Metric Albums (4)
What The Critics Say
Metric's third full-length album, Fantasies, is a glossy, slick, and so-clean-you-could-eat-off-it slice of modern rock that may scare off some of the band's early fans due to the unrepentant commercial nature of the album. Anyone who isn't repelled by the band's professionalism and ambition to sound perfect will find it to be quite good. You can't begrudge them taking a shot at the big time, especially when the result is as good as this. And it's not like they are doing anything radically different here; it just sounds freshly painted and shorn of any defects. In other words, it sounds just like an album by one of the bands that inspire them, finely tuned machines like the Cars, Garbage, Blondie, and Missing Persons. Or conversely, they sound sort of how you'd imagine the ideal Idol contestant's album would sound -- huge with an excess of glittering and hooks. Indeed, most of the songs on Fantasies wouldn't sound out of place on a Kelly Clarkson record; they are finely crafted, totally focused, and powerful pop songs that blend '80s new wave, '90s alt-rock, and timeless pop songcraft into compact pop nuggets. If "Sick Muse" were given a push on radio, it could easily be a big smash for the band. The hand-waving chorus, the pulverizing drumming, and the smooth-as-glass production are perfect for the airwaves. Quite a few others sound like they too should be blasting out of car radios on summer streets; the laser beam-tight "Gold Guns Girls," the shimmering "Front Row," and the propulsive "Gimme Sympathy" all fit this bill perfectly. The few ballads that dot the album like frozen teardrops betray none of the warm introspection that Emily Haines brought to her solo albums; her singer/songwriter demons sound like they've been exorcised once and for all here. Instead, they sound big enough to reach the back row of a stadium, as does the whole album. That Metric title a song "Stadium Love" gives you a clue to the ambition of the band. There's nothing small or careful about Fantasies -- it's a full-on bid for pop glory and it's a smashing success. ~ Tim Sendra, All Music Guide
'Grow Up and Blow Away'
Release Date 1/1/2007
Tracks 10
Label Groenland
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What The Critics Say
It's hard to believe that Metric couldn't find anyone to release this album following label changes. What's even more surprising, though, is how well it fits into their current sound despite being recorded in their infancy back in 1999. While rather void of the edgy and rock-fuelled songs that would come later like "Monster Hospital," Grow Up and Blow Away is an excellent primer of what was to come with "Live It Out" and "Old World Underground, Where Are You Now!." The light, melodic electro-pop feel is all over the title track as lead singer Emily Haines shows her talents early and often. Meanwhile, things pick up slightly with the catchy, danceable and tight "Hardwire" that instantly brings to mind the Cardigans. The first ordinary song is "Rock Me Now" which resembles a stream-of-conscious poem over a simple electro-based backbeat but things return to an above average level with the moody "The Twist" as Haines churns out one sweet vocal after another. Metric rarely falter on this record, with "Soft Rock Star" living up to its title, a soft rock gem in the vein of Keane. The remix version is just as sweet and sugar-coated, driven by Haines angelic-like delivery. A similar approach comes during the tender, strolling "White Gold." ~ Jason MacNeil, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
In an effort to prove Metric frontwoman Emily Haines was not the only dominating personality behind the Canadian indie rock group's first album, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, the second album hammers home the fact that it's more of a group effort. Production duties were handed to guitarist James Shaw and Haines' trademark synths take a back seat to screeching guitars and more cohesive playing as a quartet. Despite the added punk rock punch the guitar gives, the bite of their debut is dulled by a weaker set of songs, with only minor aesthetic changes to mask the slight sophomoric slump. Live It Out desires to be a major step forward (Emily Haines would release her first solo album, Knives Don't Have Your Back, a year later), but the best moments on the album are the ones that recapture what made the debut such a compelling piece of '80s retro -- showcasing Haines' trademark keyboards and her effective cooing vocals, which manage to sound both cloyingly sexy and gutturally raw at the same time. "Poster of a Girl" transforms a few rudimentary French lyrics and an unassuming keyboard intro into a spacy, groovy dance track. "The Police and the Private" is an effectively simple and haunting keyboard-heavy song that shows Haines' best vocal performances are the down to earth ones (something she thankfully discovered on her solo album). As with Old World Underground, Haines has a tendency for collegiate-level prose when the band gets political, and songs like the "Combat Baby" knockoff "Handshakes" have a smug, elitist attitude about them, without providing much insight into their political beliefs. The first single, the hooky "Monster Hospital," is a light-hearted punk song with great non-sequitur lyrics, but the overdubbed guitars and big production typically reserved for an alternative rock album don't fight the overall motif of Live It Out. There's a reason Haines was featured on the cover of Old World Underground and it's possibly this: she's what separates Metric from other '80s revivalist groups. ~ Erik Leijon, All Music Guide
'Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?'
Release Date 1/1/2003
Tracks 10
Label Last Gang
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