CRYSTAL LAKE at Satan’s Hollow, Manchester

As the name suggests, Satan’s Hollow isn’t a place you’re going to find the high pitched pop tones of Akiba Idols. It’s not long until show time and a crowd is gathering around the circular dance floor that seconds as tonight’s stage. Suddenly out of nowhere, a wall of sound rushes towards the audience as CRYSTAL LAKE launch into Prometheus.

Every member launches into an animated blur and the intimate setting is used to its fullest, with each musician taking every opportunity to climb on the speakers, stare down camera phones, and in the case of singer Ryo, wrap his arms around fans on the other side of the barriers and scream in their faces — with several of them screaming back, clearly fans of the band.

As one song rolls into the next, CRYSTAL LAKE show no signs of slowing down, announcing each track with hardly a moment to catch their breath, until halfway through the set when Ryo addresses the crowd with a question, “Do you like Limp Bizkit?” For what will be the only time tonight, the response is a little lacklustre from the fans, but in playing what seems like an unusual choice of cover for the electro-metallers it doesn’t take long for their signature extra-heavy version of the song to get people moving again.

And so it continues, with another 30 minutes of constructed noise played to perfection. To the untrained ear the heavy distortion might mask the intricacies of the music, but tonight this is a band with smiles on their faces, feeling the energy from a dedicated crowd.

As the end of the night approaches, it’s a wonder Ryo has any air left in his lungs to talk. In a heartfelt “thank you” message to the crowd, his perfect English starts to crumble as he can’t find the words to fully express his gratitude, and he reverts to native Japanese with a huge grin and a bow. Then, after taking a few seconds to compose himself, with head lifted high he screams, “This is our last song, OMEGA!”

The crowd explodes one last time for the night, and it’s fair to say that when CRYSTAL LAKE return, they’ve already got a faithful following in Manchester.

Set List

01. Prometheus
02. Matrix
03. SIX FEET UNDER
04. ROLLIN'
05. The Sign
06. New Romancer
07. HATRED
08. BELOVED
09. OMEGA