Review Summary: An exceptional effort by Metric
Metric, having had a difficult time trying to convince their first record label, Restless, to release their debut album in 2001, are now doing quite well. The band, featuring vocalist Emily Haines, has been one of the most well known acts in Canada for some time, and they are just now starting to build substantial international recognition following their latest release, “Fantasies.” Metric’s music has been described as incorporating anywhere from synth-pop to punk-funk, and this album finds them not straying too far off from their roots, successfully combining modern rock with a sort of atmospheric synth-pop.
The four members of the band agreed to take some time off after touring relentlessly following their “Live it Out” album, and Emily decided to go live in Argentina for a significant amount of time to blow off some steam. It seems her stay there must have had quite a positive influence on her musical abilities, because it preceded Metric’s most ambitious effort to date. The album is energetic and full of life, with little loss of fervor from start to finish. The plentiful hooks and catchy melodies throughout the album will undoubtedly have you coming back for repeated listens.
There is a peculiar intro to the album: a voice screaming something indecipherable, followed by muffled drums, coming from a distance. Soon Emily’s voice is heard and the album kicks off with a compelling “I tremble”. The chorus to “Help I’m Alive” is awe inspiring, simple yet brilliant. She sings, in a remarkably high register, “If you’re still alive, what should I do, if my life is mine, what shouldn’t I do,” accompanied by a tambourine and a simple, uplifting guitar melody. It’s an awesome way to start off the album.
Losing no intensity, the album sends you into a sick muse. This is a solid rocker, and before you know it you may find yourself yelling along to “Everybody everybody just wanna fall in love, everybody everybody just won’t play the lead.” Tracks like “Sick Muse” and “Gold Guns Girls” are some of the heavier on the album.
“Collect call” and “Blindness” are two other highlights. “Collect Call”, with its soothing electro rhythm, creates a beautiful and calming atmosphere. Keyboard synthesizers are used widely throughout the album and are used to great effect here as well. “Blindness” is my personal favorite. It starts out with a somber tone, but then releases some of the albums pent up energy when Emily begins to sing with great determination: “Where it is and where it stops, nobody knows. You gave me a life I never chose.”
Fantasies ends with Stadium Love, which is essentially an excellent rocker with a pretty cool drum solo in there somewhere, but the aggressive guitars that that come in every time Emily boasts “No one’s getting out… without stadium love,” change the pace of the song and may get a bit tiresome. It starts out with a ton of positive energy, but it seems like there are two different moods existing within the song that don’t complement each other very well. Every time those angry guitars let loose, an unsettling atmosphere takes the place of the pre-existing pleasant mood. “Stadium Love” had a lot of potential, and they could have closed the album a bit more resoundingly. Overall, though, the record is their most consistent to date, and leaves me with high anticipation for their next effort. They may just be getting started.
