Metric
Art of Doubt
Release Date: Sep 21, 2018
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
Record label: BMG Rights Management
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Buy Art of Doubt from Amazon
Album Review: Art of Doubt by Metric
Very Good, Based on 6 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
On this accomplished collection, the Canadian synth-punks are more forward-thinking than ever A chart-topping and arena-touring headliner in their native Canada, but a more modest curiosity elsewhere, Metric have spent 20 years as a band apart. When they moved to New York at the turn of the century, their shimmery synth-pop approach to punk stuck out like a sore thumb among the garage rock aesthetic of their loftmates Interpol, Yeah Yeahs Yeahs and TV On The Radio. While the world later came around to synth-pop, Metric always existed just outside of fashion - forming their own cottage industry record label to exist entirely on their own terms.
Based on rating 8/10
Seven albums in, Metric have solidified their identity by creating Art of Doubt, an album that captures the breadth of their live shows while commenting on external pressures and internal questions. Bandleader Emily Haines wastes no time pointing out the vacuous state of extreme presentations of wealth and "success," singing from the point of a character who declares: "I'm so rich, everything's free" on thundering lead single, "Dark Saturday." Art of Doubt isn't just a return to guitar-led rock, although Jimmy Shaw shows off his ….
Based on rating 8/10
After the synth-driven, very polished Pagans in Vegas, Metric returned with a more guitar-driven, rock & roll-centric approach on their seventh album, 2018's Art of Doubt. Metric have never been shy about shifting their sound, and each time they do their core strengths never fade. Emily Haines' powerful voice and evocative lyrics, their rock-solid rhythm section, and their ability to craft immediately hooky modern rock; these things are out in full force on Art of Doubt.
Based on rating 7/10
This Canadian indie band is known for a razor sharp mix of meticulously produced synth pop, bolstered by the icy smooth vocals of frontwoman Emily Haines, geared to play well to large audiences. Those large audiences partially materialized when they landed the theme song to the Grammy-nominated soundtrack to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse back in 2010. Kudos to Metric for changing things up on Art of Doubt, their seventh studio album, as it would have been an easy sell for them to continue down the same successful path.
Based on rating 6.6/10
Metric is a juggernaut, as Canadian an institution as Tim Hortons or stories about raccoons. They're their own distributor--all their albums since Fantasies have come out on their own label, Metric Music International--and their own sound, immune to trends or the zeitgeist. Their latest album may be called Art of Doubt, but the only thing in doubt from album to album is proportions: synthetic to acoustic, crunch to shimmer, angst to release.
Based on rating 3
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Metric forming in Toronto, and their seventh studio album seems to signify some sort of return to their roots. For, gradually, over the last few years, Emily Haines and company have embraced a more synth-based approach to their songs, a sound encapsulated on 2015’s Pagans In Vegas which produced rather mixed results. Art Of Doubt, however, is their most guitar heavy album since their 2009 album Live It Out – and also one that sounds their most urgent.
'Art of Doubt'
is available now