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Metz

II

Written by: PP on 14/10/2015 21:26:55

The chaotic, noise-laden realm that is the Metz soundscape has been on many a hipster's lips after their much hyped self-titled debut album three years ago. It's a perfect mix of Pitchfork style punk revival (read: ignoring the genre's past two decades altogether), frenetic distorted noise and convincingly authentic rebellious energy to appeal to the same crowd as bands like Pissed Jeans, White Lung, and why not also Savages and iceage. A world where melody is shunned in favour of pure attitude and an eerie sense of pretentiousness surrounding the whole ordeal with vintage-clad weirdos loudly screaming in contention about which one of the aforementioned groups are the real saviours of punk.

On their sophomore album "II", Metz continue unabatingly in the same manner. Guitar distortion and early 90s grunge references are plastered all over the record, oftentimes begging for comparisons to Nirvana's "Bleach" and "In Utero" albums that were much more aggressive affairs than "Nevermind". Tracks like "The Swimmer" and "I.O.U." rely on piercing distortion and coarsely screamed vocals (faded to the background, of course), but fortunately bring forth a subtle melody line that makes the songs a worthwhile listen. Here, the balance between noisy garage and punk-laden aggression is done better than most of their peers, which is also why Metz are probably the best out of the group mentioned in this review. "Landfill" even offers a brief passage during its chorus that can be considered catchy despite the discordant instrumentation throughout.

This, my friends, is the area where Metz excel in comparison. Despite utilizing every hipsterism element in the book, they understand that a good song is more than just pure noise and feigned authenticity, whatever the fuck that's even supposed to mean. So much like on their debut, Metz deliver a nostalgia trip to the raw world of early 90s grunge mixed with enough punk rebellion as an ideology to stand out. A solid record that nonetheless has difficulty in standing out from the masses of like-minded noise records even just this year.

Download: The Swimmer, Spit You Out, I.O.U., Landfill
For the fans of: Nirvana, Drive Like Jehu, Pissed Jeans, White Lung, Direct Effect
Listen: Facebook

Release date 04.05.2015
Sub Pop