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Atlas Vending

by METZ

supported by
ears_to_you
ears_to_you thumbnail
ears_to_you Just the right kind of loud rock to punch you in the face. Favorite track: Hail Taxi.
niledrown
niledrown thumbnail
niledrown One of my favorite album closers ever. Fantastic jam. Can listen on repeat. Favorite track: A Boat to Drown In.
maytinee
maytinee thumbnail
maytinee vía @enfocartegdl
No se habla tanto como se deberia del trío de Toronto 🇨🇦, a pesar de ser esos raros casos en que cada álbum es mejor al anterior y de ser influencia para contemporáneos del punk, rock y noise. Su cuarto LP no es la excepción. Queda claro que nadie hace ruido como ellos.
Después de la evolución en producción de su tercer disco, en esta ocasión logran dar catedra de como el noise también puede ser melodía.
more... more...
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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    A copy of "Atlas Vending" on black vinyl.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Atlas Vending via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $23 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    A copy of "Atlas Vending" on CD.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Atlas Vending via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD or more 

     

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    A copy of "Atlas Vending" on cassette.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Atlas Vending via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Loser Edition LP
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    A copy of "Atlas Vending" on limited Loser Edition pearlescent grey and silver colored vinyl.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Atlas Vending via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • Atlas Vending White T-Shirt
    T-Shirt/Apparel

    A t-shirt to coincide with METZ's album "Atlas Vending".

    Sold Out

1.
Pulse 04:20 video
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The Mirror 05:02
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Hail Taxi 04:31
6.
Draw Us In 03:56
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Parasite 02:24 video
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about

“Change is inevitable if you’re lucky,” says guitarist/vocalist Alex Edkins while talking about Atlas Vending, the fourth full-length album by Toronto’s METZ. “Our goal is to remain in flux, to grow in a natural and gradual way. We’ve always been wary to not overthink or intellectualize the music we love but also not satisfied until we’ve accomplished something that pushes us forward.” The music made by Edkins and his compatriots Hayden Menzies (drums) and Chris Slorach (bass) has always been a little difficult to pin down. Their earliest recordings contained nods to the teeming energy of early ‘90s DIY hardcore, the aggravated angularities of This Heat, and the noisy riffing of AmRep’s quintessential guitar manglers, but there was never a moment where METZ sounded like they were paying tribute to the heroes of their youth. If anything, the sonic trajectory of their albums captured the journey of a band shedding influences and digging deeper into their fundamental core—steady propulsive drums, chest-thumping bass lines, bloody-fingered guitar riffs, the howling angst of our fading innocence. With Atlas Vending, METZ not only continues to push their music into new territories of dynamics, crooked melodies, and sweat-drenched rhythms, they explore the theme of growing up and maturing within a format typically suspended in youth.

Covering seemingly disparate themes such as paternity, crushing social anxiety, addiction, isolation, media-induced paranoia, and the restless urge to leave everything behind, each of Atlas Vending’s ten songs offer a snapshot of today's modern condition and together form a musical and narrative whole. Album opener “Pulse” is a completely unnerving exercise in reductionist tension, with verses providing little more than a lone discordant chord, a hammering kick drum, and the occasional punctuation of a diving bass note. From there METZ launches into “Blind Youth Industrial Park,” an absolute scorcher of paranoid dissonance and malicious force centered on a chromatic descending riff and a merciless four-to-the-floor drum battery.

The album hits its stride with “No Ceiling”—a minute-and-a-half rager that comes about as close to containing a pop hook as anything METZ has ever written. Though it’s still saturated with in-the-red distortion, this truncated anthem about discovering love and purpose provides the rare counterpoint to the band’s grievous compositions. But there’s no yielding to complacency on Atlas Vending, and the mercurial nature of love and romance is expertly captured in the alternately brutal verses and beguiling choruses of “Hail Taxi.” If METZ’s current mission is to mirror the inevitable struggles of adulthood, they’ve successfully managed to tap into the conflicted relationship between rebellion and revelry with the song’s tactics of offsetting their signature bombast with anthemic melodic resolutions.

The song sequencing follows a cradle-to-grave trajectory, spanning from primitive origins through increasingly nuanced and turbulent peaks and valleys all the way to the climactic closer, “A Boat to Drown In.” The lyrics speak to this arc as well, with the songs addressing life’s struggles all the way through to death, as Edkins snarls “crashed through the pearly gates and opened up my eyes, I can see it now” before the band launches into the album’s cascading outro.

While past METZ albums thrived on an abrasive relentlessness, the trio embarked on Atlas Vending with the goal to make a more patient and honest record—something that invited repeated listens rather than a few exhilarating bludgeonings. It’s as if the band realized they were in it for the long haul, and their music could serve as a constant as they navigated life’s trials and tribulations. The result is a record that sounds massive, articulate, and earnest. Bolstered by the co-production of Ben Greenberg (Uniform) and the engineering and mixing skills of Seth Manchester (Daughters, Lingua Ignota, The Body) at Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, METZ deliver the most dynamic, dimensional, and compelling work of their career.

credits

released October 9, 2020

2020 Sub Pop Records

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METZ Toronto, Ontario

The sonic trajectory of METZ; Alex Edkins (guitar & vocals), Hayden Menzies (drums), & Chris Slorach (bass), captures the journey of a band shedding influences & digging deeper into their core—steady propulsive drums, chest-thumping bass lines, bloody-fingered riffs, & the howling angst of fading innocence. A Deluxe Edition of their ST album feat. 3 tracks from a BBC session is out now. ... more

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