“I like to draw inspiration from a variety of styles and then channel that into the heavy genre that Northlane exists in,” Northlane lead guitarist Jonathon Deiley tells Apple Music. The Sydney band may have made their name with bold derivations of metal, but each album has seen them incorporate wider influences and an expanding sound—particularly on their sixth LP, Obsidian. With that in mind, Deiley has shared a playlist of touchstones old and new for the band, spanning industrial, pop, dance, progressive metal and even ambient. “It covers the dark, beautiful, weird and ugly spectrum that is Northlane,” Deiley says. “Some of these tracks influenced me from a young age and others are more present-day loves, but all of them are key ingredients that make up Obsidian.” Madonna, “Skin” “I love this whole album [Ray of Light]. It’s so varied. It reminds me of growing up in the late ’90s and was probably my introduction to electronic music. ‘Skin’ features fast techno beats and trippy, Middle Eastern-sounding vocal melodies in the rave parts, which are just so sick.” Jon Hopkins, “Open Eye Signal” “What a banger and a journey. I’m sure this was quite difficult to nail, but I just resonate with this song so hard. The way the bass rotates over the straight kicks, making it sound like it never repeats, is the key to this journey. It has definitely influenced a few Northlane songs. And that outro—don’t even get me started.” Filter & The Crystal Method, “(Can’t You) Trip Like I Do” “Like Madonna’s ‘Skin’, I heard ‘Trip Like I Do’ in the late ’90s and was drawn to it. If you’re wondering why all Northlane’s music sounds like it should be in The Matrix, it’s probably because of this song. When it kicks off at 1:50, you can hear those big guitars with harmonics, just as Northlane does, and gritty melodic scream-singing that’s in just about every modern heavy song.” Burial, “Ghost Hardware” “I love Burial so much. Dark yet beautiful is something I tend to do with Northlane, and for Burial it’s second nature. All of the atmosphere he creates with vocal samples is unparalleled. I love that sometimes you don’t even know what the lyrics are, but the way the melodies and words are placed just feels right.” deadmau5, “gula (ov)” “Listening to deadmau5 reminds me of when Northlane first started. My love for big, fleshed-out chords would be because of this. I don’t know who hurt this guy, but this song is beautiful. This is the orchestral version of the original ‘Gula’. It feels like what might play if I was watching the Earth from a distance be swallowed by a black hole and just thinking life would never be the same. I definitely drew inspiration from this during lockdown.”