With a successful album in the bag, Northlane were on the precipice of even bigger things. Then in September last year vocalist Adrian Fitipaldes announced he needed to leave. After soliciting open audition videos, within weeks of Fitipaldes’ departure the band found new vocalist Marcus Bridge and were already recording new music.
And so we have Node. It may not be as immediate as its predecessor, but this album has a way of weaving its way in and out of your subconscious and gnawing away at your brain. The heavier, djent-ier moments are toned down, but still there, you just have to wait for them a little longer; the melodicism is turned way, way up; the bass is more in-your-face; the guitar tones are less aggressive and more inviting; and the ambient elements are more prominent too.
Somehow Northlane have managed to create a new sound for themselves that represents a true progression, not a selling-out or an about-face. There have been hints of this from the beginning, but here it is in bold letters for all to see. Leech and Ra are standouts, but what’s most noticeable is not that any track rises above the others, but rather they’re all so strong and work together in the classic sense of an album.
Key to this is Bridge’s confident and emotive vocals and the sheer depth of the material. This album has the kind of melodic versus aggressive appeal of The Amity Affliction, the instrumental intrigue to appeal to fans of Periphery, and a Karnivool-like sense of arrangement. More than anything else, however, it represents where Northlane is right now, and it gives them somewhere to go from here.
The next album could go further in this direction or it could crank up the brutality again. Either way, Node has set Northlane up to be one of the few bands that thrive after a vocalist change.
BY PETER HODGSON
