METZ

The first seven-inch by Toronto, ON's Metz is a lot more psych than you might expect if you've caught them live. A constant sonic pummelling that doesn't let up until the very last note, Metz are one of the strongest live bands currently punishing the citizens of Hogtown, calling to mind classic Canadian post-hardcore acts like Shallow North Dakota and Kittens. As these two songs demonstrate, Metz have more spiritual cousins in the early '90s than the'00s. "Soft Whiteout" has a Shiner-like melody inside it somewhere but it's buried under layers of noise and distortion. "Lump Sums" is as brutal as In on the Kill Taker-era Fugazi, but without the dub sensibility. The surprising thing about these two songs, however, is the way the band have captured their disturbingly epic live energy and built a whole new set of dynamics around it. A lot of care has gone into the sounds and it shows, from the caustic washout of guitars to the hallway vocal screams that populate each song. The result is much weirder than the band's balls-out live show and as a result, is an incredibly engaging listen.