It’s March 24th and Northlane have a surprise for us all, the band have spontaneously dropped new album Mesmer. I was one of the lucky ones who got to hear it before its release so check out the track by track review of the record below;
The gritty guitars of opening track Citizen build into a gutsy scream before some harmonious and melodic cleans.
Colourwave is anthemic to say the least! A massive chorus and guttural screams.
The opening of Savage is anything but. It’s atmospheric but as the first verse kicks in, so does the savagery! The way the cleans are melodic and atmospheric and the screams are savage mixes well.
Solar doesn’t grab me as much as the rest of the tracks have. It’s a lot mellower than its predecessors but the vocals are brilliant throughout.
The gritty guitars return in Heartmachine’s intro before some of the smoothest vocals I’ve heard all year!
Intuition brings back the aggressive tracks with its opening monologue and pounding drums with a call to arms about questioning everything you know. A track that will resonate with the masses who are against the systems that countries have.
Zero One’s opening is a bit odd to say the least, at first it sounds like the fading out of a track and has some odd, almost alien atmospheric sounds over the drums. It’s ear-catching!
Fade has a catchy chorus and great melodies.
Render is a track you need to have at full volume and has a class breakdown.
Veridian doesn’t really get my attention and while is a good track, it’s more background noise in comparison to the rest of the record.
Paragon is the last track on the album and begins where Veridian left off, the intensity building of the opening instrumental immediately grabs your attention as if a war is about to begin. It’s spacey and cuts out momentarily before the track fully kicks in and it’s aggressive and in your face. A brilliant way to close off the record.
This is an absolutely fantastic record overall and one that is sure to do well. The dual vocals, while being polar opposites, mix well. The guitars are gritty, it’s atmospheric and anthemic and apart from Veridian there is not really anything negative to say about the record!