Metrik
Life/Thrills

Make way for the young and their relentless endeavor to modernize drum and bass, with a giant nod to the mainstream. As usual, they're almost always English, like our Tom Mundell, aka Metrik, a familiar face from Viper Records, who for years now has been releasing with Hospital. While we all eagerly await the new creation from Reso (assuming it's in production), we settle for this Life/Thrills, Tom's latest album which, compared to the previous one, pushes the chromatic aspect of the production to the limit. The intent is to propose a dnb for the young with strong pop nuances and a natural inclination towards melody and liquid, all in an album with a decidedly summery and playful taste.

The opening track is also the best track on the album thanks to a genuinely brilliant idea: Hi! is a sort of imaginary soundtrack of Ridge Racer, the famous Namco video game known for its roaring music in Japan rave style. The venture is super interesting, and Metrik skillfully manages the elements, maintaining a balance between modernization and nostalgia. The intro with a clear homage to Pac-Man immediately launches a thrilling universe of colors adapted to the rules of drum and bass, bitmap lasers, super melodic pads, and processed Japanese-style vocals everywhere. Fun, entirely playable, and to be listened to until the end, there's even room for a surprisingly creative bridge, where our guy improvizes a synth solo. The subsequent Chasing Sunrise is a kind of second part, introduced by piano lines and a piano bar-style vocal by Elisabeth Troy but soon plunges into a drum mosaic very close to liquid and loads of melody. The following tracks are much more conventional (and minor), like Life/Thrills, a track that gives its name to the album and is divided into two distinct parts: in the first, everyone jumps on the suspensions of a super youthful hip hop, with screams and vocal lines kindly provided by NAMGAWD. The second part recaptures the same formula by speeding up the rhythm. Worldwide prepares the dreadlocks and ragga vocals for the usual jungle dnb beach party (but curiously the album was released in October), nothing to rave about, we're in full-fledged filler territory, but with lots of competence.

Electric Echo is a kind of connection to the previous album, opening with pop vocals and drum explosion with a very pleasant leading synth line, the sounds are nice and clean, everything is very catchy and accessible, making you tap your foot while sipping a vodka lemon. The following Northern Lights is another of the album's highlights, with rather evident references to Fred V & Grafix. The vocal sample is a bit annoying, but the synths are decidedly well-constructed and are supported by a good melody. Fatso and Western Jam are instead the slightly rougher episodes, which serve Mundell to remind us of his roots. High speed, rougher basslines, and metallic snares, but the feeling is that this field now belongs to the past. Penggemar immediately recovers the melody and sun in full face, also closing the album on a decidedly positive note. The melodic part is undoubtedly successful, but Mundell enriches it with some synth solos that hearken back to the initial track, a piece without pitfalls that you listen to from start to finish.

Metrik has proven to be one of the gems of Hospital, definitely a great acquisition, thanks to his personal melodic and accessible vision of dnb. This Life/Thrills is ultimately an episode that shows improvements from the previous Universal Language, with fruitful collaborations and some decidedly spot-on tracks (the video game-themed Hi! above all).