Northlane: Singularity

Modern metal to bang your head to – possibly against a wall

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Singularity will either be the best thing you’ve ever heard or make you want to weep as you mourn the demise of ‘true metal’. Imagine BMTH produced by The Algorithm and you begin to capture the desperately current sounds of a band that have totes cottoned onto the grooves the kids love #modern.

100,000 fans have given their Facebook page the thumbs-up and sent their album to Number 3 in the Aussie album charts. So confident is this album that they even have a ballad (probably meant to sound like a Skyharbor piece but they don’t quite pull it off).

Digs aside, Singularity is a monstrous slab of abrasive screams, far-reaching fretwork and relentless electricity that is indebted to hardcore rage and the clean, mathematic explorations that keep this album sounding fresh and inventive throughout despite its obvious references. Taking an idea or two from their native counterparts Karnivool and Dead Letter Circus by harnessing those epic U2-ish soundscapes, this is more than a bunch of lads making clamour. Singularity has the potential to be Northlane’s landmark album.

Holly Wright

With over 10 years’ experience writing for Metal Hammer and Prog, Holly has reviewed and interviewed a wealth of progressively-inclined noise mongers from around the world. A fearless voyager to the far sides of metal Holly loves nothing more than to check out London’s gig scene, from power to folk and a lot in between. When she’s not rocking out Holly enjoys being a mum to her daughter Violet and working as a high-flying marketer in the Big Smoke.