Matmos Metallic Life Review
Matmos's Metallic Life Review interrogates memory and materiality by turning found metal into melodic architecture, and critics largely agree the record rewards patient, attentive listening. Across five professional reviews the project earned a 66.8/100 consensus score, with praise aimed at the duo's textural sampling, metallic timbres, and conceptual constraints that shape both intimate moments and expansive gestures.
Reviewers consistently point to “Norway Doorway” and the twenty-minute title suite “Metallic Life Review” as the album's emotional and conceptual anchors, while “Changing States” and “Steel Tongues” provide contrasting moods of lullaby brightness and rattling industrial charm. Critics note a through-line of found-sound composition and nostalgia - the conversion of quotidian clangs and creaks into saxophone-like lines or plinking melodies - that makes the best songs on Metallic Life Review feel like metallic memorials rather than mere experiments. Across the reviews, the record's strongest moments turn metal source sounds into unexpectedly lyrical phrases.
Still, perspectives are mixed. Some critics celebrate the album as Matmos at their most reflective and inventive, praising the textural cohesion and emotive listening it encourages, while others find the long-form pieces occasionally overstretched, thinking the conceptual constraints sometimes tip into academic display. Taken together, the critical consensus suggests Metallic Life Review is essential for those curious about experimental composition and found-sound work, with standout tracks “Norway Doorway”, “Metallic Life Review”, and “Changing States” offering clear entry points. Below, the full reviews unpack how these metallic sonorities translate into memory, mood, and musical invention.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Norway Doorway
5 mentions
"Opener ‘Norway Doorway’ commences with a reverberant clang and a squeaking hinge"— The Quietus
Changing States
5 mentions
"‘Changing States’’s shift from cutlery drawer glitch into soaring synths and Alcorn’s tingling pedal steel has a soulfulness"— The Quietus
Metallic Life Review
5 mentions
"the closing title track, a twenty-minute-plus piece which takes on the more molten structure of Matmos live shows"— The Quietus
Opener ‘Norway Doorway’ commences with a reverberant clang and a squeaking hinge
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Norway Doorway
The Rust Belt
Changing States
Steel Tongues
The Chrome Reflects Our Image
Metallic Life Review
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 7 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
There is a through-line of visceral reward across Metallic Life Review, and Matmos again prove that constraint breeds invention. Matmos turn quotidian metal objects into surprisingly emotive pieces, with “Norway Doorway” delivering horror-film squeals and “Metallic Life Review” offering a 20-minute John Cage-like odyssey that repays patient listening. The middle tracks - especially “Steel Tongues” and “The Chrome Reflects Our Image” - supply melodic respite and unexpected beauty. For listeners hunting for the best songs on Metallic Life Review, start with “Norway Doorway” and the title track, then linger on the plinking pleasures of “Steel Tongues”.
Key Points
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The title track is the centerpiece: a 20-minute, rewarding, varied odyssey that best showcases Matmos’s metallic experiments.
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The album’s core strength is turning conceptual, found-metal sounds into emotive, accessible pieces that balance abstraction with melodic respite.
Themes
Critic's Take
Matmos’s Metallic Life Review finds its best songs in tactile, surprising transformations, particularly “Norway Doorway” and the title piece, which together show how junkyard clang can become soulful music. The review’s voice marvels at how a creaky hinge in “Norway Doorway” turns into something like a saxophone, while the 20-minute “Metallic Life Review” title track blossoms from stitched parts into a live, organic groove. Lesser moments like “Steel Tongues” still charm by burying rattling metal under lullaby melodies, making the best tracks on Metallic Life Review feel like intimate, metallic memorials rather than mere experiments. Overall the album’s top tracks reward patience and attention to context, revealing Matmos at their most reflective and inventive.
Key Points
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The title track is best because its live, multi-part structure yields an organic, cinematic arc.
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The album’s core strengths are inventive sampling of metal objects and a reflective, memorial tone.
Themes
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Critic's Take
Hi, everyone. Bangthony Clangtano praises Matmos and frames Metallic Life Review as a textural, concept-driven record where the best songs - notably “Norway Doorway” and the sprawling title cut “Metallic Life Review” - showcase the duo's knack for metallic samples and atmospheric cohesion. The opening “Norway Doorway” is described with tense, horror-tinged melodies and booming gong-like tones that feel quintessentially Matmos, while the 20-minute closer plays ambitious curator to the album's concept even if it sometimes overstays its welcome. Tracks like “Changing States” and “The Rust Belt” are highlighted for their contrasting moods - lullaby ambience and dark industrial punch - which together explain why adventurous listeners will find the best tracks on Metallic Life Review rewarding.
Key Points
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The best song is the opener “Norway Doorway” for its tense, classic-Matmos textures and memorable metallic melodies.
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The album's core strengths are thematic textural sampling and bold conceptual ambition, even when some ideas overstay their welcome.
Themes
Critic's Take
Matmos's Metallic Life Review finds its best songs in palpable sonic brightness, where recorded objects become melodic life. The opener “Norway Doorway” turns a squeaking hinge into a wailing saxophone-like topline, and that alchemical change makes it one of the best tracks on Metallic Life Review. Equally compelling are “The Rust Belt” with its monumental clank giving way to twinkling polyrhythms, and the closing title piece whose twenty-minute molten unfolding stakes a claim as a top track. The record's charm is that these best songs make metal feel malleable, photic and gloriously alive rather than merely industrial.
Key Points
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The best song is the opener “Norway Doorway” because it alchemically turns mundane metal sounds into a luminous, saxophone-like topline.
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The album's core strengths are its inventive use of metal recordings, its photic sonic imagery, and its ability to make experimental sound feel deeply moving and melodic.
Themes
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Critic's Take
From the first clangs of Metallic Life Review, Matmos make it clear the best songs are those that turn found metal into actual hooks - notably “Changing States” and “Norway Doorway”. The review insists that “Changing States” is the record's prettiest moment, its twinkling xylophones offering an emotional core amid abrasive experiments. At the same time “Norway Doorway” gets praised for marrying creaking doors to a dark, pulsating groove, making it one of the best tracks on Metallic Life Review. Overall the duo's precise sampling and surprising melodic choices are what make these tracks stand out.
Key Points
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The best song, "Changing States", is the album's emotional core with twinkling melodies amid metallic experiments.
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The album's core strengths are inventive field recordings, precise sampling, and the ability to turn non-instruments into engaging textures.