Metric - Fantasies

Where did this come from? it's not Blondie is it? no, not at all. But Metric's return to the world of music has not been on top of all the major magazines lists of hot anticipations of the year or merely been spoke about. Metric's first album since 2005's 'Live It Out' has a fresh sound to it, it's more new wave, but rock & roll at the same time, it's more catchy than 'Live It Out' or 'Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?' and completely dominates 'Grow Up and Blow Away'.

As we enter 'Fantasies', we are drowned in electonica as Emily Haines, the frontwoman of Metric, beats out, her heart is "Beating Like A Hammer" in 'Help, I'm Alive'. The heavy use of keyboards are heard prominently throughout the song, but hey... it's Metric, that's what you would expect huh? what else is surprising in this song, is that Josh's bass lines, they are probably the most important part in the song, apart from Emily's sneering keyboard beats, as they keep the rhythm flowing properly and giving time for Emily to take control as the song beats out it's chorus. Straight after 'Help, I'm Alive' we have no time to rest, as we're hit by 'Sick Muse', which is new wave at it's peak. Poppy and catchy, is what sticks in our heads but without the pretentiousness cheesiness degenerate pop star-esque from 1982. It's straight forward, even almost rock & roll to an extent and it's something Debbie Harry of Blondie should take note of for the next Blondie album if such a thing happened. Again, we have no time to rest, suddenly, out of no where, comes in 'Satellite Mind' with real flow and structure, which is probably the strongest track of the album, it's flow and rhythm through out the song is exquisite. The song is like a roller-coaster, you're up and down before you know it and guitarist James Shaw is the one to point the finger at, his displays of guitar craft is beautifully done as he steadily keeps the pace of the song in every part, and making everyone else, including Emily to catch up with him.

We eventually get time to rest in this album, as 'Twilight Galaxy' settles us down with it's slow and almost ambient style tempo. 'Twilight Galaxy' is like the story of a dramatic come down, as Emily groans 'I'm Higher Than High, Lower Than Deep' to the sound of an electronic frenzy as the song closes out with a shallow low tempo dying out and fading as Emily continues till the point the song gorgeously finishes.

To the commercial success of Metric, well, 'Gimme Sympathy' has been a popular song on alternative radio stations in America and Canada and can you see why? Simply, it's radio friendly, which is usually a bad thing, for example look at Kings of Leon, but with Metric, on a smaller scale obviously, 'Gimme Sympathy' doesn't bore you, like 'Sex On Fire' would and it's not over done and over played, reasons why? well, there's hundreds, to many to discuss, but Metric have the cunning line here "Who would you rather be, The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?" well, probably the best response to that I've heard is from the likes of NME, who said "Can we be Metric instead" and yeah, who wouldn't.

The album doesn't stop here with the classic tracks. More hot spots from the album would consist of the tracks 'Front Row' and 'Stadium Love'. Which again, are quite poppy, but far from radio friendly but both excellent in their own way. 'Front Row' has even been used for the series 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Stadium Love' is your typical party song when you're so wasted to stand up you just want to dance along anyway as the electronic fantasy continues with the heavy drumming from Joules Scott-Key blasts the song into a new dimension.

Metric's 'Fantasies' has surely came as a surprise. It appears Emily and co, have managed to show the world what their made of and 'Fantasies' is surely, not an album to be overlooked as a potential top ten entry in 2009's top ten albums.

5/5


Linus Broadbent.