METZ TO RELEASE THEIR FEROCIOUS THIRD ALBUM VIA ROYAL MOUNTAIN RECORDS, SHARE NEW TRACK

PHOTO CREDIT : Ebru Yildiz // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

On September 22, METZ will release Strange Peace, an emphatic but artful hammer swing to the status quo and their highly-anticipated third full-length album. Strange Peace will be available in Canada from Royal Mountain Records and throughout the rest of the world from Sub Pop Records. Alex Edkins (guitar, vocals), Hayden Menzies (drums), and Chris Slorach (bass) recorded at Electrical Audio in Chicago, live off the floor to tape with Steve Albini. The result is a distinct artistic maturation into new and alarming territory, frantically pushing past where the band has gone before, while capturing the notorious intensity of their live show. The trio continued to assemble the album (including home recordings, additional instrumentation) back at home in Toronto, adding the finishing touches with longtime collaborator, engineer and mixer, Graham Walsh.

“The songs on Strange Peace are about uncertainty," Edkins explains. "They're about recognizing that we're not always in control of our own fate, and about admitting our mistakes and fears. They're about finding some semblance of peace within the chaos."

LISTEN AND SHARE “CELLOPHANE” HERE VIA YOUTUBE
LISTEN TO “CELLOPHANE” VIA SPOTIFY

“Cellophane”, the first song to be released from the new album, is available now. The full bio for Strange Peace can be found below.

Strange Peace is available for pre-order now from both Sub Pop and Royal Mountain Records.
LP pre-orders of the album from megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser Edition on clear vinyl with red and green swirls (while supplies last). Pre-orders from Royal Mountain will receive a limited edition smokey splatter vinyl.

PRE-ORDER STRANGE PEACE HERE VIA ROYAL MOUNTAIN RECORDS

PRE-ORDER STRANGE PEACE DIGITAL HERE

METZ have scheduled international tour dates in support of Strange Peace with two stops in Toronto followed by show in Montreal and Vancouver throughout their 34 city tour. Full tour dates can be found below.


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STRANGE PEACE TRACK LIST
1. Mess of Wires
2. Drained Lake
3. Cellophane
4. Caterpillar
5. Lost in the Blank City
6. Mr. Plague
7. Sink
8. Common Trash
9. Escalator Teeth
10. Dig a Hole
11. Raw Materials

METZ TOUR DATES
Sep 05 - Atlanta, GA - 529
Sep 07- Raleigh, NC - Hopscotch Festival
Sep 25 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall
Sep 29 - Toronto, ON - Lee’s Palace *
Sep 30 - Toronto, ON - Lee’s Palace *
Oct 02 - Boston, MA - Sinclair #
Oct 03 - Philadelphia, PA - The First Unitarian Church #
Oct 04 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg #
Oct 05 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom #
Oct 06 - Washington, DC - Rock & Roll Hotel #
Oct 08 - Montreal, QC - La Sala Rosa
Nov 02 - Prague, Czech Republic - Futurum !
Nov 03 -  Wroclaw, Poland - Klub Firlej !
Nov 04 -  Warsaw, Poland - Klub Hydrozagadka !
Nov 06 - Berlin, Germany - Bi Nuu !
Nov 07 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Loppen !
Nov 08 - Hamburg, Germany - Knust !
Nov 09 - Zwolle, Netherlands - Poppodium Hedon  ^
Nov 10 - Kortrijk, Belgium - De Kruen (Sonic City Festival)
Nov 12 - Le Havre, France - Le Tetris %
Nov 14 - Nimes, France - La Paloma %
Nov 15 - Bordeaux, France - Theatre Barbey %
Nov 16 - Toulouse, France - Club Metronum %
Nov 17 - Barcelona, Spain - La (2) De Apolo %
Nov  18 - Madrid, Spain - Moby Dick %
Nov 20 - Nantes, France - Pole Etudiant %
Nov 21 - Paris, France - Le Trabendo %
Nov 22 - London, UK - The Garage %
Nov 23 - Bristol, UK - The Fleece %
Nov 24 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club %
Nov 25 - Brighton, UK - The Haunt %
Dec 07 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
Dec 08 - Vancouver, BC - Cobalt
Dec 09 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir
Dec 11 - San Francisco, CA - Independent
Dec 12 - Los Angeles, CA - Teragram
Dec 13 - San Diego, CA - Casbah
Dec 15 - Austin, TX - Mohawk &
Dec 16 - Houston, TX - Studio @ Warehouse Live

* with SUUNS
# with Uniform
! with Protomartyr
^ with Brian Case
% with Drahla
& with Cherubs

MORE ON METZ’ STRANGE PEACE

Since releasing their self-titled debut record in 2012, which The New Yorker called, “One of the year’s best albums…a punishing, noisy, exhilarating thing,” the Toronto-based 3-piece METZ have garnered international acclaim as one of the most electrifying and forceful live acts, touring widely and extensively, playing hundreds of shows each year around the world.

Now, Alex Edkins (guitar, vocals), along with Hayden Menzies (drums), and Chris Slorach (bass) are set to unleash their highly-anticipated third full-length album, Strange Peace, an emphatic but artful hammer swing to the status quo.

"The best punk isn't an assault as much as it's a challenge — to what's normal, to what's comfortable, or simply to what's expected. Teetering on the edge of perpetual implosion,” NPR wrote in their glowing review of METZ’s 2015 second album, II.

Strange Peace was recorded in Chicago, live off the floor to tape with Steve Albini. The result is a distinct artistic maturation into new and alarming territory, frantically pushing past where the band has gone before, while capturing the notorious intensity of their live show.

“Recording in Chicago was a blast. We tracked fourteen songs in four days. It was the first time we felt confident enough to just play live and roll tape,” Edkins said of the recording process. “Strange Peace is much more diverse and varied than anything we’ve done before, which was exhilarating, but terrifying, too. We took the tapes home to Toronto feeling like we’d made the record we wanted to make.”

The trio continued to assemble the album (including home recordings, additional instrumentation) back in their hometown, adding the finishing touches with longtime collaborator, engineer and mixer, Graham Walsh.

From the ferocious opening track, “Mess of Wires”, we’re met by the sheer force and fierce musicianship we’ve come to expect from METZ. With the unhinged, post-punk fragments of “Drained Lake”, and the whirling, acerbic pop features of "Cellophane", the band's hectic progression becomes clear. But Strange Peace isn’t merely a collection of eleven uninhibited and urgent songs. It’s also a kind of sonic venting, a truculent social commentary that bludgeons and provokes, excites and unsettles.

“The songs on Strange Peace are about uncertainty," Edkins explains. "They're about recognizing that we're not always in control of our own fate, and about admitting our mistakes and fears. They're about finding some semblance of peace within the chaos."

With all the pleasurable tension and anxiety of a fever dream, Strange Peace is equal parts challenging and accessible. It is this implausible balancing act, moving from one end of the musical spectrum to the other, that only a band of METZ’s power and capacity can maintain: discordant and melodic, powerful and controlled, meticulous and instinctive, subtle and complex, precise and reckless, wholehearted and merciless, brutal and optimistic, terrifying and fun.

“Their whiplash of distortion is made with precision, a contained chaos. But you would never talk about them like that. Because METZ are not something you study or analyze,” wrote Liisa Ladouceur in Exclaim!. “They are something you feel: a transfer of energy, pure and simple.”

In other words: to feel something, fiercely and intensely, but together, not alone.

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