Fantasies

by

Metric

Edit

I'm something of a musical gambler. If I hear a single on the radio that I like, I'll go ahead and get the whole album without previewing it. Often it turns out I only ever like the original single that hooked me, and sometimes there are one or two other good entries amid the rest of the list. Metric's "Fantasies" has turned out to be one of those rare gems that I thoroughly enjoy all the way through. In fact there are two or three tracks I think are better than the single that grabbed my attention ("Help, I'm Alive"). I highly recommend "Gimme Sympathy," "Twilight Galaxy," and "Blindness." The album ranges from mellow rock to slightly edgy, never harsh. Perfect for a quiet morning or lonely drive home.

First off, I'm rating this album out of honesty. That three star rating means I think this album has some good points and *gasp* some bad points, so please, bear with me here.

I will not get into how much I love Metric, because I love them but I'm not someone who discovered them before everyone else. I love their music, I'm not a fanboy however. I got into them after hearing "Poster of a Girl" and loving it, so I bought Live it Out right away. I own Fantasies on vinyl, and as much as I like a number of tracks, the album is somewhat of a disappointment for me, but I can't exactly comprehend exactly what it is.

The first six tracks... or better yet, tracks 2-6 are easily the best on the album. But what about Help I'm Alive? Well it's catchy but I don't think it's a great opener per se. The "Beeeating like a haaaammeeerrrrr..." part repeats for half the song and becomes annoying after a few minutes. However, Sick Muse is a great The Smiths-esque track and maybe the best on the album, despite the rather repetitive chorus. Satellite Mind is catchy and Gold Guns Girls is reminiscent of their Live it Out days. Twilight Galaxy is a beautiful song and probably one of their best, and the catchiest track on the album is Gimme Sympathy which I imagine being a good singalong song at concerts.

So as you can gather from the above paragraph, I can listen to tracks 2-6 without problem and without skipping. Unfortunately Gimme Sympathy is followed by tracks 7-9, which are three straight boring ballads in a row. I literally can't remember a thing about them except the fact that the intro to one of them sounds like one of the tracks off of Mother Mother's album "O My Heart", and me wanting to hear that song as opposed to the BS I was hearing. If they were maybe better placed I'd be able to appreciate them more, because when I hear them all in a row, I get more interested in what I am doing while listening to them rather then listening to them.

Stadium Love slightly redeems the album, but all too similar to Help I'm Alive, it doesn't make for a good closer... its sound kind of tries too hard to make it sound like the album is going to end on a high note, but by the time I'm finished listening to it, a lot is left desired. Don't get me wrong, I love the song, and I imagine it being fun at a concert. It just doesn't serve as a good closer, at least in my opinion.

In short, this album is a rather mixed bag for me. It's not a bad album but I got much more out of Live it Out than this.