Metric’s newest release, Fantasies, kicks to life with a heartbeat of a kick drum and weavings of stereo effect. The overly saccharine has been replaced with heartier bass lines; there is a moodiness that tempers throughout the album that creates a more mature and mainstream sound. While the overall feel of this album is a definite change from Live It Out, there are still elements that reminisce of their older material.

Overall the offerings frame Emily Haines’ sexy and genuine vocals in layers of instrumentation that attempt to create a more epic sound. In “Front Row”, Haines’ voice is velvety and the track itself is one of the more rock numbers. There are several hooks sprinkled throughout Fantasies that will jump into your brain and stay there such as with “Gold Guns Girls” and “Gimme Sympathy”. However, the clever political lyrics are much more muted in this release. “Collect Call” and “Blindness” are more reminiscent of an electrified Haines’ solo project and seem out of place. Something about the pacing and placement of the tracks feels off, primarily with the juxtaposition of “Blindness” to close with “Stadium Love”.

I think that Metric fans such as myself will have a love/hate relationship with this release. While Old World Underground and Live it Out had a definite sound, they never felt repetitive. Fantasies dallies in territory that the band has already covered. The stand-out tracks do so because they are of a higher level than the rest—whereas they have previously created strong albums, there have only created a few strong songs this time around. I really wanted to LOVE this album. Unfortunately for now, I only like it.

The album is available for digital download as well as in packs off www.ilovemetric.com. The acoustic versions of Help I’m Alive and Gimme Sympathy are included and is a more enjoyable version of the former.

[CD, 2009]

1. Blindness
2. Collect Call
3. Front Row
4. Gimme Sympathy
5. Gold Guns Girls
6. Help I’m Alive
7. Satellite Mind
8. Sick Muse
9. Stadium Love
10. Twilight Galaxy