SUNDAY SEP 30, 2018
Metz
“Since releasing their self-titled debut record in 2012, which The New Yorker called, “One of the year’s best albums…a punishing, noisy, exhilarating thing,” the Toronto-based 3-piece METZ have garnered international acclaim as one of the most electrifying and forceful live acts, touring widely and extensively, playing hundreds of shows each year around the world. Now, Alex Edkins (guitar, vocals), along with Hayden Menzies (drums), and Chris Slorach (bass) are set to unleash their highly-anticipated third full-length album, Strange Peace, an emphatic but artful hammer swing to the status quo. “The best punk isn’t an assault as much as it’s a challenge — to what’s normal, to what’s comfortable, or simply to what’s expected. Teetering on the edge of perpetual implosion,” NPR wrote in their glowing review of METZ’s 2015 second album, II. Strange Peace was recorded in Chicago, live off the floor to tape with Steve Albini. The result is a distinct artistic maturation into new and alarming territory, frantically pushing past where the band has gone before, while capturing the notorious intensity of their live show. “Recording in Chicago was a blast. We tracked fourteen songs in four days. It was the first time we felt confident enough to just play live and roll tape,” Edkins said of the recording process. “Strange Peace is much more diverse and varied than anything we’ve done before, which was exhilarating, but terrifying, too. We took the tapes home to Toronto feeling like we’d made the record we wanted to make.” The trio continued to assemble the album (including home recordings, additional instrumentation) back in their hometown, adding the finishing touches with longtime collaborator, engineer and mixer, Graham Walsh. From the ferocious opening track, “Mess of Wires,” we’re met by the sheer force and fierce musicianship we’ve come to expect from METZ. With the unhinged, post-punk fragments of “Drained Lake,” and the whirling, acerbic pop features of “Cellophane,” the band’s hectic progression becomes clear. But Strange Peace isn’t merely a collection of eleven uninhibited and urgent songs. It’s also a kind of sonic venting, a truculent social commentary that bludgeons and provokes, excites and unsettles. “The songs on Strange Peace are about uncertainty,” Edkins explains. “They’re about recognizing that we’re not always in control of our own fate, and about admitting our mistakes and fears. They’re about finding some semblance of peace within the chaos.” With all the pleasurable tension and anxiety of a fever dream, Strange Peace is equal parts challenging and accessible. It is this implausible balancing act, moving from one end of the musical spectrum to the other, that only a band of METZ’s power and capacity can maintain: discordant and melodic, powerful and controlled, meticulous and instinctive, subtle and complex, precise and reckless, wholehearted and merciless, brutal and optimistic, terrifying and fun. “Their whiplash of distortion is made with precision, a contained chaos. But you would never talk about them like that. Because METZ are not something you study or analyze,” wrote Liisa Ladouceur in Exclaim! “They are something you feel: a transfer of energy, pure and simple.” In other words: to feel something, fiercely and intensely, but together, not alone.”
“Since releasing their self-titled debut record in 2012, which The New Yorker called, “One of the year’s best albums…a punishing, noisy, exhilarating thing,” the Toronto-based 3-piece METZ have garnered international acclaim as one of the most electrifying and forceful live acts, touring widely and extensively, playing hundreds of shows each year around the world. Now, Alex Edkins (guitar, vocals), along with Hayden Menzies (drums), and Chris Slorach (bass) are set to unleash their highly-anticipated third full-length album, Strange Peace, an emphatic but artful hammer swing to the status quo. “The best punk isn’t an assault as much as it’s a challenge — to what’s normal, to what’s comfortable, or simply to what’s expected. Teetering on the edge of perpetual implosion,” NPR wrote in their glowing review of METZ’s 2015 second album, II. Strange Peace was recorded in Chicago, live off the floor to tape with Steve Albini. The result is a distinct artistic maturation into new and alarming territory, frantically pushing past where the band has gone before, while capturing the notorious intensity of their live show. “Recording in Chicago was a blast. We tracked fourteen songs in four days. It was the first time we felt confident enough to just play live and roll tape,” Edkins said of the recording process. “Strange Peace is much more diverse and varied than anything we’ve done before, which was exhilarating, but terrifying, too. We took the tapes home to Toronto feeling like we’d made the record we wanted to make.” The trio continued to assemble the album (including home recordings, additional instrumentation) back in their hometown, adding the finishing touches with longtime collaborator, engineer and mixer, Graham Walsh. From the ferocious opening track, “Mess of Wires,” we’re met by the sheer force and fierce musicianship we’ve come to expect from METZ. With the unhinged, post-punk fragments of “Drained Lake,” and the whirling, acerbic pop features of “Cellophane,” the band’s hectic progression becomes clear. But Strange Peace isn’t merely a collection of eleven uninhibited and urgent songs. It’s also a kind of sonic venting, a truculent social commentary that bludgeons and provokes, excites and unsettles. “The songs on Strange Peace are about uncertainty,” Edkins explains. “They’re about recognizing that we’re not always in control of our own fate, and about admitting our mistakes and fears. They’re about finding some semblance of peace within the chaos.” With all the pleasurable tension and anxiety of a fever dream, Strange Peace is equal parts challenging and accessible. It is this implausible balancing act, moving from one end of the musical spectrum to the other, that only a band of METZ’s power and capacity can maintain: discordant and melodic, powerful and controlled, meticulous and instinctive, subtle and complex, precise and reckless, wholehearted and merciless, brutal and optimistic, terrifying and fun. “Their whiplash of distortion is made with precision, a contained chaos. But you would never talk about them like that. Because METZ are not something you study or analyze,” wrote Liisa Ladouceur in Exclaim! “They are something you feel: a transfer of energy, pure and simple.” In other words: to feel something, fiercely and intensely, but together, not alone.”
