Rechercher

[LIVE REPORT] 2018.02.21 CRYSTAL LAKE « HYPERSPACE TOUR 2018 » @ SHIBUYA CLUB QUATTRO, TOKYO (JAPAN)

geddagaelle
14 mars 2018
7 min de lecture

For this SOLD OUT Tour of CLUB QUATTRO (Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka), it’s as guest that ATTILA from America came back to Japan, after performed for the first time here at the « SCREAM OUT FEST 2015 » with CRYSTAL LAKE (2015/06/07 Shinkiba Studio Coast, Tokyo), appearing now together for a 2 Man Show. ATTILA makes me think to something crazy, like « Bad Party Buddies » loving causing troubles through their violent heavy sound, provocative attitude and words -ATTILA / Callout2- (Laugh). Before to come on stage, a rascally and demonic war cry is sounded from the Backstage, tantalizing the audience waiting in the full pit. We can noticed the dazzling blue lights lightening the stage, remembering the deep meaning of HYPERSPACE.

« Just forget all the fucking shit from outside world and let’s rage here all together! » said Chris Fronzak (Vo. ATTILA). CRYSTAL LAKE and ATTILA showing on stage their agreement about the theme of this Tour « RAGE » by a featuring with Ryo (Vo. CRYSTAL LAKE). According to the floor heated by ATTILA, CRYSTAL LAKE’s members slowly appeared on the music intro ; « Come On! Come On! » screams Ryo to warm up the audience. To be honest, from this second, I can already feel through this special atmosphere that tonight will be different from others. I noticed a highly motivated and determined band in front of my eyes, ready to kill and bring everything to the grave. « OMEGA » starts. The crowd is compressed naturally towards the front of the pit, and mosh pit immediately occur, slapping the floor by bouncing, making the pit shaking. « MATRIX » naturally results from this machiavellian connection. « Let’s make a fucking mess Shibuya! » screams Ryo, stimulating Mosh pit at the back. « I wanna hear your voices! » and « UPS & DOWNS » starts. If you call « UP! UP! UP! », « DOWN! DOWN! DOWN! » is the answer, and a high speed circle pit will immediately occur afterwards. Like inspired by this view, Ryo dives into the crowd, and as soon as he reaches the top of the counter table of the CLUB QUATTRO at the back of the venue, he climbs it and shoot out with his arms like a gun aiming the audience, without microphone ; A decisive battle is officially going on. From now, divers occur freely in all directions, rushing to Ryo as target. I seriously fucking got chills and goosebumps watching this crazy and amazing landscape, being moved by this beautiful connection between Ryo and the audience. « Don’t think about it! Just move! » and they perform « SIX FEET UNDER » which influence divers, the shout of Ryo can’t be hear due to microphone’s trouble. However, ever in such circumstances, and despite the tension, Ryo brutally throws the mic down and shouts out the last sentence of the song "You think you want me to, back the fuck up, go to fucking sleep" with his Live voice without pass by the microphone. A such stunning act from Ryo was welcomed by a thunderous applause and calls from the audience. "I even killed the mic!" concludes Ryo. Personally, I got totally speechless, couldn’t move anymore, and I think I even stopped to breath during many seconds… Something like if the earth stopped spinning for a moment. To be honest, the voice’s level of many vocalists can’t be enough unless passing death growl and shout through the microphone. Because first of all, it’s primordial to prevent overuse of the throat condition, it’s necessary to preserve the throat as much as possible. However, the Ryo’s shout was like if it passed through the microphone. Overpowered voice.

