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NBHAP Rating: 4,3/5
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[one_half last=”yes”]METZ
II
Release-Date: 04.05.2015
Label: Sub Pop
Tracklist:
01. Acetate
02. The Swimmer
03. Spit You Out
04. Zzyzx
05. IOU
06. Landfill
07. Nervous System
08. Wait in Line
09. Eyes Peeled
10. Kicking a Can of Worms
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Stick to the basics
Things must have felt a bit surreal for METZ – a band that arose from a pretty small, local DIY scene in Toronto. By the time they released their debut METZ in 2012 they already got signed by Sub Pop and played shows all over the world, although they were pretty much doing the same thing like so many others did before: Grab a guitar, bass and drums, turn ’em up to eleven and get your whole shit out there in a nerve-twisting, unsettling and uncompromising way that only Noiserock, Grunge and Punk stand for. Yet it has been such a beautiful mess that METZ have created back then that only the devil’s advocate could have told them to change their attitude. Luckily they haven’t. II is the raging, rambling, grasping-for-air attempt to recreate the thickness of METZ while the guys managed to gently evolve single elements of it.
Improvement on small scale
From the serrating bass in the beginning of Acetate to the acoustic-turning-into-gut-wrenching-nightmare-guitar of Kicking A Can Of Worms – you can sense that METZ put quite some effort into the question how to improve the distinctive elements of their music; enhancing the impact, without blurring their sound. They definitely did a good job on that. Singer Alex Edkins crosses the line into post-punk regions a little more often, his voice serving as the elbowing brace within the chaos of METZ‘; a voice that rises to adress “everyday relationships with the media, consumerism, politics, acquaintances, dreams, medication, anxieties” as well as “death” – so says the press release. No need to comment on that any further for now. His bandmates though, especially Hayden Menzies on the drums, are quite possibly the real reason for the immediacy that METZ once again successfully transcend with II. They’re a live band in the first place and the recording does it justice. Everything is in its place, which means in this case: nothing is where it belongs. Beautiful entropy.
A one, a two, a one, two, three…?
Question is, even for a band like METZ, where to go from here. They’ve pretty much perfected their sound, they’ve reanimated a whole musical ethos, they’ve possibly even made their field of expertise known for a new generation. Now what? The answer is, that no one knows and no one has to know. Judging from this second record we can relax and simply put our trust in this trio’s future. METZ won’t fail on us, so let’s METZ again!
The Canadian saviours of Noiserock could have done a lot wrong but METZ second record feels just like immediate and raw as their debut – with enhanced details and impact.
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