The Sydney, Australia five-piece metalcore band Northlane has securely entered into another chapter of the band’s existence. With the inception of this band in 2009, they would go on to release two albums, Discoveries (2011) and Singularity (2013), before their original lead singer Adrian Fitipaldes would leave in 2014 due to health issues. Moving on with a new front man, Marcus Bridge, Northlane would retool their sound with molding a rhythmic ambiance on their next album Node (2015). Continuing down that path, Northlane’s latest release, Mesmer, builds on where Node left off with a sound that is just as heavy as it is melodic, investing in a touch of an underlying cadence that is catchy and funky, but never over-the-top. The balance and atmospheric space throughout Mesmer moves swimmingly and feels like a breath of fresh air not only for the band, but for the listener.
After Bridge joined the band, they were rushed into the studio to create Node, and in hindsight, they didn’t feel like they made quite the album their fans would like. Now with Mesmer, Northlane had time to maneuver throughout the making of the album and that space would let Bridge spread his wings a bit. “You can try and recreate what you had in the past or you can write music to get the most out of the skillset that your singer has,” explains Northlane guitarist Josh Smith. “That’s what we’ve done with Marcus. We haven’t tried to recreate what we used to do because his voice is not the same as what our old singer had, but he’s capable of so much more.”
Given that they had more time to work on what would become Mesmer, this gave members of the band the space to deal with some bad experiences that would happen around the same time through their music. While previous Northlane works were chock-full of songs dealing with more global issues, Mesmer is personal, touching on times of family members and close friends passing to the end of long-term relationships. It was therapeutic for the members for Northlane. “Proud that something good came out of bad situations,” says Smith. “One of the keys to happiness in life is how you channel the energy you receive and what you do with the situations that you’re dealt with. What your reaction is to a situation you can’t control always determines the outcome.”
It was through their work with producer David Bendeth that they were able to effectively channel those hard experiences into their songs. Bendeth doesn’t like any band he works with to come off with a subpar performance in any way, so he did what he needed to get the best out the band and the stories that they needed to share. It was a very emotional recording process, but that’s how Bendeth builds a better band. “That was David’s modus operandi, breaking people down to build them back up into a more confident musician, more confident person,” describes Smith. “Like the change I’ve seen in Marcus has been absolutely remarkable. It’s like he’s a different person now. That’s where he got all the confidence from really. David studied psychology. He likes to really get deep within people’s psyche and get them figured out so he can build them back up again and help them address whatever their emotional shortcomings are.”
The journey through Mesmer has made Northlane a better band and its member’s better people, and each song shows that. Since Marcus Bridge came into the fold, there’s been years of a feeling out period that seems to have finally come to fruition and Mesmer is the product of that growth. It’s been a holistic experience for Northlane and it proves that through music, hearts can start to heal.
Listen to the full interview with Josh Smith of Northlane on my Fresh is the Word Podcast below:
For more information on Northlane, visit northlaneband.com