METZ live at The 100 Club,
March 3rd 2015
Canada’s output of noise is nothing short of stunning, throughout history countless amazing bands have consistently travelled to our shores and shook us little Englanders senseless with deadly doses of feedback and fuzz. From D.O.A to Fucked Up, when the Canadians come to town, you know it’s going to get ridiculously loud.
Tonight makes no exception to the rule with Metz wreaking total havoc within seconds of scaling the stage. Their riffs are nothing short of earth shaking, and that’s the thing that sets them far apart from their support bands tonight and every other band that chose to sit on the fence – Metz radiate with a pure, palpable energy with every hit they cook up. From the opening notes of ‘Dirty Shirt’ the whole band are drenched in sweat, frontman Alex Edkins is a man possessed, scrambling around the stage wrestling with his Jazzmaster as if it were a boa constrictor, while the impermeable rhythm section provides a total masterclass in speed and agility.
Righteous crowd pleasers come in the form of 2011 album cuts ‘Wasted’, ‘Knife In The Water’ and ‘Headache’, the opening drum pattern of which has the audience chanting along with the volume of Arsenal at home in an instant. It’s not all safe bets though, Metz offer a delicious preview of new material from their forthcoming album, with the recently teased ‘Acetate’ exploding like a bullet from a gun. And it’s welcomed with open arms as the audience continue to catapult each other through the air as though it were an old favourite.
The prowess and energy these three Canadians exude with every riff, snare crack and scream tonight is truly remarkable. Though the crowd are a mere fraction of the size compared to our 2013 encounter at Village Underground, Metz rule the width of The 100 with ease.
Dave Palmer
