Released: 12/04/24
I used to play in some band or other that toured with the Canadian group METZ, and can confirm that the trio of singer/guitarist Alex Edkins, drummer Hayden Menzies and bassist Chris Slorach are thoroughly good eggs; but please don’t think that this glowing review of their fifth album is in any way biased – I was already a huge fan before making their acquaintance. The band’s most melodic record to date, Up On Gravity Hill is notable for the way it expertly balances the post-hardcore goodness of the earlier LPs – indebted to The Jesus Lizard, Drive Like Jehu, and the like – with the woozy indie rock of My Bloody Valentine circa Isn’t Anything, exemplified on the brilliant ‘Entwined’ (Street Light Buzz); there’s even a torch song, in the form of the lovely album closer ‘Light Your Way Home’. It’ll be interesting to see how the more purest fans of the pummelling sledgehammer stuff will react to this when played live, but METZ are evolving, and I’ve no doubt that they’ll pick up a whole host of new converts when people hear this terrific record.