Northlane reinvented themselves threw years ago with their fifth album, Alien. Pulling on their previously established metalcore sound and adding heavy synths, they creating a dark rave, almost Matrix vibe. The quartet continue on this unique sound in their latest project Obsidian (Believe)

Opening the album with ‘Clarity’, Marcus Bridge slowly builds up tension with his opening verse alongside some light synths: “Clarity, don’t let me down…” Stylistically, very similar to the opening track off Bridge’s debut album with Northlane, Node. This reaches its climax as Bridge erupts “You’re Killing Me!” It’s abundantly clear that Northlane have not lost their edge, despite the introduction of more electronic elements into their sound.

Swiftly following on from the introduction track comes a trio of their previously released singles ‘Clockwork’, ‘Echo Chamber’ & ‘Carbonized’; a quick and easy way to hook the listener into the album, (if the opener hadn’t already done this). Featuring some of Bridge’s most polished clean vocals, the band are sounding in sync with each other, a complete unit, rather than a group of separate musicians. The bass and guitars are heavy and gel incredibly well with the additional synths.

Towards the tail-end of the album, comes a left field choice for the band, in the form of the track ‘Nova’. Featuring a combination of orchestral instruments & an underlying electronic element, when mixed with Bridge’s vocals creates a ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ meets Linkin Park melody. Following on from ‘Nova’, the Linkin Park vibes continue with ‘Inamorata’, but returning to chuggy bass element that has become a staple of the signature Northlane sound.

The album closes with the ballad ‘Dark Solitaire’, a lighter affair than the previous tracks on the album sonically, but works incredible well as a closing bookend next to ‘Clarity.’ As the sound dissipates, glitchy synths and static fill the room, reminiscent of Architects‘ All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us (Epitaph) closing track, ‘Memento Mori’.
While not completely reinventing their sound as they had previously, Northlane have brilliantly refined what made Alien great and condensed that onto this new project while featuring some of their best vocal performances to date on top.
Buy the album here: https://northlane.bfan.link/obsidian

9 / 10

CHARLIE HILL