Northlane is back after the release of Singularity in 2013 with Node. This is the first album with out singer Adrian Fitipaldes. A lot of people have been wondering if Northlane could pull off another good album without Adrian. Let's take a look at the album and see how the album turned out.

This album seems to be a lot darker then the previous works. The first track, "Soma", is a perfect example of a buildup song. Immediately the band is back with their amazing instrumentals and the new vocalist, Marcus Bridge, does an killer delivery of both clean and unclean vocals. In the first song there are alot of very soft-like breakdowns, but nothing too heavy compared to the past.

Listening more into the album, I encountered what I think is the best track on the album, "Rot". This song shows the full talents of the new singer while displays how the band's style changes throughout every album. The song starts soft, but immediately recedes back to the hard-hitting vocals like in Singularity. This song is a rollercoaster (I've linked it below) and it gets better with every listen.

Coming to the end of the album, I realize that Marcus is a good fit for the band. With the two final songs, "Ra" and "Animate", the band shows just how much work went into Node. The instrumentals on this album are flawless and I notice more and more of why I love this album with every listen of a song. The unclean and clean vocals almost seem better without Adrian and is a nice change in pace. If I had one complaint, it is that there are only 11 songs. Although that seems like a lot with a length of 45 minutes for the album, I wish there would be just a lit more. If we're being honest here, there is a lot of blank space in the album, but it is very atmospheric nonetheless.

If you have the chance, defintely listen to Node. I'm giving it a 8.5 out of 10 stars for being an almost perfect album. It has a few flaws, but I'm sure the next release is going to be their masterwork once Marcus is more used to the band and the instrumentals as well. 2017 or 2018 is sure to be a good year for Northlane, which will most likely be their next release.