Mesmer (album)
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''Mesmer'' is the fourth studio album by Australian heavy metal band
Northlane Northlane are an Australian metalcore band from Blacktown, formed in 2009. The band comprises guitarists Jon Deiley and Josh Smith, drummer Nic Pettersen and vocalist Marcus Bridge. Northlane have released six studio albums: '' Discoveries'' ( ...
. It was released on 24 March 2017 through
UNFD UNFD (pronounced as an initialism Help:IPA, /ˈjuːˈenˈefˈdiː/ is an independent record label based in Melbourne, Australia. The label is home to a number of Australian artists including Thornhill (band), Thornhill, Ocean Grove (Austra ...
, with no announcement prior to the release. It was produced by
David Bendeth David Jonathan Bendeth (born 17 June 1954) is an English multi-platinum award-winning record producer. He was also the frontman of The Bendeth Band. Early life David Bendeth was born on 17 June 1954 in Stoke Newington, Hackney, London, England ...
and recorded at The Barber Shop Studio in
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. It follows the group's slight departure from their
metalcore Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, combined ...
roots and towards a more
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and
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sound, as established on their previous release, ''
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''. It peaked at No. 3 on the
ARIA Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...
. It is the last Northlane album to feature their founding bassist Alex Milovic as a member of the band. In 2019, a deluxe edition of ''Mesmer'' was released, which contains instrumental versions of all songs. A double LP vinyl was released, limited to only 450 physical copies worldwide, it was later made available digitally for streaming and download.


Release and promotion

The band premiered a new track "Intuition" at
Unify Gathering Unify Gathering was an annual Australian music festival held in South Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, featuring artists of various genres including Rock Music, rock, Metal (music), metal, and Punk rock, punk. The festival has been di ...
in January 2017, which was eventually released on 17 January 2017. Northlane announced an Australian tour in support of the single in March 2017. On 10 March, Northlane released the single "Mesmer", an ambient electronic track with an accompanying music video which was shot by Jason Eshraghian in Sydney and contains artistic shots of the band and scenic views. Along with this, a chatbot appeared on Northlane's Facebook page: called "Citizen", people could interact with the chatbot on Facebook Messenger where the bot would give cryptic messages and clues to upcoming releases. On 16 March, all of Northlane's social media profile pictures turned white, and led fans to an easter egg website, nl6633.com via small text in the white images. This website contained a landing page which showed timelapsed videos of members of Northlane in a recording studio, however no additional information was given. Two months after "Intuition" was released, another single, titled "Citizen", was released, on 20 March. On 24 March, the album was released without any prior warning, and the album was made available for immediate purchase and streaming. The aforementioned single "Mesmer" was discovered to be an album sampler/trailer, containing stems to all of the tracks on the album. In the following months Northlane performed the Mesmer World Tour to promote the album. In July, Northlane announced a five date national tour for the Australian leg of their world tour, performing in all major cities. American metalcore bands Erra and Sworn In joined them for the tour as supporting acts.


Writing and composition

Many of the songs portray emotional themes. "Heartmachine" tells of relationship loss, "Fade" portrays grieving emotions after the loss of family member, while the track "Veridian" contains euthanasia-endorsing lyrics. "Zero-One" implores listeners to follow what they love. The song "Paragon" was written in tribute of
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guitarist Tom Searle, who died of skin cancer in 2016.


Critical reception

The album received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised the songwriting and performances of the band members. Zach Redrup of ''Dead Press!'' gave the album 7 out of 10, saying: "In essence, Northlane have produced a well rounded effort with ''Mesmer'', and have kept things fresh for an audience that is offered a plethora of metalcore bands that often sound far too similar. In a few too many parts, Northlane themselves succumb to echoing bands and records before them, but the lyrical content is real, gritty, and genuine, and, paired with their musical innovation, they prove that they're ones to keep building with each release." ''Distorted Sound'' scored the album 8 out of 10 and stated: "Overall, ''Mesmer'' is a strong follow-up to 2015's ''
Node In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a vertex). Node may refer to: In mathematics * Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph *Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, lines ...
'', building on its theme and tone, with high-points being provided by Marcus Bridge's soaring vocals and the groovy, technical basslines of Alex Milovic. Unmissable for fans of the band and genre." ''
Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...
'' gave it 7 out of 10 and said: "In general, ''Mesmer'' is an evolution for Northlane that greatly improves on their melodic and progressive aspects." In a very positive review, ''Heavy'' magazine wrote: "''Mesmer'' is as surprising a listen as it was a surprise release, nothing short of a modern metalcore masterpiece that brings a new face to a mask that could only be worn by a band such as Northlane." Alex Sievers, from ''KillYourStereo'' gave the album a 75/100, and said: "It was better than ''Node'' but fell short when compared to their previous two albums, '' Discoveries'' and '' Singularity''." Dan Southall of ''Loud'' magazine claimed about the album: "''Mesmer'' can at times be repetitive, but it also sounds like a band that is growing away from their roots towards hereto unexplored musical territory for them. At its root, this is the album where another world beating Aussie band is firmly planting its marker." Jaymz Clements, in a four-star review for ''
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'', said: "On ''Mesmer'' Northlane offer a graphic meta-personal narrative couched in relentless machine-precise heaviness. ..Few bands combine razor-sharp proficiency with spine-shaking heaviness and a generalised, amorphous disaffection the way Northlane do, infusing darkness, despair and (eventual) hope into an exultant musical catharsis. And four albums in, Australia's leading metalcore lights are only getting better at it." ''Wall of Sound'' rated the album 9 out of 10 and said: "So close to perfection, this collection of 11 new songs could actually turn out to be one of the best albums of 2017 so far with so many elements that put it as a front runner to be "Album of the Year" material. I'm so glad Northlane delivered the goods, the hype was certainly upheld and worth the wait. Marcus Bridge, take a bow you're the new OG of this band and you should all be proud of what you've produced. Exceptional listening for fans new and old."


Track listing


Personnel

Credits adapted from album sleeve. ;Northlane * Marcus Bridge – lead vocals * Jon Deiley – guitars, programming,
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* Josh Smith – guitars * Alex Milovic – bass * Nic Pettersen – drums, percussion ;Additional personnel *
David Bendeth David Jonathan Bendeth (born 17 June 1954) is an English multi-platinum award-winning record producer. He was also the frontman of The Bendeth Band. Early life David Bendeth was born on 17 June 1954 in Stoke Newington, Hackney, London, England ...
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, mixing * Brian Robbins –
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, mixing engineering, digital editing * Mitch Milan – engineering, digital editing *
Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' '' Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Early life ...
– mastering * Fvckrender (Frederic Duquette) – 3D artwork * Patrick Galvin – additional artwork, layout


Charts


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesmer 2017 albums Northlane albums Rise Records albums UNFD albums Albums produced by David Bendeth ARIA Award–winning albums