diff --git a/lib/base_service.js b/lib/base_service.js
index 87fc056..6875020 100644
--- a/lib/base_service.js
+++ b/lib/base_service.js
@@ -394,8 +394,9 @@ class BaseService {
 
             // And metrics clients, massaging it into an array
             if (!Array.isArray(config.metrics)) {
-                config.metrics = config.metrics || {};
-                config.metrics = [config.metrics];
+                config.metrics = (!config.metrics || !Object.keys(config.metrics).length) ?
+                    [] :
+                    [config.metrics];
             }
             // use default name if not provided in config
             config.metrics.forEach((o) => {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e50a2aa..93bb5d5 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "service-runner",
-  "version": "2.8.1",
+  "version": "2.8.2",
   "description": "Generic nodejs service supervisor / cluster runner",
   "main": "service-runner.js",
   "bin": {