In recent years it is common knowledge amongst metal fans that the metalcore scene has become a very stale music genre. Sergeant D in his criticism of metalcore states that bands are just copying other bands that have come before them and stealing their riffs. I agree – to an extent- that no new ground has been covered with the same generic metalcore ideas being done time and time again, it’s like bands have a tick list of certain bullet points of criteria they need to fit. Vicious cycle is what this is.
Although there are only so many notes that are available that would work musically together so bands have to take ideas off of other bands. For instance, take the quite simply awful Hollywood Undead’s song Undead which sounds similar to one of the greatest metal songs of all Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne. It’s a crime that deserves capital punishment but it happens.
Other generic things in metalcore are the same screamed vocals in verses with clean vocal choruses, the same style over substance matter that has plagued the scene in recent years and breakdowns taking over the majority of songs. Auto-tune; you have put the cherry on the cake for awful metalcore. Contributing to the over produced rubbish such as Attack! Attack! and Capture The Crown – who thankfully recently got dropped from their label.
William Wallner talks about on his views of the Metal scene losing it’s edge, one point being made that stuck in my head that the image of metal is forced unlike earlier bands who couldn’t care, excluding the dreaded Glam metal. Nowadays it seems to be about who’s wearing the fakest makeup, got the biggest earlobe or the amount of cool tattoos that mean so much to show their "edge". It’s become a style over substance industry. Music is about emotion, passion and getting you to feel a certain way, not what you look like. As is often said by metal fans; that’s not metulz.
Enter Northlane; the King Arthur of metalcore, here to correct everything wrong with the current metalcore scene. Passionate. Intense. Inspiring. All three words relevant to Singularity, the follow up to their debut album Discoveries. Sophomore slump is certainly not a phrase welcome here.
Singularity opens with Genesis –come on guys you could be more original than that song title-, a track showcasing different elements that are the reason that Singularity quite simply poops all over all of metalcore’s recent releases. The production skills such as the technical guitar effects, such as the pan sweep used and also when the track does an effect that sounds like a radio being turned off to cue next track Scarab. The effects such as this that are used throughout album show a nod towards Bring Me The Horizon who use technical effects in their guitar parts to give a unique sound. It’s hard to believe the album’s guitar parts were all recorded through using a DI box into Pro tools considering the quality of the guitar tones is an improvement on debut album Discoveries. It’s a lesson to us tech geeks that some of the effects available on Pro Tools are actually pretty decent.
The distorted Djent style rhythms that were common on debut album Discoveries still a strong part of Singularity, although Singularity does not depend on breakdowns unlike Discoveries, however breakdowns are still a common thing throughout Singularity.
GrizzlyPro – who created a negative of the album - says the vocals that dominant through the mix, which is agreeable. It makes a change that you can understand every word that leader singer Adrian is screaming on his vocal assault putting other much more experienced vocalists in the metalcore to shame. “The driving of bass pedal is an undeniable force”. It definitely is Kane_H. The drums are powerful and tight throughout the whole album but the drums don’t rely on the double bass pedal too much in the album, which has been overused in recent years.
The bass is inaudible for the majority of the album like Grizzlypro states, which is a shame as I’m sure bassist Alex Milovich could of come up with some interesting bass riffs to help Northlane stand out from the crowded metal scene. For instance, take note of Stick To Your Guns; a metal band that’s bass guitar which is often heard in the mix with some interesting riffs such as in their song Amber on the album The Hope Division. It is very rare that a bass guitar plays a prominent role in a metalcore.
The lyrics of the album highlight different themes throughout compared to the standard breakup lyrics or party lyrics that are common within the metalcore genre, which are dull, usually pretty childish and immature – listen to Capture The Crown’s “All Hype All night” if ye dare.
Vocalist Adrian states on his YouTube lyrical explanation of Scarab that he was thinking from the view of someone who was reliving past memories with a strong ancient Egyptian theme, for instance the lyrics “Crawling through the burning sand”, which expresses imagery.
The Egyptian theme seems strong through out the album with the artwork backing this up; pyramid in a desert. The artwork also features the cube as the main focus point, which is the same on their debut album Discoveries.
