![\"METZ](\"https:\/\/spli-t.com\/splitworks2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/METZ_photo1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cBold, unsympathetic and brutally effective.\u201d – NME<\/p>\n
\u201cThese mild-looking Canadians revive the golden age of early Nirvana and \u201990s grunge\u201d
\n\u2013Entertainment Weekly<\/p>\n
Forget everything you know about noise.<\/p>\n
METZ is what happens when a seemingly irresistible force meets an immovable object. \u00a0It\u2019s heavy, dark, sloppy noise punk. Their sound is a \u201cpunch in the gut\u2026followed by a kick to the teeth.\u201d [Vice<\/i>]. It\u2019s monstrous, exhilarating. LOUD. It\u2019s \u201cone of the best live acts in rock [music] today.\u201d [Chicago Tribune<\/i>].<\/p>\n
Split Works is bringing the noise with METZ\u2019 first China tour this coming February 2016. They\u2019ll be playing two smashup shows \u2013, Shanghai on Feb 19 (Yuyintang), Beijing on Feb 20 (MAO Livehouse). The guitars will be titanic, the drums ill-tempered, the vocals chilling, and the volume on the edge. Did we mention they were loud?<\/p>\n
METZ formed in 2007, fueled by a desire to return to everything that\u2019s good about loud, ferocious live music; a frantic nod to bands like Nation of Ulysses, Shellac, The Pixies, The Jesus Lizard, and Public Image Ltd. at their most vicious, while carving out some heavy new business. \u201cI look at it like this,\u201d METZ frontman Alex Edkins says. \u201cYou start a band, just as something to do, because music\u2019s what makes you tick, the thing you dream about and think about and that\u2019s it. You never think that you\u2019ll be able to do it all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
METZ<\/i>, the band\u2019s self-titled and formidable debut full-length came out in 2012, was shortlisted for the Polaris Prize, and received much critical acclaim. Both live and on record, METZ articulated with deafening clarity what we\u2019ve known for some time: The world of good music needed a new power trio, and they were it.<\/p>\n
Three years and almost 500 gigs later comes\u00a0II<\/i>, the concussive new full-length from a band that has become arguably North America\u2019s finest touring rock band. Written and recorded in 2014,\u00a0II<\/i>\u00a0is METZ at their most true to form\u2014as pure an expression of what they do as can currently be committed to tape. Though they incorporated new instruments, (baritone guitar, tape loops, piano, synth, found sounds) and stretched out the arrangements, they still managed to \u201cstay true to what made us tick in the first place: that immediacy,” Edkins calls it. “If it punches you in the gut.\u201d<\/p>\n
And does it ever. From the exhilarating grind of \u201cSpit You Out\u201d to the blunt-force thrills of \u201cLandfill,\u201d herein reside 10 songs uncompromising in their ferocity and abrasiveness. While their debut was often \u201cclean and clinical,\u201d\u00a0II<\/i>\u00a0is what Edkins describes as a \u201cmuch heavier\u201d affair, with many of its roughest edges and ugliest tones kept intact.<\/p>\n
What we\u2019re left with is the sound of an already monstrous band improving in both subtle and terrifying ways. \u201cWe take our noise and our feedback very seriously,\u201d Edkins says. \u201cThe more we do this, the more we realize there\u2019s no such thing as right or wrong in music. It comes down to feel. And if it feels good, it works. This time we sorta said, ‘This is who we are. We are not going to clean up our sound, we are not going to hire a big producer, we are not going to try to write a radio song.\u201d<\/p>\n
No radio could handle the ear-splitting, high-octane energy of a METZ gig. But Yuyintang and MAO Livehouses have bravely volunteered, so we\u2019ll see you down in the pits on Feb 19 (Shanghai) and 20 (Beijing).<\/p>\n
Show Information<\/h5>\n
\u3010SHANGHAI\u3011
\nDate:\u00a0February 19, Friday
\nVenue:\u00a0Yuyintang
\nAddress:\u00a0<\/i>851 Kaixuan Road near West Yan’an Road (\u51ef\u65cb\u8def851\u53f7,\u8fd1\u5ef6\u5b89\u897f\u8def\u53e3)
\nTime:\u00a0<\/i>9pm<\/i>
\nTickets:\u00a0<\/i>120 (Door) \/ 100 (Presale)
\n*\u00a0Pre-sales\u00a0end\u00a0on 12 noon, Feb. 19th, 2016
\nPre-sale link:\u00a0https:\/\/yoopay.cn\/event\/metzShanghai<\/a>
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