In any case, this can’t be done without a lot of Live experiences ; Ryo’s personality and talent. As icon of the metalcore sphere, at the first sight, he looks irritated, with his look and fashion, but I felt that he has gradually realized that a such worry isn’t necessary because his skills are real. « MAHAKARA » starts, and the floor get overcrowded by a Wall Of Death, when the awaited « MACHINA » (from New Single « APOLLO » released on 2017, October 11th) opens the pit again, welcomed by the Mosh pit. Take original hardcore, mixed with more melodic and technical guitar works, and you’d get metalcore. So of course, there are certainly specifications corresponding to it, but CRYSTAL LAKE make their own style, creating an unusual metalcore. On the emotion scale of the musical composition, from « APOLLO » to « DREAMCATCHER », the inside of the venue is overwhelmed by the scene, reaching something new. Hardcore and Metalcore can be created from this kind of view too. And this is from that point that I feel myself moving into a new era. CRYSTAL LAKE clearly took my heart in hostage, and from now, I couldn't stop the flow of tears down my cheeks. I feel tonight like if I saw them for the first time of my life. Music has an indescribable feeling, and something mysterious that no one can identify. That’s why words will be never strong enough to describe what I feel standing in front of them. I feel like if they come into my brain, trying to extract from the deep inside my mind, the light and the dark. They said everything into this single sentence : « Scars won’t go away, unless you start to live with it » (CRYSTAL LAKE / Black and Blue -True North-). I got so many flashbacks in my head, seing the past, the present, and the future. Because CRYSTAL LAKE is my story, you know. They are the reason of why I’m standing here in front of them now, helping me to live with the scars from the past, and getting me stronger to fight and fuck every fucking single day to build a better future. A future I can’t imagine without CRYSTAL LAKE anymore. So I’m here, looking at the stage with rage and tears in my eyes, when words from the last sentence of DREAMCATCHER make sense : "I feel alive, I feel alive tonight, Tonight is the night that I'm alive". « Now, we are back in 2012… » says Ryo, introducing « OVERCOME ». Then, at the intro of « MERCURY », from hand claps, calls, Mosh pit to Circle pit, the floor is keeping the rhythm with this crazy « full course ». From now, Ryo dives into the crowd again, screaming out all his rage. With the audience, this is the CRYSTAL LAKE’s battle. From this collision, Ryo put his hands on his mouth and creats a momentary silence. « This year again, we are holding the TRUE NORTH FESTIVAL! » tells Ryo with his natural voice without use the microphone. « This is the festival seizing the power of this place (Shinkiba Studio Coast) with bands of various style. I can't stop pushing it, to pull it again, and I can draw it from here. This is not a band settling down into a small scene, right. We will show you our way of life and our way of die! ». At these last words, the following song seems obvious, « TRUE NORTH », singing alone the famous sentence representing the past, the present and the future of CRYSTAL LAKE « This is the way we are, This is the way we die ». They continue with « BELOVED » and close the main part of today with « PROMETHEUS » by creating the biggest circle pit of the day. Of course, it couldn’t ends here. We can hear the warm call from the audience « One more! ». The band comes back on stage to the applause « The next song is a song that we don't play very often... » says Ryo, before to call the audience for the final round screaming « Show me chaos! » playing « HATRED » with a special Vocal Featuring with the singer of ATTILA. They finally close this first day of the Tour with « THE FIRE INSIDE ». « This feeling is borderless. Believe in his own sensibility captured by various notions. Inevitably, the field of vision spreads worldwide, and beyond the world of digital networks, it connects people together. From that point, I feel the power and art created by human, and I can see a new world. That is the meaning of Hyperspace » said YUDAI (Gt. CRYSTAL LAKE) on his Official Instagram the day before the show. CRYSTAL LAKE is not only what is called metalcore and hardcore's genre, I think that there is no doubt that it's a band who made the existence of the Japanese music scene know. I really think that this kind of music became a Japanese Culture. I'm the proof about it, living to Japan for my love for CRYSTAL LAKE, my passion for Japanese Music. « Today is the day I wanna hear the Fxxxx the most in the world! » jokes Ryo during his MC. And it was a success! (Laugh) To be honest, a such live can’t be seen somewhere else in Japan. This is not a word to convey, and a such passion and devotion can be experienced only here. CRYSTAL LAKE are keeping spreading carefully their universe constantly increasing. The music Hardcore is the proper road they decided to follow for over 15 years old ; The mixture between seeing them in Live and the judgement we wanna see.

I’m used to seing CRYSTAL LAKE often playing around 45 minutes, sharing the stage with others. So I was really waiting for this Tour, looking forward to see them as headline playing a full Live around 1h30 of Show, playing songs they usually play only during a Tour like the masterpiece « DREAMCATCHER ». And I felt so proud of my boys tonight again. Their amazing performance was like a slap in the face, because they were finally able to show in 1h30 what they are really capable of. CRYSTAL LAKE really deserve to keep the stage as lead artist and to become more and more and more popular on the Japanese Rock/Metal Scene and overseas. Because their talent is immeasurable, and I found something into CRYSTAL LAKE I never found somewhere else. Congratulations to CRYSTAL LAKE for HYPERSPACE TOUR 2018. I’m so proud to have been part of the show in Tokyo and Nagoya. I will never thank you enough for everything, and words will never be strong enough to tell how you are important to me. I love you from the bottom of my heart and keep supporting you forever! Let’s make history together! Of course, Thanks to ATTILA for joining this Tour and for their amazing performances. And special Thanks to CRYSTAL LAKE’s STAFF too, because you are all really amazing! I deeply admire and respect your hard work every time. Because CRYSTAL LAKE’s family is the best of the world!

(📸 Taka Tallman)

[SETLIST] 01. Omega 02. Matrix 03. Ups&Downs 04. Six Feet Under 05. Mahakala 06. Machina 07. Apollo 08. Dreamcatcher 09. Overcome 10. Mercury 11. True North 12. Beloved 13. Prometheus En1. Hatred En2. The Fire Inside