Northlane – “Mirror’s Edge”
Fresh from a sold out Australian tour, Northlane drop an EP that promises to be a reflection of their career.
Titled Mirror’s Edge, an ability to see oneself’s reflection but understand there is more behind the glass, is 6 tracks which touches on the past, with a present sound and eye on the future.
The opening track, Mirror’s Edge is a soft ethereal introduction to the EP in which Marcus’s angelic soft voice opens up about ‘casting a different shadow’ before the band come in with a pulsating groove which is Afterimage.
The track features Ian Kenny of Karnivool, one of Northlane’s biggest influences in a genre of sound bending, content envoking and theatre level performances.
Both Kenny’s and Bridge’s vocals compliment each other, as the trade vocal parts before creating a harmonious sound that’s heavenly. Musically the song veers from a soft palette of sounds to a crunching distorted riff and beyond. There’s quite a bit to digest in the track such is its depth.
Miasma is another that has already dropped publicly and features Winston McCall of Parkway Drive, a band that knows all to well what Australian metalcore bands need to go through.
The track itself has vibes of earlier Northlane work Singularity era, the way it stays on the point before exploding as McCall takes over, vicious and powerful. The ambience behind the song, carefully crafted by Jon Deiley, giving the song a platform to explode from.
Former bassist Brendon Padjasek lends his vocal talents to Kraft. The track a heavy pounding beast, the sparring of vocals building towards an almighty crushing breakdown that bottoms out of your speakers and shakes the foundations of your house. The dynamics between the guitars and drums will make this a live favourite, arguably one of the heaviest tracks the band has ever done.
Let Me Disappear is, wait for it, almost a pop song. Yes there guitars are still there – and they still slap hard- however the song bounces, electronic beats all the way through and, well, the chorus is actually catchy. The refrains of ‘Let me disappear’ lingering long after the track finishes.
At nearly six minutes in length, Dante mixes the whole stylistic history of the band in one song. It’s driven by a dance beat, Bridges ability to morph from angel to scream in a second, atmospheric condiments of music lavished throughout, and a guitar sound that punches in the stomach. It’s a song that could easily be found in a rock club or a dance club remixed. Either way, through a great sound system the song blasts like a plane taking off.
The six track EP may well reminisce of previous Northlane era’s however it’s very much a modern sound and an indicator of the next journey. It’s not about looking back, it’s about knowing who they are and looking beyond the mirror. They’ve bottled the best of the band into this EP and it’s a vintage batch. Savour it.
EP Review By Iain McCallum
