Northlane Are Redefining the Heavy Music Paradigm

Blacktown's Northlane have maintained an air of mystery about themselves throughout their career. For a very active band on social media, the quartet were virtually absent from the end of last year until February 2026. Besides tour updates, the four-piece then emerged with new single 'Evian' at the end of April - a trance djentcore epic signalling their most adventurous and amazing new chapter. Very fortunately for The Note, the friendliest and fantastically talented frontman Marcus Bridge donated his rare free time to discuss Northlane’s upcoming seventh studio album Anemoia.

"The object isn't to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable." – Robert Henri.

Although award-winning American painter and teacher Robert Henry Cozad (later renamed Robert Henri) existed practically a century before the revolution of modern metal, his artistic integrity and principles align with those of countless musicians flawlessly.

Henri was renowned for his rejection of both the genteel tradition of academic painting and impressionism; instead, he created unconventional urban realist subjects executed in a bold, painterly style. He eventually specialised in portraiture, painting subjects from diverse racial groups and different walks of life with a truly democratic perspective. Henri is arguably best remembered for his progressive and influential approach to art and education.

"…progressive and influential approach to art…"

These six words are brilliantly befitting of the trance djentcore innovators Northlane. Formed some 17 years ago, the New South Welshmen started as an enterprising metalcore act before venturing into the djent metal sonic landscapes that shone through with their debut album Discoveries – this heavy music soundscape still remains ingrained in the prolific outfit's DNA today.

The five-piece’s ARIA award-winning third LP Node also acted as the introduction of Northlane's new charismatic frontman Marcus Bridge, who was discovered through an online audition process. Bridge was chosen from over 2,000 applicants, and is thankfully still the voice of Northlane today.

A major step in the quintet's progression came with J Award Australian Album of the Year nominee Alien in 2019. The record showcased an influential shift into the musical realms of EDM, industrial and nu-metal. This approach transformed the band, as well as this experimental heavy music subgenre, into new and remarkable territories.

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In 2022, Obsidian enhanced this auditory experimentation to stunning results, which also unnerved critics both positively and negatively, suggesting that this new wave of electro-metal was perhaps too daring.

"…progressive and influential approach to art…"

2024 saw the release of the Will Putney (Gojira, Body Count) produced Mirror’s Edge EP featuring Karnivool's Ian Kenny, Parkway Drive's Winston McCall and others, for a lightning strike of trance-driven heaviness. However, this was just a taste of the radical and remarkable musical movement Northlane were meteorically ascending towards.

On October 30, 2026, Northlane will unveil their pièce de resistance full-length entitled Anemoia (a word coined by The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, which means: "Nostalgia for a time you've never known"); a new chapter that began originally as an EP, but magnified majestically into an album. In all sincerity, the world may not be prepared for this monumental heavy music prestigious enchantment – this is unquestionably a quantum leap of radiant artistic magnificence.

"Pretty much since we finished Mirror's Edge, that was the plan. I guess we, I'm not sure if it was ever going to turn into like two EPs that eventually turned into an album kind of thing, but I think that was probably floating around in our minds at some point. But we ended up getting Jordan Fish (Architects, Spiritbox) involved - he came over to Melbourne for a week. That was initially to work on the five songs that were in a pretty good spot, maybe like 70-80% there, but we wanted some kind of outside opinion to just push us that last little bit. Within three or four days we were finished with those songs," Bridge recalls in a charming, euphoric tone, taking a joyous moment to reflect on the magic that occurred during these studio sessions, before continuing.

"We kind of fine-tuned everything to where we wanted it to be, and then Jordan suggested: 'We need to push this out to an album, you know? People are gonna want something like that after waiting so long for new music'. So, we had recorded all this, or we [had] wrote all this music at Jon's (Deiley, Northlane guitarist) place, and Jordan was like: 'What have you got? Any like riff ideas that you know they might be 30 seconds or a minute long? Or like synth things that you've been working on that we can maybe look at and start trying to expand into full songs?'

"So, we just went through this folder of kind of half-baked ideas that Jon was chipping away at, and found a few more songs in there. We ended up spending those last three or four days expanding them, like writing vocals to them, kind of figuring out structures to the songs. And then after Jordan had left, Jon spent another two or three months, kind of fine-tuning all of that, and making it really feel like us, and still adding all of his all of his electronic elements, [as well as] all the guitars and musicianship to fill the rest of it."

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Was there any friction in the push from Jordan?

"No, we're really, really lucky that Jordan came along and kicked us up the butt and told us to blow this out into an album because it feels really varied, all of it. Like it feels like we've got all these different elements that if we had just done the EP, it would have still felt good, but I feel like having this be expanded into something with so many different elements, and so many different feelings in it is fantastic. I think we're like lucky to have that going on for us now," he describes with an endearing laugh.

So, you were all in a very positive state of mind and creativity when Jordan worked his magic?

