Metric's Quest To Redefine: 'Romanticize The Dive'

Opening up with the ‘Help I’m Alive’ 2026 equivalent ‘Victim Of Luck’, ‘Romanticize The Dive’ is an obvious homage to Metric’s success and longevity, yet they are what they are, no matter if you had a read on it 10 years ago or not. ‘Victim Of Luck’ surely takes us back a decade easily. When I first heard it on the radio, I was sure that I had simply missed a 2010s indie-pop hit, not even realizing it was the latest from Metric. The pulsing synths and shouted anthemic choruses seem counter-culturally against the current trend of reexamining 2010s indie music and tearing it to shreds on the basis of it being cheesy or overly millennial.

This charmingly antiquated sonic palate continues throughout the album, not just the singles. Electro-rock to the core, you know the imagery; metallic and gritty with hyperpop vocal polish and a certain je ne sais quoi sparkle that The Killers had in their earliest works. Think American dive bar meets Berlin synth club

You may recognize Metric even if you are unfamiliar with the name simply because they are synonymous with this genre, and have made appearances in stardom when you least expect, rarely long enough to remember the name. Featured in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

‘Tremolo’ could easily pass as a Taylor Swift song (some of the best songs do, I’m looking at you Call Me Maybe), its vocal delivery on “with the tremolo soft and the guitar clean” has nearly the exact doubling she uses in most of her songs. Where this catchy track differs is everything besides those lines; it simply jumps out enough to make me comment on it. The riff and production choices are excellent, combining contemporary pop with the sound metric that has iconicized.

‘Crush Forever’ leans perhaps the heaviest into the electronic side of Metric’s sound. They acknowledge that they are now old enough to contribute to the nostalgia sell of the 2000s, but they continue making music not for the sake of others to ogle at, but what is them.

Even still, it is incredibly hard not to list the nostalgia as a selling point. Not that an album ever needs one. I grew up listening to music that sounded so similar to this; I might as well have been listening to this album for years. Perhaps you, too grew up with a music taste defined by the Forza Horizon in-game radio stations. Maybe you simply want to follow along with a band that hasn’t totally abandoned its 2000s sound. This album may be the move.

It's such a powerful thing to be able to listen to something and feel the haziness of a distant memory. There’s nothing there with this; it was released only a few days ago, but I think that adds to the concept. Perhaps that makes the music hollow to most, but it’s important to remember that there was always a point like this with every song we heard for the first time. Go make some memories with this playing in your head so that in another 10 years, you can be nostalgic for the good times all over again!

You can buy the album here, or stream it on Spotify/Apple Music. This is a must-listen album! Thanks for reading.