Perhaps the most memorable lyric, not only on this track but the whole album is the line “The truth is we all suffer”. Apparently the first line that the buddhists spoke of in eastern philisophy in buddhism was “The truth is we all suffer” a line that is very relevant even now in the present day and also relates to the album title, singularity, which means the state, fact, quality, or condition of being singular. In the context of this lyric, meaning we are all the same and go through the same trials in life.
The delivery of the lyric adds to the meaning, the desperate shouting that vocalist Adrian delivers. It’s not pretty but neither is the harsh truth that Adrian is trying to get across through Scarab.
It is moments of intelligent lyrical themes and lyrics that are a highlight of the album. Dream Awake an oxymoron ying and yang, day and night, good and bad in life. A song that he says is to inspire people to not make a nightmare of their life but to make it the best dream they ever had, hence the song title Dream Awake. A lyrical theme that is melancholic and positive yet depressing and negative. Once again one of lyrcist Adrian views on life and a lyrical theme that everyone can once again relate to. It’s a gift to be able to be able to come up with interesting lyrical themes like this, a gift Adrian possesses.
A critiscm of the lyrics by Grizzlypro is that sometimes they could be seen as too many metaphors and as “as if they were written by a high fifteen year old; seeking massive answers far beyond his short grasp”
Something I disagree with as the metaphors make the lyrics more interesting and there are lots of lyrics on the album which don’t use “cliched metaphors”. Take Quantum Flux as an example.
Grizzlypro later says the lyrics are “average almost cringe inducing lyrics that just feel forced and at times, are genuinely laughable”, which at times is very much true with using the song Masquerade’s lyrics “Your nothing but a f*****g disgrace”. As he wittingly said earlier; this lyric definitely feels like it could have been written by a high fifteen year old. There are some very intelligent lyrics in the songs that have some thought behind them such as the lyric “The truth is we all suffer” which was talked about earlier, the lyric that came from the first eastern buddhist teachings.
The vocals are very strong on the album, with vocalist Adrian showcasing different types of screaming and you can tell he put his heart on to paper with the lyrics, which you can hear in the emotion he expresses. “The relate-ability in the vocals is a one of Northlane’s best features” says Kane_H, which is the reason this album is so accessible to various metal fans from different walks of life, your Hardcore kids and your Metal fans. The main target audience of the album is teenagers and young adults up to thirty years old and these vocals of desperation and anger are easily relatable to the young audience in the difficulties of the world in this present day.
The raspy shouted lyrics that he displays for example in Maquerade. Just listen to the opening line “The sense of lies is in the air tonight”, you can hear the desperation in Adrians’s vocals and the line is instantly relatable to the target audience. Obviously Northlane are from Australia but from a young British male’s point of view this reminds me of the political state of the country with our dishonest MP’s. The sense of lies is certainly in the air tonight, all over the world. This is what real music is about; evoking emotion in the listener, even if the meaning they get from it is not the same as artist intended.
In the majority of songs the vocals are low exhaled screaming vocals, an example would be in the song The Calling where the majority of vocals are low screams and growls. For instance, the opening line “I am here to tell you there is hope in a dying world”. The screamed vocals on the album are nothing new to the metalcore, however they are impressive and compelling.
Adrian also attempts some clean vocals, which are perhaps one of the weakest parts of the album. Although, thankfully “the days of the awkward high notes that littered Discoveries are gone” says Laura Herbert, are replaced with a more comfortable listening experience for clean vocal moments such as lines in Quantum Flux like “I can see the colours dance when I close my eyes”.
The track completely different from the others for vocals is title track Singularity a spoken word form an excerpt of a Terrence Mckennah speech in which he talks about you can’t predict what the future of the fast advancing technology of the world will be like. As stated by Grizzlypyro this would be seen as original if only it had not been done before by Heart Of A Coward on their song Hope and Hindrance on their debut album. I disagree, it has been done more than bands such as Heart Of A Coward and Northlane.
