METZ
Toronto trio METZ were one of a handful of ’00s bands to update the abrasive sounds of ‘90s noise rock for a new audience. Opening with the full-tilt attack of “Headache” (a fair title if there ever was one), *METZ* is a wired, compellingly unfriendly debut that sounds less like a band at work than a storm blowing through a sheet-metal shop. As with forebears like Melvins and The Jesus Lizard, their secret weapon is groove, making the shrapnel of tracks like “Knife in the Water” and “Wet Blanket” as hypnotic as they are nasty.
Canada’s METZ are a return to everything that’s good about loud, ecstatic live music; a frantic nod to Nation of Ulysses, Shellac, The Pixies, The Jesus Lizard, and Public Image Ltd. at their most vicious, while carving out some heavy new business. METZ have been around for over three years, sharing stages with Mission of Burma, Mudhoney, Oneida, and NoMeansNo. METZ, the band’s self-titled and formidable debut full-length was produced by the band and recorded by Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck) and Alexandre Bonenfant. Both live and here on this record, METZ articulate with deafening clarity what we’ve known for some time: The world of good music needs a new power trio, and this is it.
The post-hardcore sludge-punk trio Metz have spent the last five years becoming the most brutalizing band in Toronto. For their debut, they've distilled their set-list standards into 29 minutes of pure but artfully rendered chaos.
The A.V. Club reviews a lot of records every week, but some things still slip through the cracks. Stuff We Missed looks back at notable releases from this year that we didn’t review at their time of release.
Strictness, precise savagery, burning frustration and searing guitars populate this serrated set of eleven purposely brutalist tracks.
Recorded over the course of a week by Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck) and Alexandre Bonenfant in an old barn, METZ's self-titled album revisits the gut-thumping sludge of early Melvins and the abrasive scrawl of Jesus Lizard.