Metric - 'Synthetica'

The Pros And Cons Of Metric's New One

PROS

—With their synthy collision of dance and rock, Metric is like a lady-fronted early-Kasabian.
—There is a song on here, "Dreams So Real," in which Emily Haines gently skewers her own belief structures, and generally pours vinegar on everything she might have stood for that shows a wry, reflexive wit we'd not previously imagined her capable of. In that way, she is like the lady Jarvis Cocker.
—With the sharp, no frills rocky electro-glam tinge they bring to bear on their fifth record, Metric is like the Canadian lady-fronted mid-noughties Babylon Zoo.
—Lou Reed is on here. Yup, Lou Reed and Emily Haines...together...at...last...uh...

CONS

—Shirley Manson is back, so surely, the gap for angsty girl-power synthy rock has already been filled?
—Starts with the words: “I'm just as fucked up as they say, I can't fake the daytime. I found an entrance to escape into the dark...” EMO!
—Like all Metric records, this one suffers from One Really Great Track syndrome: with "Synthetica" itself, like "Monster Hospital" or "Help I'm Alive" before it, dwarfing its neighbours like a glass skyscraper nestled between rude huts.

VERDICT

Metric remain like Canada's lady-fronted version of The Dears: always pleasant, seldom essential.