Toronto-based punk band Metz has released a new song titled “Superior Mirage.” This song is off of their upcoming release, Up On Gravity Hill. 

The song is four minutes in length and features distorted guitars, heavy drums, bass, and vocals. Characteristic of a sub-pop artist, the song is reminiscent of the classic grunge artists that we’ve come to know from the Sub-Pop label. Sound characteristics of Superior Mirage could be classified as lo-fi, dreamy, bordering on shoegaze at parts. This song could be considered a slow burn, as chords change and new layers are introduced in a subtle way throughout the duration of the entire track.

The video is a hand drawn animation of a red demon looking character driving a green Cadillac through the desert. The camera pans to an alien playing the guitar, then to cactuses in the desert growing faces. As the scenery melts and contorts, one may feel as if they had taken LSD. Even if one were to watch the video on mute, the constant shifting nature of the animation is reminiscent of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

It has been twelve years since Metz’s self-titled first release came to life. They have not lost any momentum from when they’ve started and when asked about Up On Gravity Hill the band replied , ““It’s definitely new territory for us, and I really love the sounds we were able to achieve. We blended a Linn Drum with some homemade samples and made this ad-hoc junkyard drum sound that propels the song along. We really tried to make the backbeat the defining trait of the song. The lift on the chorus is pretty huge, too. We wanted the wall of guitars to knock you sideways.”

METZ has a headlining international tour scheduled supporting Up On Gravity Hill, with dates in North America from April 17 to May 17 and a run of UK and EU dates in the fall from November 3 through November 29.