. In the last 24 years the band has evolved and adapted to get where it is now, and through this they have created a distinctive sound which will be amplified further as their latest album, The Weight of Sound, comes out this week. 

The band are due to embark on a full co-headline tour with metalcore giants MISS MAY I starting next month, which will double as a release tour that is covering a huge chunk of the UK and Europe. We caught up with vocalist John Robert Centorrino to chat about the upcoming album, the tour, and everything in between.

With John living in the States and the rest of the band living in Japan, we wanted to know how that worked when creating an album like The Weight of Sound. 

John: Everything is digital. We pretty much connect through a group chat. And we meet up for tour and what-not but they’re naturally very strict so everyone is just encouraged to be prepared before we tour so we don’t require to meet up. Today being able to connect so digitally, so realistically, makes it very easy to keep the gigs flowing, you know? We send files back and forth to each other all the time. I know since we haven’t jammed in a long time this time we’ll probably try and practice at a venue. Hopefully we get access the day before. Day one, you know? 

Considering this distance between them, we wanted to discover the process needed not only to work on the album but how this affects decisions made for touring and being on the road. This covers how to establish a compelling show complete with stage direction and creating an atmosphere. Not to mention one of the most important things: the setlist.

John: So we give the vibe based on what we’re playing. So when we play songs like Watch Me Burn, Apollo, Lost in Forever, I will try to remember to smile. I don’t always remember! But I usually will try to remember to smile in those songs, and that kinda gives it a little more of a lightheartedness. So, I mean, it really is just depending on how we’re gonna vibe the set. I’m building a set right now, I’m sure that YD (Guitarist) is building a set also. I’m sure Mitsuru (Guitarist) and Gaku (Drummer) are putting together sets. We’ll see what happens. I want mine super cinematic, I want an interlude with, like, things happening, y’know what I mean? So, like, we’ll see if I get my wish. I think that’d be cool, though. I wanna play some old songs.

Although a few of the songs from the new album have already made their stage debut, we were curious to find out which of the new songs the band were most excited to perform on stage.

John: I’m really excited to play Neversleep. Very excited to try out Everblack or Don’t Breathe or Undertow. We’ve played Sinner before, you can find Sinner live on YouTube. We played it, like, a year ago at this point. I love playing Sinner live, because Sinner live is a little bit different vocally than the way it is on the album. I love playing it live! Lots of highs, it’s a lot of fun.

The Weight of Sound is packed with guest artists from bands such as KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and SIGNS OF THE SWARM just to name a few, we were eager to know how such collaborations came about, and how these were recorded.

John: A lot of them are just my homies, you know what I mean? Like David (Simonich) and Myke (Terry) are dudes that I’ve known for a long time including Taylor (Barber), I’ve known those guys forever. I was just kind of going through my friends and seeing who was available and who wanted to do it. There were a lot of other people who I was talking to that we just couldn’t line up because either we were on tour or they were on tour or we weren’t ready or however it was. And then I wound up making friends with Karl (Schubach) from MISERY SIGNALS over Instagram. I forget if I asked him or he asked me but we made that happen, and then we wound up connecting with Jesse (Leach) and then it just all fell together really, really, really well. Jesse’s part is really cool because it fits him really well. I think all of the guest spots fit the vocalists really well, it brings them out in it. I love that. I like them all.

This album is the first full length album since the vocalist lineup change in 2022. We asked about how this may or may not have affected the direction for the band, in terms of genre and the band’s sound. 

John: The other CRYSTAL LAKE music kind of rides that same sort of line; they have this classic kinda vibe going on. Same thing with Helix, Helix in itself is very much a melodic-heavy album. It’s got very heavy songs like you would expect a modern metal band to have, but then at the same time it kinda sounds like an album from 2005. It’s got that vibe of that classic metalcore, but in a good way, in a fresh way, not in a repeated way. And I feel like this album has the same thing, just in a different way, you know what I mean? ‘Cause we kinda do a lot of different things on this album. I think there’s more heavy songs on this album than on Helix, and that’s just because you guys liked Disobey so much. It’s like, alright, fuck it, we’ll write some more heavy songs! 

And that’s kinda why we’ve been riding a line with like Denial // Rebirth and Blüdgod and Dystopia. We’ve been riding that heavy line, we’ve just been having fun. I think the difference in this album is it’s very balanced between heavy and light. The last album was very light or melodic. This album is very balanced between light, and I would say that really, it was just as hard, if not harder, for us to do this one than it was the last one because we’ve never worked together, but we had a lot to live up to. 

As a bit of fun, we asked if there was one song that you would recommend to someone that didn’t know about the band or were just discovering CRYSTAL LAKE, which tracks would John pick?

John: From The Weight of Sound I would say Undertow, Everblack, and Coma Wave. That’s a good balance of everything that this band does. Those three songs are kind of everything. This chunk of heavy, this chunk of light, you know what I mean? I think that works.

So far we’ve discovered that The Weight of Sound plays on the heavier side but still holds a lot of balance that new and old CRYSTAL LAKE fans will be able to sink their teeth into. Beyond this, we were interested to know John’s final thoughts and aspirations ahead of the album’s release.

John: I guess I hope that everyone takes the time to listen to it. These guys put a lot of work into this music and the amount of time and energy that it took me to be able to play with a group of guys like this, it took me forever. Like my life was leading up to this moment. I’m really proud of all of us, I’m so happy to be able to be in this band and I can’t wait for you guys to hear what we did. Because I think this is what you wanted. This is what I wanted, and I’m pretty sure this is what you guys wanted too!

And to finish, beyond the upcoming tour, we wanted to know if there were any festivals lined up for the summer ahead.

John: Not that we can say out loud but fingers-crossed that we get a ton of them. If not this year, definitely next year. So we’ll see how that goes.

CRYSTAL LAKE’s seventh studio album The Weight of Sound releases on 23rd January via Century Media Records. The band will be joining MISS MAY I for a co-headline tour starting in February.

Words: Danielle Henderson

Photos: Jesse Kojima

With thanks to: Crystal Lake and The Noise Cartel