Metallic Life Review

Matmos, the experimental noise duo (originally SF, now in Baltimore), have a release composed entirely of sounds made from metal, combining traditional instruments with actual junk; the album is stitched and formed together from various studio recordings, some live shows, some short tracks and one long track (20 min) to end it. The sound itself is ever-changing and largely indescribable, sometimes beat-driven and even occasionally melodic, and other times out in spacey atmospheres, listening is believing. No FCCs (no words are spoken/sung)

1. (4:14) ***** Creaking doors, sudden striking piano thuds, spare and spooky and ominous, eventually turning into antic, chattering, paranoiac beat
2. (5:06) ***** Crinkly crumbly sounds, then bang-on-trash-can sounds create a sort of groove; more hallways of soft airhorns, various percussion; somewhat catchy, somewhat nightmarish
3. (4:14) ****** Soft sweet organ sounds, with antic schizo percussion, then maybe super-sweet xylophone... hypnotic and cryptic, strange and childlike and spacey, almost poppy
4. (3:58) ***** Gulpy percussion leading into almost a music-box sort of atmosphere; strange and cacophonic, but also sunshiney and hopeful? At least, until the sort of claustrophobic xylophone nightmarish sounds that close it out
5. (2:57) ***** Plinky atmosphere, with big fat spaghetti western guitar; shimmery sounds enter; spacey but somewhat coherent
6. (20:42) ******* The long piece, the sounds are very of a piece with the tracks above, with more time to flow, evolve, change, grow; beats: sometimes