While it’s hard to imagine a band as punishing as METZ refining their sound without losing their drive, they manage to do just that on II. It’s not that the music is any friendlier or that the songs are any more “evolved,” but that the band is that much more powerful and precise in their attack, making the turn-on-a-dime dynamics of “The Swimmer” and “Nervous System” seem graceful, even beautiful—that is, as beautiful as a minefield of feedback and yelling can be.