Strange Peace

Strange Peace is the third studio album by Canadian noise rock three-piece band METZ. It was released on September 22, 2017 through Sub Pop Records. Live-to-tape recording sessions took place at Electrical Audio in Chicago with Steve Albini, at the Woodshed in Toronto and at Basketball 4 Life with Graham Walsh, and at the Nursery with member Alex Edkins. Production was handled by METZ.

Strange Peace
Studio album by METZ
Released	September 22, 2017 (2017-09-22)
Studio	Electrical Audio (Chicago) The Woodshed (Toronto) Basketball 4 Life The Nursery
Genre	Noise rock hardcore punk alternative rock post-punk
Length	36:07
Label	Sub Pop
Producer	METZ
METZ chronology
II (2015) Strange Peace (2017) Atlas Vending (2020)
Singles from Strange Peace
"Cellophane" Released: July 11, 2017 "Drained Lake" Released: August 2, 2017 "Mess of Wires" Released: August 22, 2017 "Common Trash" Released: September 22, 2017 "Escalator Teeth/On and On" Released: September 27, 2018

Promotion and release

On July 11, 2017, the album was previewed with the release of the song "Cellophane" via streaming, along the way revealing the title of the album, its release date, track list, cover artwork and supporting tour.^[1] It was also revealed that the band have worked with Steve Albini, who provided live-to-tape recording of Strange Peace during four days at his Chicago-based studio Electrical Audio, which was booked for a week by the trio.^[2][3] On August 2, 2017, the group shared the second song from the album, "Drained Lake",^[4] for which an acompaying music video was released later in October 2017.^[5] The third promotional single from the album, "Mess of Wires", was released on August 22, 2017 also via streaming.^[6] The fourth and final promotional single, "Common Trash" was released in CDr format along with the album on September 22, 2017.^[7]

Celebrating 30 years of Sub Pop, the song "Escalator Teeth" b/w "On and On" was released as a part of 'SPF30 Singles Spectacular' series on September 27, 2018.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.4/10[8]
Metacritic	78/100[9]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[10]
The A.V. Club	B+[11]
DIY	[12]
Exclaim!	9/10[13]
The Irish Times	[14]
Mojo	[15]
Paste	7.8/10[16]
Pitchfork	7.6/10[17]
Record Collector	[18]
Under the Radar	[19]

Strange Peace was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 78 based on nineteen reviews.^[9] The aggregator AnyDecentMusic? has the critical consensus of the album at a 7.4 out of 10, based on twenty reviews.^[8]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Mess of Wires"	3:29
2.	"Drained Lake"	3:05
3.	"Cellophane"	4:13
4.	"Caterpillar"	3:15
5.	"Lost in the Blank City"	4:28
6.	"Mr. Plague"	2:39
7.	"Sink"	3:50
8.	"Common Trash"	3:14
9.	"Escalator Teeth"	0:47
10.	"Dig a Hole"	1:15
11.	"Raw Materials"	5:57
Total length:		36:07

All tracks are written by Alex Edkins, Chris Slorach and Hayden Menzies.

Personnel

• Alex Edkins – lyrics, vocals, guitar, songwriter, producer, recording, mixing, art direction
• Chris Slorach – bass, songwriter, producer, mixing, art direction
• Hayden Menzies – drums, songwriter, producer, mixing, art direction
• Graham Walsh – recording, mixing
• Steve Albini – recording
• Jeff Kleinsmith – art direction, design
• Anna Edwards – live photography
• Jonathan Bauerle – illustration

Charts

Chart (2017)	Peak position
US Vinyl Albums (Billboard)[20]	17
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[21]	31
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[22]	11