Crystavox comes at us with edgy guitars, commercial songs, and lots of background vocals. The first time I heard this tape, I thought, "This is a disappointment--another new band that wasn't ready to be signed." Something happens every time I play it though, it keeps getting better and better. The commercial hooks that I thought had bad guitar tones and predictable choruses are getting drilled into my head, making my body move. It's not easy to write good commercial rock, and these guys have written some--and they can back it up with competent playing. The "dooty-bop" harmonies that fade out at the end of "Turn It Up" show that these guys have their harmonies together and like to have fun. "All The Way" still sounds like a cliche-ridden song, complete with a surf tune guitar solo, but the rest of the songs fit right in with the Poison-style of pop pop-metal. Lyrically, these four Southern California boys play no games with the Gospel, telling it boldly like it is. The album's highlights are the cool 'n' gritty ballad "Home Again", and the rockin' "Tough Boys". While not the dazzling, blow-you-away debut album that we may have hoped for, this effort shows a promising act on its way. With the touring scheduled to start this month, it should be safe to predict that the best music is yet to come from Crystavox.
