Under The Influence #21: More Than Machines on Northlane & Issues!

As human beings it’s often said we are the product of our genes and our influences. So Under The Influence takes a bands eye view of the albums and artists that they love and draw influence from in creating their own works. A number of surprises have appeared from bands who you might have thought you could nail the choices of should it come up as a panel question on Nevermind The Buzzcocks. More Than Machines, a Dublin Ireland based Tech-Infused Metalcore quartet unveiled their labour of love “Paradigm” in October and when we asked them about their influences, they struggled to pick just one. So, seeing as rules are made to be shattered like glass, we let them narrow it down to two.

The last album to feature vocalist Adrian Fitipaldes before he departed to be replaced by Marcus Bridge was produced by the legendary Will Putney and recorded at The Machine Shop in Belleville back in 2013. Entitled “Singularity” it achieved a mixed response from critics who pointer out Northlane making fresh and engrossing sounds but that it wasn’t breaking any new ground. A standout performance remains “Masquerade” which features a guest appearance from Drew York of Stray From The Path. The second pick from More Than Machines is “Headspace“, the sophomore album from Atlanta Georgia Nu-Metal infused R&B crossover crew Issues. Formed in 2012, they’re known for the quality of the vocals from Tyler Carter as much as any other part of their sound. Their final studio album to feature original member and unclean vocalist Michael Bohn, it was released in 2016 with DJ Scout returning to the group with the band having brought an end to his touring life with them a year before and was supported by three singles, “The Realest”, “COMA” and “Home Soon”.

More Than Machines comment: “When we sat down and thought about the question we struggled to pick any one album that influenced our style of music. In truth, we all come from different musical backgrounds and this makes writing music really interesting for us. However, if we were to narrow it down there are two albums that really resonated with the four of us, we’d have to pick ‘Singularity’ by Northlane and ‘Headspace’ by Issues. For us, ‘Singularity’ really defined the whole ‘djent’ sound, and cemented the idea that progressive metal doesn’t have to sacrifice musicality for technicality. Similarly Headspace demonstrated that it was possible to have a metal album that was also very vocally driven.”

Paradigm” by More Than Machines is out now.

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