Metric – Formentera – Album Review

Hello, everybody … in case you missed it, I just recently made a post where I reviewed ten albums in the same post in mini reviews … I do plan to continue to do that in the future (I’m not sure how often), but today I have a single album review of the new Metric album, Formentera.

Metric is a band who’s been on my list to listen to more. Going into this album, I wasn’t super familiar with their discography, but I just recently got into their 2018 album, Art of Doubt … and before I get into my thoughts on their new album, I’m going to take this opportunity to say that I highly recommend listening to Art of Doubt if you haven’t already. If you don’t have the time (or would rather prioritize other things), that’s totally fair. But if you’re interested, have the time, and want to take the time to listen to it … I mean, I can’t guarantee that you’ll like it, but I absolutely love that album!

Even without being super familiar with Metric’s discography, Art of Doubt alone is so amazing that it got me super excited about the follow-up, Formentera.

“All Comes Crashing” dropped as the lead single back in April, and I really didn’t like it. But then I started to hear it more, and it was getting stuck in my head … not that it getting stuck in my head necessarily means I have to like it, but eventually I found myself wanting to listen to it, and I liked this song by the time the album dropped.

The almost ten-and-a-half-minute “Doomscroller” was released as the second single, and I’m pretty sure I only heard it once before the album came out.

Then, there was the final single released prior to the release of the album, “What Feels Like Eternity” … just like with “All Comes Crashing”, I really didn’t like this song at first, but it grew on me a lot. At this point, I love this song!

So when I was very disappointed by the album on first listen, I wondered if it would grow on me, like some of the singles did … and it did … A LOT.

This album kept getting better the more I listened to it, and I’m at the point now where I can easily call it one of my favourite albums of 2022!

The first thing I want to talk about is the production, which is fantastic! For example, on “What Feels Like Eternity”, which has both clean and distorted guitars, and finds the right times for both of them. The percussion is mixed really well, too, and the instruments sound fantastic together!

“Oh Please” starts off with an awesome combination of synths and guitar, and the percussion fits really well with the rest of the instrumentation. They do a great job on this song of finding the right places to take away instrumentation and the right places to add it back in.

“I Will Never Settle” builds up super well with the synths and percussion sounding amazing together, and really well mixed. Then that guitar riff comes in and it’s fantastic!

Most of these songs are really tightly produced … possibly the only exception for me is “All Comes Crashing”, where the instruments at times can sound a bit awkward together. But with that being said, despite some minor issues I have with it, this song grew on me even more! Going into the album I liked this song, but I didn’t love it … at this point, I love this song!

I feel like most of us have that one element in music that we care about way more than most listeners, and for me, it’s percussion … the speed and rhythm of the percussion, but also how it’s mixed/produced. And the percussion on this album is fantastic, and mixed well on almost every track, if not every track. Examples of great-sounding percussion on this album are the snap of the percussion on “What Feels Like Eternity”, the super well-mixed snare on “Enemies of the Ocean” that adds tension while still keeping the calm feeling of the song, the mellow snare on the first post-chorus of “I Will Never Settle”, the echoey snare on “False Dichotomy”, and the snappy snare on “Paths in the Sky” … yes, I know, I love great-sounding snares! But I also should point out the quiet kick drum in the verses of “Paths in the Sky”, where the emphasis is on the other instruments, but the kick is still there to add just the right amount of power.

But I should also mention the percussion in “Oh Please” … not just how it’s produced and mixed, but the fantastic rhythm of the drums throughout the song, with the off-beat kick drum right before the snare. The drums are also mixed super well in this song, and the snare sounds amazing!

Now, I also think there’s a lot of great melodies here. In terms of vocal melodies, some examples are in the chorus of “All Comes Crashing”, the start of “Enemies of the Ocean”, the first post-chorus of “I Will Never Settle”, and the verses and bridge on “Oh Please”. And in terms of melodies in the instrumentation … the guitar solos on “What Feels Like Eternity” and “I Will Never Settle”, the synths on the title track, the synth at the start of “False Dichotomy” (also the synth on the chorus of that song), and the lead guitar throughout “Oh Please”, a song that sounds like a lot of what’s on The Killers’ 2004 debut album, Hot Fuss, which, by the way, is also an amazing album.