Dead Now
To those who miss the fuzztastic buzz of Andrew Elstner’s guitar since he left Torche nearly two years ago: may you mourn no longer. The Atlanta native has joined forces with Derek Schulz (bass) and Bobby Theberge (drums) of experimental metal duo Day Old Man to form Dead Now, a sludgy, buzzy, heavy stoner rock outfit that sounds best when cranked to 11, Spin̈al Tap-style.Signed to Brutal Panda Records, the band will be releasing its self-titled debut album on September 7, just in time for their upcoming Kerrang!-sponsored tour with Red Fang, Big Business, and Monolord which kicks off in Raleigh, North Carolina, the same day.“Derek, Bobby and I couldn’t be more hyped for this,” said Elstner of the upcoming release. “Killer label, amazing people, and now we’re desperate to get the jams in front of some faces and just crush.”
To those who miss the fuzztastic buzz of Andrew Elstner’s guitar since he left Torche nearly two years ago: may you mourn no longer. The Atlanta native has joined forces with Derek Schulz (bass) and Bobby Theberge (drums) of experimental metal duo Day Old Man to form Dead Now, a sludgy, buzzy, heavy stoner rock outfit that sounds best when cranked to 11, Spin̈al Tap-style.Signed to Brutal Panda Records, the band will be releasing its self-titled debut album on September 7, just in time for their upcoming Kerrang!-sponsored tour with Red Fang, Big Business, and Monolord which kicks off in Raleigh, North Carolina, the same day.“Derek, Bobby and I couldn’t be more hyped for this,” said Elstner of the upcoming release. “Killer label, amazing people, and now we’re desperate to get the jams in front of some faces and just crush.”
Illegal Drugs
Illegal Drugs is a three piece that formed in fall of 2014. Since then the band has cultivated a loyal Atlanta fan base, and a reputation for loud, energetic shows. Listening to Illegal Drugs, an audience is quickly captivated by the riff-driven hard rock sounds of the four piece. John Robinson's visceral delivery of catchy guitar leads and vocal hooks shroud the songwriter's cerebral intent to produce catchy, anthemic songs. The energetic, sometimes reckless guitar playing of Joe Hardwick is intrinsically matched with Shane Patrick's forceful, deliberate drum beats and the heavy growl of Tom O'Neill's bass lines. The Atlanta based group is fundamentally rock and roll with influences including post-punk, grunge, and goth-rock. Borrowing from many points on the rock spectrum, Illegal Drugs are at once relentlessly fierce and light heartedly danceable. Their first full length album is due to be released in early October 2016.
Illegal Drugs is a three piece that formed in fall of 2014. Since then the band has cultivated a loyal Atlanta fan base, and a reputation for loud, energetic shows. Listening to Illegal Drugs, an audience is quickly captivated by the riff-driven hard rock sounds of the four piece. John Robinson's visceral delivery of catchy guitar leads and vocal hooks shroud the songwriter's cerebral intent to produce catchy, anthemic songs. The energetic, sometimes reckless guitar playing of Joe Hardwick is intrinsically matched with Shane Patrick's forceful, deliberate drum beats and the heavy growl of Tom O'Neill's bass lines. The Atlanta based group is fundamentally rock and roll with influences including post-punk, grunge, and goth-rock. Borrowing from many points on the rock spectrum, Illegal Drugs are at once relentlessly fierce and light heartedly danceable. Their first full length album is due to be released in early October 2016.