Northlane - Obsidian (April 1, 2022)

01. Clarity
02. Clockwork
03. Echo Chamber
04. Carbonized
05. Abomination
06. Plenty
07. Is this a Test?
08. Xen
09. Cypher
10. Nova
11. Inamorata
12. Obsidian
13. Dark Solitaire

 

Singles have been awesome, I'm totally here for this.

 

Metalcore Band Northlane Are Releasing a "Fully Fledged EDM And Techno" Album - EDM.com - The Latest Electronic Dance Music News, Reviews & Artists

 

I loved Clockwork and this single is even more successful at merging their signature sounds with outside influences. I love how Echo Chamber has the backbone of a trance song, and in that sense wouldn't sound out of place on BT's poppier albums, yet it retains enough of their metalcore elements to make the band recognizable and... this mix works so well. I can't think of another band that has pulled this off yet. I could namedrop Enter Shikari, except their electronic background is much more rooted in the UK music scene though.

 

Man its so cool seeing this band evolve with the times. 2/2 for me. APRIL THOUGH?!

 

new track is a solid mix of their different eras

 

Here's a compilation of all teasers/stories they've put on social media with snippets from the record. Some track names may be wrong, but it sounds pretty awesome imo!

 

I'm here for Matrixcore

 

Love it, more on the groovier side. It might be random but when that main riff gets glitchy, I can't help but be reminded of this oldie.

 

That's a dope tour

 

This is really solid. I gotta admit, though - Marcus’ clean vocals shine so much more for me in comparison to his screams. His singing genuinely gives me goosebumps and songs like “Nova” are stunning

 

this feels very... busy? Like it feels like some of the ideas are a little over baked.

 

Diving in... and what a fantastic opener. For some reason, it has a closer feel so it's an interesting way to start the album.

 

This is solid. I'm a bit surprised to find out this is more homogenous than Alien. I expected them to get much weirder with the electronic and industrial elements. Instead, it often sounds like they're trying to do everything at once ie. get more experimental while not straying too far from their core sound. It makes the results a bit less diverse and tamer than I thought. I end up feeling like they could've gone more all in, at least to help each song feel distinct from each others, as it pretty much stays in one lane bar a couple moments. Their recent interviews made me expect more of a departure, so maybe that's my fault for not managing my expectations.

That reads more negative for an album that I like than I intended, by the way! The path they've been on since the arrival of Marcus has been such an interesting one. His vocal performance is incredible once again, especially the cleans (and I wish there were more of them). Their growth into one of the most unique sounding metal bands remains a joy to witness.

Out of the unheard songs, Xen and Nova are early favorites. The former is pretty much one of their best attempts at blending all of their components, hearing it for the first time felt like a complete journey. The latter is actually a direction I want them to explore more in the future, aka more cleans in more almost strictly electronic sounding songs.

edit: Adding Is This A Test? to the list of standouts. This makes me nostalgic in how much it sounds like Boom Boom Satellites, a Japanese band who blended electronic music and rock exactly like this at times.

 

I'm all about this album, was worth the wait.

 

I feel like this album is their “A Thousand Suns…”

 

Dig the 90s triphop on Nova

 

Every album cycle I think I'm done with these guys and every album cycle they wind up impressing me somehow. Occasional unfortunate butt-rocky missteps (Carbonized) but when they fully leverage the dance and trip hop influences in the second half they're hitting on a wavelength that really no other band is on imo. Is This A Test through Nova is the best stretch of their career

 

I honestly feel like a lot of this leans into butt rock

 

The opener gave me chills hot damn. After giving this a full listen I'm loving it, but I kinda wish Nova was the closer. The next three tracks were good, but Nova would have been perfect to end this on.