METZ

To bemused post-work passersby, METZ's early-evening outdoor slot must have been more than a bit jarring. Blending Hayden Menzies's raw jackhammer-ing -- a better quality in a drummer than a lover -- Chris Slorach's frank bass lines, and Alex Edkins's post-hardcore vocals, it was a particularly sonorous gig given the setting and timing. Of course, that seeming incongruence is the hallmark of NXNE's inspired Yonge-Dundas Square programming. The square has its limitations -- notably the cavernous sound at the back of the space -- but the Toronto-based trio still managed to lure a solid stream of curious newbies to the front. The angular guitar and vocal desperation of "Dry Up" and the thrash and sheer velocity of "Negative Space" proved especially fetching.