Review Summary: Far from spoiling the magic of its predecessor, Metric's latest nevertheless suffers from extreme sequelitis
Now is a great time to get into Metric.
As someone who’s been playing pop-culture catchup since high school, discovering their very full discography in 2022 was a treasure trove of stellar pop-rock tunes, shapeshifting across forms and genres in their storied lifespan—certainly not experimental, but reliably adventurous. What’s best, despite a rocky stretch in the early 2010s, both 2018’s rock-heavy
Art of Doubt and last year’s
Formentera are career highlights, serving as stark reminders that not all indie darlings fade with age.
Formentera II, however, is a sequel that reminds us that even the best can fall victim to franchising. Perhaps the strangest thing about
II is how readily it ejects the progressive elements of its predecessor—which opened with the electrifying 10-minute “Doomscroller.” Probably the nuttiest, most tense song of their career, it set the stage for a significantly less existential album that bounces around all over the pop spectrum but never lets up on the propulsive urgency of the opener (until the gorgeous ode to friendship through turmoil that is “Paths in the Sky, of course).
I normally wouldn’t prattle on like this, but sequels beg comparison. Instead of “Doomscroller,” we get the tepid opener “Detour Up,” which boogies around in place for a while without eliciting much more than a head nod. As the album marches on, an unfortunate precedent is set—these are merely competent tunes. Ok fine, many are very good, especially the Blondie-esque dance-rock “Stone Window” and the gorgeous soundscapes of “Descendants,” both of which expand on the sonic thread of
Formentera without aping it. But more often than not, the album falls victim to replication over reconstruction—the guitar crunches of “Days of Oblivion” evoke
Formentera ’s centerpiece “Enemies of the Ocean” beyond simple homage, and “Go Ahead And Cry” barely feigns the gracefulness of the previous closer. Songs like “Just the Once” and “Who Would You Be for Me” blend with their back catalogue instead, resembling the more thinly sketched synth/dance tunes from beleaguered duo
Synthetica and
Pagans in Vegas.
But
II is hardly a swing and a miss. Most tracks firmly represent Metric’s enduring talent as indie pop songwriters. But if you’re even remotely familiar with the OG, you’ll be left wishing for a spiritual successor. For all the popular exceptions, a lot of times the sequel just ain’t as good.
Now is still a fantastic time to get into Metric—just don’t start mid-franchise.
