METZ / Adulkt Life

This split 7” is a dogged, startling response to today’s spoilt life. Adulkt Life and METZ are paired perfectly: their shared, resolute force carries an urgency that belongs to this era alone. Both are capable of goading listeners, both are capable of unearthly moments of alloyed beauty. And both bands are made for that unflinching space between the truths that can’t be absorbed and the truths that can’t be forgotten.

METZ are undisputable. Their warning, an unflinching assessment of the vastness and insignificance of this life, is precisely counterbalanced by their lesson, which models the resilience that this understanding demands. “Demolition Row” is persistent, concise, and alarmingly physical. But its punch is escorted by this hypnotizing, un-strained vocal. “It’s quite singular,” in the words of METZ’s guitarist/singer Alex Edkins, “we’ve never sounded this way before.”

Adulkt Life’s debut LP, Book of Curses, was the highlight of 2020, a contorted, forceful declaration. Adulkt Life’s song, “Book of Curses,” was intended for the LP, but didn’t quite fit. Singer Chris Rowley describes it as a “belligerent satellite” for the end of time: “like in a few weeks.” It’s matched here with the blip of “Ants & Lions,” a near-joke that instead feels accusatory. Atop the carnival swells of the song, only that voice could make “yabba dabba doo time” burn like acid.

The impact of these two sides, taken together, reveals a shared, defiant intention. “When you’ve made yr small space attack ship mostly from sharp sticks and dashboards and recycled fuel stuffs METZ ship looks clean and tended for battles to come,” in the words of Adulkt Life’s Rowley, “very happy to be sharing crew n rink with them.” For METZ, this record lives within their legacy of complementary projects including splits with Mission of Burma and Clipping. and their collaboration with John Reis. “It’s because we are fans of the music,” explains Edkins. “METZ are mighty aren’t they?” replies Rowley.