The standout track on Singularity is Quantum Flux, the album’s first single with the second single being Masquerade. Quantum Flux opens with some clean guitars and –once again – some great production with the distorted guitar coming in low in the mix with the lower frequencies being obviously taken out. The song has a great progression changing from powerful, fast, "a kick in your teeth" sections to slower calmer sections with clean guitar parts. As reviewer TBH17 the keyboards on the certain tracks like Quantum Flux contribute to make a fuller and more layered sound. Something that is subtly done in Quantum Flux not making the keyboards sound separate from the rest of the instrumentation compared to metal bands who use synths as a main part like Enter Shikari. A band that overkills the use of synthesizers in their songs, take their latest album A Flash Flood Of Colour as an example.
The keyboards add to the atmosphere of the song and the feeling of floating in a dreamlike state, while the guitars are playing some beautiful clean parts contribute to the feeling of floating. Quantum Flux features some of the “prettiest” melodies of the album.
The slower parts of the song also have some of the few clean vocals on the whole album, which are stated by Laura Herbert as a decent attempt of clean vocals by Adrian. The sections with the clean vocals are definitely influenced by Deftones who always have haunting vocal melodies with clean guitar parts. It’s something that I myself would like to see more of in future Northlane albums.
However, the lyrics could be seen as “written by a high fifteen year old”- Kane_H you witty lad, for instance “Set me free” the opening line of the song shouted by vocalist Adrian. Other examples are “I can see the colours dance when I close my eyes” and “Can’t you see the joy of life is right before your eyes”, lyrics that could quite easily fit into a pop song by a young boyband. We will probably see these lyrics stolen by the idiot that is Gary Barlow for a Take That song in the near future.
This could be seen as a breath of fresh air due to the melancholic theme of the lyrics and the cliched metal lyrics that are commonly very dark and negative. So in that respect I disagree with Grizzlypro saying the lyrics are cringe worthy, although I do agree that these lyrics can’t be taken seriously compared to other lyrics on the album that are more intelligent such as the lines “We are the Gods, who have lost ourselves in forms, Like a scarab in the mind we fester in the soul” in the song Scarab – although it’s quite a generic metal lyric.
Masquerade – the second single off of the album – is the closest song to being a “radio song”, most likely due to the song being the only song on the album that comes close to having a chorus, a very catchy one at that. The song has strummed chords from the guitar with a distorted lead part from the lead guitar, which adds extra layers to the track. Similar to Quantum Flux in terms of progression the song uses dynamic changes in sections to make the song interesting and allows for experimentation with guitar parts. For instance, the slower sections of the song are different from the loud and fast paced ones in which the guitars are clean with some effects on it. Also allows the for interesting drum patterns and a break from the usual fast paced double kick drum and the constant snare drum pounding in your ears.
Progression in the album is a very important part in which makes this album unique – as just discussed – the dynamic changes of loud to quiet and also the tempo changes from fast to slower in different sections. Once again I will name drop the mighty Deftones as a most likely influence for Northlane in this area who have done this greatly for the many years they have been around. Check out their song Change(In the House Of Flies) in which the verses are quiet dynamics with clean guitars and the choruses have heavy distorted guitars. It’s a skill that Northlane have learnt to do well and they are not unnecessary, Grizzlypro.
Breakdowns are also common in many of the songs, for instance the most notable ones are the one's in The Calling, which are played throughout the verses with lead guitar playing some fancy guitar work over the top. As earlier talked about, Discoveries heavily relied on breakdowns in it's songs, whereas on Singularity they are not as prominent due to the more melodic sound that Northlane have become.
Northlane's Singularity is not a masterpiece by any stretch, with plenty of things for the band to improve on their next album - like less boy band lyrics -, however the album is certainly a breath of fresh air from the plastic, fabricated metal that is destroying the scene. The album will make you think, feel and there are certainly a couple of ear-worms in there for you to indulge in. Let us just say it’s a godsend from the god of Metalcore.
Sources
http://www.metalsucks.net/2010/06/07/the-history-of-metalcorescreamo/ (William Wellner(
http://www.guitarworld.com/bent-out-shape-has-heavy-metal-become-joke (Sergeant D(
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/55872/Northlane-Singularity/ (TBH_17)
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/57204/Northlane-Singularity/ (Grizzlypro)
http://www.killyourstereo.com/reviews/1162/northlane-singularity/ (Kane_H)
http://www.bringthenoiseuk.com/201304/music/reviews/album-review-northlane-singularity (Laura Herbert)
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