Lael Neale - Acquainted With Night (LP) - White Vinyl

METZ’s fourth album, Atlas Vending, landed on 9 October 2020 through Sub Pop, with Royal Mountain handling the Canadian release, and it still feels like a live wire. The Toronto trio of Alex Edkins, Chris Slorach, and Hayden Menzies have always dealt in brute force, but here the power has more shape and patience. It is a record built for big rooms and small, for those nights when you want noise to speak plainly.

The band co-produced the album with Ben Greenberg and tracked it at Machines With Magnets in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, with Seth Manchester behind the desk. You can hear that room in the drum bloom and the guitar scrape, a tangible air moving around the kit and the amps. METZ have long chased a particular kind of physicality, the sensation that the band is only a few metres away and slightly too loud for comfort. Atlas Vending gets that across while adding more light and shade, little pockets where melody sneaks in before the snare slams shut again.

The singles set the tone. Blind Youth Industrial Park is all coiled rhythm and fluorescent hum, a reminder of how tight this trio can lock in. Hail Taxi throws a surprising amount of bittersweet colour into the churn, one of the clearest signals that METZ were leaning harder into hooks without softening the blow. And the closer, A Boat to Drown In, stretches past the seven minute mark and lets the band ride a long, hypnotic swell. It is the kind of finale that feels earned, a release valve after 30-odd minutes of grind.

What makes Atlas Vending stick is not just volume or velocity, it is intent. The songs feel sequenced like a long exhale, each one pushing into the next with purpose. Edkins’ guitar tone is still serrated, but he threads lines that lodge in your head, especially when Slorach’s bass rumbles beneath like heavy machinery. Menzies plays with the authority of a human metronome who loves a good crash, the sort of drummer who turns a simple pattern into a statement with placement and weight. When the three of them charge together, you feel it in the ribs.

The band talked around release about wanting more dynamics and range, and that comes through. There are passages where the arrangement pulls back to let a vocal or a drone hang, small choices that make the next hit land harder. Machines With Magnets suits this approach, given the studio’s history of capturing noise rock and boundary-pushing punk with clarity rather than gloss. Greenberg’s ear for texture and Manchester’s mixes keep the grit all the way up while giving each instrument a distinct space.

Critics picked up on this shift. Outlets like Pitchfork and Stereogum praised the way METZ stretched their sound without losing what makes them METZ. Fans have done the same at shows, where new songs slam right up against older staples and make perfect sense. If you have seen them tear through a set, you know how these tracks will translate. If you have not, Atlas Vending is the next best thing, a document of a band that has grown sharper and more expressive without stepping off the throttle.

On vinyl, the record breathes. Pressings for Atlas Vending vinyl reveal extra depth in those low-end swells and room tones, and the finale becomes a full-body experience when the volume is right. If you collect METZ albums on vinyl, this one is essential, both for the sonic payoff and because the sequencing shines when you flip the sides and reset your ears. It is the kind of title people ask for by name in a Melbourne record store, and it sits neatly in that part of the shelf where heavy and thoughtful meet. If you are looking to buy METZ records online, keep an eye on reputable shops for clean copies, since noisy wax will blunt some of that hard-won detail. For listeners in Australia, plenty of indie shops specialising in vinyl records Australia wide have kept this in rotation, and it deserves the space.

METZ have always sounded like a band with something urgent to say, even when the lyrics blur into a yowl. Atlas Vending sharpens the message. It is louder in the ways that count, smarter about pacing, and generous with moments that linger after the dust settles. If you want METZ vinyl that captures the band in full stride, this is the one to reach for first.