Now, like I said in my mini review of DRILL MUSIC IN ZION by Lupe Fiasco, I don’t pay as much attention to lyrics as a lot of critics do … it’s not that I don’t pay any attention to them, it’s just that I care more about vocals, melodies, production, mixing, etc. But while I don’t know what all the lyrics mean on this album, there are some themes and some lines that I like here. For example, while I’m not totally sure what all the lyrics of “Oh Please” mean, it seems to have a theme of confidence, and I love the line, ‘I can kill with my eyes, and I’m murdering.’

The band’s lead guitarist, James Shaw, told Apple Music that “I Will Never Settle” is about not going back to your past of anxiety and demons, and knowing what you’re capable of so you can move forward, and just like on pretty much every track here (and on most albums), there’s some lyrics that I don’t understand. But I still find the lyrics in this song to be interesting.

Also, “All Comes Crashing” has an apocalyptic theme lyrically, and the band’s lead singer, Emily Haines, sings about making the most of the time we have instead of living in fear of everything coming to an end.

There are a lot of moments on this album that remind me of Art of Doubt, despite these two albums being very different. The powerful percussion and the buildup on “Paths in the Sky” reminds me of “Underline the Black”, some of the guitar melodies on the bridge of “What Feels Like Eternity” remind me of “Risk”, and the synths on the title track remind me a bit of “Anticipate”.

Speaking of Art of Doubt, I don’t want to make this whole review about which album is better, because I love both albums! They’re both amazing in different ways! But with that being said, in case you’re wondering … do I love this as much as Art of Doubt?

At this point … yes! And I’ll even go a step further … I love this even more!

That’s not meant as a criticism to Art of Doubt … that album is still very special to me and I still love it just as much as I did … it’s more to show just how much I love this new album!

If you’re wondering what my top favourites on this album are, as of right now, my top three in order of appearance are the title track, “Enemies of the Ocean”, and “Oh Please”. The song “Formentera” starts off with some fantastic strings, and I love the subtle buildup of this track. I especially love those amazing synth melodies I mentioned earlier, and they sound even better with the bassline. I also love the way Emily sings the word ‘Formentera’ near the end of the song, and the way the vocals are mixed at that part. And I also have to mention the pianos at the part when the title is sung.

“Enemies of the Ocean” is a somewhat mellow track that’s produced amazingly well, Emily’s vocals are fantastic, and the chorus of this track is phenomenal! I also have to mention the synth pad before the first verse.

Oh, please don’t let my praise of those tracks distract from how much I love the second-to-last track on the album (I know, horrible joke) … “Oh Please” is amazing! Emily Haines’ vocal performance is incredible here, and I also love the effect used on her voice in the verses. The guitars and percussion sound amazing together. I also mentioned the vocal melody on the bridge, which is fantastic! I mentioned the comparison between this and Hot Fuss by The Killers, but I’ll go a step further: I don’t think there’s a song on Hot Fuss that I love as much as this one, and that’s extremely high praise!

Before this review is over, I want to talk about the ten-and-a-half-minute opener, “Doomscroller”, which changes lots throughout the song, and for the first few minutes, it has this eerie feeling to it that works super well in my opinion … eventually it gets more intense, and then more mellow at the end … it’s quite a journey!

Formentera blew my mind! This album is amazingly produced and performed, the percussion sounds incredible, and Emily Haines’ vocals are amazing!

Like I said earlier, this album is one of my favourites of the year. To follow up an album as amazing as Art of Doubt, and for it to not only be as good, but better … that’s extremely impressive!

For me, this is a 9.5/10, the highest score I’ve ever given an album on this website … until now, I’d never scored an album higher than an 8! But this deserves it … holy shit, this album is amazing!

Thanks for reading my review of Formentera. While I enjoy making negative reviews, too, I’m more excited about these kinds of reviews, where I can throw a ton of praise on albums I love this much!

Let me know in the comments what you thought of this album and/or what you thought of my review … I’m a big fan of constructive criticism, so if there’s anything you want to point out that would help me improve my reviews, feel free to let me know. But, of course, only comment if you want to.

If you have any recommendations of albums I could review, feel free to let me know. And with all that said, I’ll be back with more reviews soon!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 9.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “What Feels Like Eternity”, “Formentera”, “Enemies of the Ocean”, “I Will Never Settle”, “False Dichotomy”, “Oh Please”
Least Favourite Tracks: I love every song here … but I guess the three I didn’t list in my favourite tracks are my least favourites.