*** Go to our YouTube channel in the link below to see the video review of this record in episode #1 of the SBR Album of the Week.
Like their contemporaries in Underoath, you wonder how Norma Jean can still function at a high level of artistic output. The Atlanta metalcore heroes have the tours with Between the Buried and Me and Periphery under their belts, the Grammy nominations, and the Ross Robinson-produced albums in their back catalogue, yet they have no original members in the band. Deathrattle Sing for Me is their ninth album since 2002 and could be their first judging by the creativity and fervency of their music. Those of you unable to fill the void since the split of Dillinger Escape Plan should look no further than these boys for restitution of that crazed impulse lurking inside you.
Some of you might ask how and why this band are a regular number one on the US Christian Rock charts. Nothing in their imagery speaks of a religious affiliation, nor does their music proselytise the gospel. The grungy metallic noise coating of opener, ‘1994’, is violent enough to qualify as a felony. Listen to the severity of Cory Brandan’s mid-octave screamo technique as the discordant guitar crunches wreck through the audio channels like distant grenades landing on their targets. How maniacal is this music? Imagine Converge covering Cult of Luna with a succession of stop-start drum accents and motorised bass guitar rumblings. By contrast, the surprise melodic chant vocals of ‘Call for Blood’ will remind you of Tool’s Lateralus album, but the song soon settles into a fuzz-heavy groove with sharp edges and hi-fi drumbeats. Again, Cory Brandan inhales deep to exhale the vitriol, yet he reaches for the higher notes at the end of each chorus as if testing his semitone range. Where did the first seven minutes go?
You know by track five that the mathcore elements of the group’s earlier work will be a mere sideshow. That would cause problems if the dominant elements of post-metal and harsh noise rock were not so menacing. The sludgy pentatonic fuzz riff of ‘Spearmint Revolt’ is like Cave In on amphetamines. See if your ears can survive the deliberate attempt to break every rule in the mixing desk manual at the end. Every song on Deathrattle Sing for Me holds out the promise of a murderous explosion, but the band know how to unearth melodies among this storm of steel. ‘Aria Obscura’ is like a schizophrenic duel between a hardcore assault and an alt-rock lullaby for the soul. Rolo Tomassi do something similar on their latest album. The grinding tempos stay within a slow-to-mid flow of acceleration, but the guitar tones are like collapsing blocks of cement. Only on ‘Any%’ and ‘WWAVVE’ do we get something approaching a faster hardcore rage, yet both these tracks remember to rock out as well as spazz out during their heaviest moments. It sounds like Cory Brandan’s pop shield snapped under the weight of his vocals on ‘A Killing Word’, but this progressive slab of sludge metal sparkles with the incendiary grief of an Underoath chorus. You might even imagine Reba Meyers of Code Orange as a phantom vocalist in the brooding middle eight, where the band harmonise around the lyric of “You can’t know every bruise that I bought.”
Thirteen songs spread over fifty-three minutes is a statement of intent from Norma Jean. They’re not dead, nor do they show signs of decline. They also have an instant classic in their armoury with the soon-to-be live favourite of ‘Sleep Explosion’. You can see why they chose to release this as a pre-album taster with a music video. English metal bruisers, Mastiff, would be proud of the decibel-conquering bass rumbles and fuzzy grind riffs on offer here. How do they extract a memorable chorus from this ugly noise ensemble?
Norma Jean are a reminder what metalcore used to sound like before it became a mainstream fixture of alternative culture. The music here is violent, chaotic, muscular, and never afraid to look in the mirror before plotting an exit route from the self-strangulating rage. They deserve their place next to Cave In and Underoath as the great survivors of an era that is still as valid now as it was at the beginning of the century.
JVB
Verdict
Release Date: 12/08/2022
Record Label: Solid State Records
Standout tracks: 1994, Spearmint Revolt, Sleep Explosion
Suggested Further Listening: Underoath – Voyeurist (2022), Converge – No Heroes (2006), Cave In – Heavy Pendulum (2022)