Full Review: Metric – Fantasies
Almost like telling a joke without laughing, the straight faced pop/rock fueled by synths can be a bit hard to read at first but it shouldn’t take long for the overtly obvious hooks to show themselves. More than anything, the harder rock moments [stressing the 'moments' part] which usually start the songs only help propel the stadium filling, power choruses to greater heights like that of “Help I’m Alive”.
Although “Gimme Sympathy” asks “Who would you rather be, the Beatles or The Rolling Stones?”, Jimmy Eat World, more than any other band seems to have inspired a lot of parts on ‘Fantasies’ which you can clearly hear on “Collect Call” and “Sick Muse”. Only occasionally does it take more effort to find the hooks which get buried under static, monotone guitars ["Front Row"] or that get drawn out too far like in “Twilight Galaxy”.
‘Fantasies’ is an album anchored at the beginning, middle and end by some of the best songs, strategically placed to over power the few songs which leave something to be desired. “Gimme Sympathy” and “Stadium Love” are the two out right hits with the latter providing super slick vocals right from the start mirroring the music in both the chorus and verses never leaving a moment that you aren’t fully engaged. If that isn’t enough for you, the song also paints graphic images of certain animals against each other in what can only be an analogy for different types of people relating to each other. So who would you choose spider or rat?