"I've been saying that this is like one of my favourite experiences writing music I've had in like a really long time. I feel like he's so creative and so good at what he does, and also understands what we've been trying to do with this music so well that he slotted in so perfectly. It feels so much like us still, and he really just pushed us to like explore that and do that to its fullest - push these ideas to the extremes, as opposed to maybe us, you know, second guessing things. Maybe [for example], we try something a bit crazy, but then we look at it and we're like: 'This is too crazy. Maybe we should just back off a little bit'. Having someone who is just excited and willing to, like, play along, I guess, has been such a valuable thing for us to have experienced. I feel like I learned so much from him from just that week of us writing with him. So yeah, we're stoked!"

"The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable."

The 10 tantalising tracks which construct Anemoia are undeniably spectacular. Mr Deiley's research and ambition to explore how trance - in all its emotional spirit and physical scale - could work organically with guitars and heavy music catharsis has produced triumphant masterstrokes in artistry. The sophomore single from the LP 'CUT_it' explores an astonishing auditory panorama, inspired by The Prodigy, Ion Dissonance and big beat electronica that would have Bath’s Propellerheads more than impressed.

The film clip, though, undertakes a torturous nightmare motif. Produced by Colin Jeffs (In Hearts Wake, Make Them Suffer), the video shows Bridge being kidnapped and thrown into the boot of a car, tied up, buried alive and even disturbingly floating in a disfigured posture, as if undergoing an exorcism.

It therefore plagued this writer to ask Marcus about his experience and if he had recovered from the torment for Northlane's artistic endeavour.

"Honestly, it was a lot of fun. I mean, it was one of the more fun videos we've done. I feel like videos often end up kind of taking far too long. It's always like a long, long day or a long couple of days. But Colin, who worked on this video, was so prepared, so quick to kind of move from shot to shot.”

It was fun being buried?

"I've seen people being like: 'Oh, they really wanted to bury Marcus and mess him up!' But it was partially my idea. I was like: 'This would be a great idea for this!' I feel like those more theatrical videos, they're always just more fun, you know? Performance videos are fine, but I always feel so strange having to perform a song that I've never played for the first time while being filmed - it's always a strange feeling. So, being in a position to kind of play a character, as opposed to being myself trying to perform was a lot of fun. It was a great experience. I mean, 10 out of 10 getting buried, you know?” he says with an infectious chuckle.

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The experimentation showcased on the latest LP is potentially beyond the musical paradigm of what has been envisaged or imagined in "djent metal" prior to this release. A shimmering example of this artistic alchemy comes in the form of the song 'Start Again', an adventurous and captivating composition that fascinatingly fuses the breathtaking piano orchestration of Coldplay’s 'Clocks', remixed by The Crystal Method, in a collaborative duet performance by Shihad and Northlane.

It reads as an absurd amalgamation, even bordering on impossible, but just like the sensational Spawn soundtrack from 1997, its design is enlivening and exhilarating.

"Yeah, that was one of the songs that came out of something Jon was already working on, but he was like: 'We gotta pull some ideas out and start a new one', and that one definitely, very quickly, stuck out to me as something so different for us. It is very uplifting in a way…"

Bridge pauses for a moment, as if replaying the illustrious track over in his head, then elaborates further.

"But still, like, I don't know. It's like a bit of a melancholy vibe song, you know? It's just, I guess, trying the idea of… How do I say this?"

Did my soundscape description become a bit confusing?

"Yeah, a little bit (giggles). It's a perfect description, but I guess it's that idea of like self-improvement and trying to better yourself, and that's the vibe of the song for me. In terms of the energy of the song, it feels like an uplifting song to kind of pull yourself out of a funk in a way, but yeah. That song is one of my favourites too! I mean, every song has such a different energy to the others, so I feel like there's something in each one that feels really unique and special to me. But that track definitely feels like a big uplifting posi-song, especially for us. I feel like it's not something we've done much of, if anything, in this way in the past."

"The object isn’t to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable."

Beginning in November, Northlane will embark upon an extremely ambitious Australian tour in celebration of Anemoia alongside Minnesota's prog-deathcore specialists After The Burial, cinemetalcore songstress Cenobia and fellow New South Welshmen, the metalcore maniacs known as Above, Below. From there, the next global assault will assuredly take place. However, as a final set of questions to Bridge before this whirlwind journey commences, this scribe found it necessary to ask: How does HE feel, and what are his final thoughts about Anemoia considering it is weeks away from being unleashed upon Planet Earth?

"What we would have loved to be creating with this album is the Spawn soundtrack [as you described]. So yeah, that's perfect."

Northlane's Anemoia drops Friday 30 October via Independent/Immortal Music Group. Pre-order here. Catch Northlane performing at Thebarton Theatre on Sunday 8 November. Tickets on sale at destroyalllines.com.