Norma Jean: Meridional – new album

NORMA JEAN, American metalcore band from Georgia, USA is about to release its fifth album entitled ‘Meridional’ via Razor & Tie Records.  ‘Meridional’, (southern direction on the celestial globe - from Latin) produced by Jeremy Griffith, is set for July 13th, 2010 (13. 7. 2010) release. Album's art was created by Jason Oda. Video for the song ‘Deathbed Atheist’ was directed by Linus Johansson.

NORMA JEAN (real name of American actress Marilyn Monroe) started out under the name of “Luti-Kriss”. They released their debut Adam Dudkiewicz-produced album ‘Bless The Martyr And Kiss The Child’ in 2002: “An intimidating album of gargantuan proportions, audio chaos that follows no rhyme or reason and bludgeons the listener with repeated blasts of macabre hardcore/metal that are as confusing as they are cataclysmic,” commented Jason D. Taylor, AllMusic. 2005's ‘O God, The Aftermath’ was the second album to be released through Solid State Records. This album was to feature Grammy-nominated artwork designed by Ryan Clark (vocalist of DEMON HUNTER-fame). Third album, ‘Redeemer’,  produced by Ross Robinson, was released in 2006 and sold over 21,000 records in its first week of release. 2008's ‘The Anti Mother’ featured appearances by several guest musicians, Chino Moreno's (DEFTONES) among them. This album, once again produced by Ross Robinson, is considered being  their “most melodic and the heaviest”.

Follow-up: In May 2011, NORMA JEAN released second video for ‘Bastardizer’, track taken from back in 2010 released album ‘Meridional’ (Razor & Tie Records). The video was directed by Brooks Jones and shot at band's rehearsal space: “We had a lot of fun shooting this video.  It’s really just us in our practice space, where we have written most of our records.  No special effects, just us jamming.  It’s one of our favorite songs from the new record, so it was a perfect choice for the next video,” explained singer and guitarist Cory Brandan.

‘Meridional’ debuted at number 45 on the American albums chart Billboard 200. It sold just under 10,000 copies in its first week of U.S. sales. “The result is a sound that’s bigger than your typical metal/emo hybrid, with the band never losing sight of the fact that its bread and butter is in huge, heavy songs,” commented  Gregory Heaney (AllMusic Guide). “Because of this, there’s an intensity that courses through the songs that provides a sense of momentum even during the album's more melodic moments, creating a driving sound that makes room for its more euphonic moments without ever fully succumbing to them, with NORMA JEAN doing their best to make sure that they’re keeping the pedal to the metal for as long a possible before taking their foot off the gas.” Read the rest of this review here.

NORMA JEAN features: Scottie Henry – guitar, Chris Day – guitar, Cory Brandan – vocals, Jake Schultz - bass and Chris Raines – drums.