Dealing out more than their fair share of noise from across the pond, noise rock/punk band METZ hail from Ottawa, Canada. But how will their rampant, thrashing sound fare in the homeland of punk with their new album Strange Peace?
Despite only being a three-piece set, the volume and noise METZ is capable of producing defies logic and sounds like a larger, more chaotic set. Having released one earlier album in 2012 and a second in 2015, how does the album mark up to previous work, and if it’s successful, will it coax them out of their somewhat low profile?
As the opening track, “Mess of Wires” roars messily into life. The thundering, frantic guitar and drums kick this guttural song into life. The song is a true representation of lo-fi punk, it doesn’t let up for one second of its running time and ends as chaotically as it begins. Following on gaplessly through the grungy distortion, “Drained Lake” keeps the same frenetic pace. Both songs are led well with distorted and repetitive guitars over chaotic drums whilst the stilted vocals punctuate the ‘melody’. Later in the album, “Mr. Plague” is in much the same vein as these two opening tracks. Short and sweet (well, as much as can be expected) at a 2:34 running time, all of the mad punk energy is crammed in with the same form of crazed guitar melody and shouted vocals.
“Cellophane” slows the pace, slightly anyway, and gives way to a more vocal-centric song that wouldn’t be out of place on a Ty Segall album. The wailing and distorted guitars still provide the backdrop to the song as the lyrics and even breaking into a discordant solo towards the end. The vocals remain repetitive in keeping with the style aiding in the relentless pace of the album thus far.
With a slow, discordant but well-structured intro packed with reverb, “Caterpillar” creeps into the track listing. The track lacks the punk nature of all the prior tracks and leaves us with a slightly jarring, odd interlude between the first few songs and the latter portion of the album. “Lost in the Blank City” takes us away from the distorted punk vibe of the opening section of the album, and moves more towards noise rock. With a constant droning hum for a bass line, it’s not a comfortable song to listen to, but that was never the intention. “Sink”, whilst still remaining closer in form to noise rock, is like the hangover from “Lost in the Blank City”. Whilst the droning bass line is present, it is calmer, loaded with pinched harmonics on the guitar and a pounding, headache-like bass guitar all setting the underlying tone for floating, almost disembodied vocals as they weave amongst this track in an almost nightmarish fashion.
Despite being in the same punk theme as earlier songs, this reviewer still sees “Common Trash” as the best track of the album. It retains elements from previous songs such as distorted guitar strums over screeching picks, Ty Segall-esque vocals and frantic drums, but the structure adds just enough complexity to lift it above the rest of the album, making for a more memorable and evocative track. As a close second, the final track of the album, “Raw Materials” leads us out of the most recent release from METZ.
Despite the years of experience, the band still show us they’re capable of sounding like they still rehearse in a garage and record in the bedroom with duvets against the wall for soundproofing. Only it’s more than that. The album is still raw, rough and ready but at its heart, the recording is professional and well-honed. It might lack a huge volume between tracks but it is well worth a listen.
Author: Steve, Southgate store
