Toronto-based JOVM mainstays METZ‘s fifth studio album Up on Gravity Hill is slated for an April 12, 2024 release on Dine Alone Records in Canada and on Sub Pop for the rest of the world. The album, which is the JOVM mainstays’ first album in four years was engineered by Seth Manchester and features guest appearances from Black Mountain‘s Amber Webber and string arrangements by composer Owen Pallett.
Long known for blowing out eardrums with explosively loud songs of joyous rage, the Canadian JOVM mainstays — Alex Edkins (vocals, guitar), Chris Slorach (bass) and Hayden Menzies (drums) — have, over the course of their past couple of albums have begun exploring ways of turning abrasiveness into atmospherics. The evolution of their sound is not only a reflection of the band’s maturity as humans and as musicians, but also a changed world that demands much more nuance and compassion to comprehend and survive. Up On Gravity Hill reportedly finds the band continuing to bend the raw power of rock music to its most delicate, intricate ends. The album’s material may arguably be their deepest, detailed and unyieldingly personal batch of songs — and their most beautiful to date.
Last month, the Canadian JOVM mainstays spotlighted the evolution in their sound and approach through the release of two contrasting singles:
“99,” a stomping and noisy motorik chug of a song built around their long-held penchant for shout along worthy, mosh pit friendly hooks choruses that sounds subtly informed by Edkins’ work with Noble Rot. “Entwined (Street Light Buzz),” a woozy and swooning song that sees the trio retaining their penchant for power chord-driven, enormous, shout along friendly hooks and choruses with a gorgeous and meditative shoegazer-like bridge.
“These two songs couldn’t be more stylistically and thematically dissimilar,” METZ’s Alex Edkins says. “‘Entwined (Street Light Buzz)’ is a song about the deep connection humans can foster with one another and how we carry people with us forever, even after death. ‘99’ is about the scourge of corporate greed and bottom-line thinking that runs rampant in modern society. Anything for a buck is the message being sent to younger generations.”
Up On Gravity Hill‘s third and latest single “Light Your Way Home” is a slow-burning shoegazer-like ballad built around the band’s long-held penchant for feedback-driven power chords, thunderous drums, enormous raise-your-beer-in-the-air-and-shout-along worthy anthemic choruses serving as a dramatic and stormy vehicle for Edkins’ achingly yearning delivery and backing vocals from Black Mountain‘s and Lighting Dust’s Amber Webber. “Light Your Way Home” finds the Toronto-based outfit at their most forcefully earnest with hearts worn proudly on their sleeves, expressing the understandably deep longing for your loved ones — presumably while living the rock n’ roll live on the road. Sonically, the track is a subtle departure from their established sound that sees the band proverbially stretching themselves upward.
“’Light Your Way Home’ is definitely one of our favorites from Up On Gravity Hill. I was listening to lots of Jesu and Low (as I do most winters) when writing this one,” the band’s Alex Edkins says in press notes. “Lyrically, it’s about missing your loved ones to the point of losing your grip on reality. We distorted and added a mechanical slap back to the drums to create a wild and huge sound. I love how big we got the production on this one. It’s like nothing we’ve ever made before, sonically or lyrically. Amber Webber (Black Mountain, Lightning Dust) was so great to work with, and her voice just takes this song to another stratosphere. I think the video by Colin Medley perfectly captures the vibe and intent of the song.”
