Metallic Life Review - Matmos: Review


Review by Lavender:

MATMOS are an electronic duo whose experimental and conceptual albums have dazzled me for a VERY long time. Across their discography, albums like A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure, The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast, and a spectacular three-album run from 2016 to 2020 have both challenged and delighted me. The middle of that trio, Plastic Anniversary, is of particular note as it saw the band crafting an entire record out of samples of various plastic objects. That same technique is used on this record, but appropriately, with metal objects. 

I think the record got off to a strong start with a pair of great singles. “Changing States” may be the most conventional composition here, with a percussive style that sounds like a lot of other Matmos records. I love the way it has so many different metal sounds weaved together, and yet so many of them are instantly recognizable. It's the kind of readymade song that made an album like Plastic Anniversary so good. That was followed by “The Rust Belt,” which is a little bit more sparse. It has these anxious alarms and whimpering little metal tinges that all have great texture, and the song sounds great as a result. 

The album's opener “Norway Doorway” is a scary start to the record with creaking door samples and horror-show keys, or at least metal mimicking the sound of keys. When more instrumentation does work its way in, it eerily always fails to fill out the full bulky expanse of sonic space. It's a brooding start to the record and I like it. The only other deep cut on the album that clocks in under 20 minutes is “The Chrome Reflects Our Image.” It's the gentlest song on the album with a very ambient vibe as layers of much calmer metallic poise wash over and through each other. 


That 20-minute caveat comes from the title track and closer “Metallic Life Review.” It has a long introductory passage that eventually gives way to a kind of methodical beat loop dusted with playful bells and whistles in the form of warped, warbling metallic sounds. The second half of the song begins with a cute trick, shifting its metallic samples into something that feels almost naturalistic. The intensity really revs up around the 14-minute mark, though it stops and starts several times. There are several individual moments throughout the song that I like a lot, even if its bulky runtime can feel slightly unnecessary at points. 

The only song on the record I don't really care for at all is the third single, “Steel Tongues.” It does have its fair share of interesting sounds, especially when the chimes and drums come together in the end. But it has the least interesting composition on the record by far, and it makes getting to those dynamic textures feel like work. 

Matmos are some of the most fantastic artists around when it comes to creating and nailing a concept. At no point in Metallic Life Review can you go more than a minute without being reminded of the process through which all these sounds were harvested. Within that lens, the pair also flex their experimental and abstract tendencies. Though it may not be the most groundbreaking or immediate release from the pair, it shines in all the same ways they always have. 7/10


For more experimental music check out my review of Jenny Hval's Iris Silver Mist

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