★★★★★
I saw Metric perform last February in Oxford, England, and let's just say I was far from impressed. The night started off brilliantly, with Emily Haines and her Canadian counterparts firing on all cylinders, but by about the seventh song, the blonde chanteuse had spiraled into a circuitous, strung-out diatribe on corporate rock, ringtones, downloads and the like. At one point towards the end of the night, her incessant rants turned to pleas for the crowd to "tell me what you want...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2013-04-25
★★★★★
The Canadian legends from Metric are probably best known for their integration of well-applied synthesizers with an indie-rock backdrop, and as of 2012, that's how their latest offering introduces us to their new face; the female -fronted pioneers of mixing epicosity with simplicity have returned with a musical vengeance, and the synthesizers are both beautiful and haunting this time around, an artifact of a time long since passed and a glimpse into the future of music all at once...
- www.alterthepress.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
Emily Haines calmly declares at the end of "Synthetica" that she once "wanted to be part of something," but it isn't a regret so much as a revelation. Now on album No. 5, "Synthetica" closer "Nothing but Time" is sweetly opulent electro-rock, the grown-up realization that there's no rush, and a sign the band has moved well beyond its once ice-cold restlessness...
- latimesblogs.latimes.com
2013-04-01
★★★★★
Metric are self-described as a "nomadic" outfit because of the way they zip from one city to the next; from Toronto to London, Los Angeles to New York, they never really settle in one place long enough to claim that they are based there. Their music kind of reflects that: it's changeable, but its heart belongs to the strong, multi-faceted indie of the country they claim their true home: Canada...
- www.thecmuwebsite.com
2013-04-01
★★★★★
"I'm just as fucked up as they say," says vocalist/ keyboardist Emily Haines on the opening track of Synthetica. "Artificial Nocturne" begins with a melodramatic, synth-slathered buildup, setting the tension and the tone for all that's to come on the rest of the album. When I think Metric, I think catchy, repetitious video-game guitar riffs and sensuous, haunted vocals. I also think moody. Moody instrumentation, moody band image, moody everything...
- www.ink19.com
2012-08-30
★★★★★
The Canadian quartet's fifth album is their most appealing and most fully realised to date. They've always revelled in the frosty chill of their aloof cyber-rock but here Metric raise the temperature just a couple of degrees with startling results. And boy, do they wear their new approachability well...
- music.thedigitalfix.com
2012-07-02
★★★★★
Expectations of band fatigue, be gone. It appeared, for some time, that Metric had peaked with their second album, 2005's 'Live It Out,' but some kind of late-stage evolution seems to have occurred on 'Synthetica'. The essential appeal of the Canadian quartet remains intact: Emily Haines sings sultry, brooding vocals over vaguely gothic synthpop...
- www.nme.com
2012-06-28
★★★★★
The indie world has been in love with Metric (specifically front woman Emily Haines) for some time. With each album it is interesting to see how she will try to keep their adoration. There is an electronic dreamlike state blanketing Synthetica. Every note and word has a digital haze creating this alternate Metric that has all of the same elements, but never hits as hard or sharp or sweet. This electronic finish does two things. First, it lessens the power of Metric...
- tangiblesounds.com
2013-06-28
★★★★★
This review originally ran in AP 288. Metric's genius is how they evolve from album to album, but never abandon their core strengths: zooming keyboards, pop hooks and frontwoman Emily Haines' badass, angel-with-a-dark-side voice. The band's fifth full-length, Synthetica, is no different. As its name implies, the album is heavy on electronic-sounding elements--guitars are pushed to the background, and the rock-based aggression of 2005's Live It Out and 2009's Fantasies is noticeably absent...
- www.altpress.com
2012-06-25
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