Metalcore band Norma Jean rattles The Ritz Theater in Scranton on Nov. 16
From a press release:
Since September, Atlanta metalcore outfit Norma Jean has been traveling across the United States and Canada on their 1994 North America Tour playing career-spanning sets that feature songs from their early albums, all the way up through their latest release, 2022’s “Deathrattle Sing for Me.”
The current leg of this run with Colorado Springs metalcore quintet Mouth for War and Canadian hardcore/metal group Teeth comes to The Ritz Theater (222 Wyoming Ave., Scranton) on Saturday, Nov. 16. Wilkes-Barre hardcore/death metal band Scorched Mind will open the show.
“Celebrating over two decades of music, we’ll have staples from every album, live debuts of deep tracks like ‘Sun Dies, Blood Moon,’ and other surprises,” Norma Jean shared on social media.
“This tour is our way to thank all of you for hangin’ with us through nine albums, but it’s also your last chance to see us before we go into hibernation to complete NJLP10!”
Tickets, which are $22.50-$25, are on sale now via Eventbrite.
If a person pierces the skin and pulls back the layers, they inch closer to their essence. The almighty Norma Jean invites this level of intimately incisive immersion. An avalanche of jagged sonic hues, off-kilter samples, grunge-drenched guitars, noise rock exorcisms, hardcore screams, and slashed-throat poetry encode the essence of the Georgia band on their ninth full-length offering, “Deathrattle Sing for Me,” via Solid State Records.
The group – Cory Brandan (vocals), Grayson Stewart (lead guitar), Clay Crenshaw (guitar), Matt Marquez (drums), Michael Palmquist (bass), and Matthew Putman (drums, percussion, songwriting) – plunges into unparalleled emotional depths, as if their very existence depended upon the catharsis these 13 tracks promised.
“This record was really about banding together,” Brandan observed.
“It embodies the camaraderie of our brotherhood in Norma Jean. At the time, we needed something to do, and we wrote these songs for our own souls. The record was necessary to keep me alive in a very literal sense. It’s a deeper place.”
Norma Jean has always inhabited such intense cavities of emotion, unearthing a searing signature style on “O’ God, the Aftermath” in 2005. They struck up a creative partnership with iconic producer Ross Robinson on the seminal “Redeemer” (2007) and “The Anti Mother” (2008). The latter notably boasted appearances by Chino Moreno of Deftones and Page Hamilton of Helmet. Following the acclaimed “Meridional” (2010), “Wrongdoers” (2013) represented a critical high watermark with a 9-out-of-10 score from both Rock Sound and Outburn. On the heels of “Polar Similar” (2016), they reached another level on “All Hail” (2019). In a perfect 5-star review, New Noise Magazine raved, “‘All Hail’ is yet another momentous accomplishment on their part,” and Kerrang attested, “‘All Hail’s’ ambition and execution is worthy of worship.” Along the way, they toured with everyone from Rob Zombie and Korn to Mastodon and Lamb of God, to name a few.
During 2021, they recorded what would become “Deathrattle Sing for Me” with longtime collaborator Jeremy SH Griffith in Tampa and Fort Walton Beach, Florida, in addition to sessions helmed by Matthew in Fort Smith, Arkansas. They nodded to inspirations as diverse as Alice in Chains’ “Dirt,” The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Siamese Dream,” and the sample-and-riff onslaught of White Zombie’s “La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. 1.”
This time around, they also expanded their sound like never before, integrating over 200 tracks with vocals, guitars, strings, and samples on select cuts.
“It’s extremely dense,” Brandan went on. “I don’t know if we’ll ever do this to the same extent, but we really wanted to provide the experience of lying on the floor with headphones and absorbing those layers. You can listen to it with fresh ears and hopefully find something new each time.”
Fittingly, they introduce the record with the single “Call for the Blood.” Right out of the gate, feedback buzzes and glitchy samples warble. Meanwhile, Brandan’s exhaustedly manic delivery of the line, “Ones and zeroes incoming,” proves corrosive over verses submerged in guitar. It snaps into a jarringly catchy refrain.
“It’s one of the more strange songs we’ve ever written, and we liked the idea of everyone hearing ‘Call for the Blood’ first,” he noted.
“This isn’t what you’d normally expect from us. Matthew named the song, and my brother and I knew what he was talking about. We’re brothers. We’re blood. When things go down, your friends or brothers come to the rescue and pull you out of the bloody wreck.”
Then there’s “Spearmint Revolt.” Originally conceived by Stewart, it hinges on a thick beat and seesawing groove as Brandan pleads, “Deathrattle, sing for me!” – the line that inspired the album title. The intensity gives way to a hauntingly gorgeous bridge.
“I see it as acceptance,” the frontman mused. “The title may sound like something horrible, but it has a beautiful tone. You get to the level of grief where you just accept everything as it is and let go. Grayson wrote the lyric, and I thought it was great.”
The gnashing opener “1994” set the pace for the project with one unsettling and undeniable final proclamation: “I think I’m witnessing the end of the world, and I like it!”
“It’s an image of the scene we grew up in,” he said. “We performed at these tiny venues during the early-to-mid ’90s. These were abandoned houses where the power was still on, so we’d jump in and play. It’s an old school throwback remembrance.”
Elsewhere, “Sleep Explosion” tempers a pummeling breakdown with a psychedelically dark melody.
“On the last tour we did, Grayson showed me the demo,” he recalled. “I was so excited that I opted to sleep in the van, listen to it over and over again, and write the vocals. It’s a special one.”
Everything culminates on the eight-minute epic “Heartache.” With its clean guitar, sinewy bassline, and dreamy echoes, it offers a final exhale steeped in raw truth.
“It has one of my favorite lines: ‘This world was never meant for me or I was never meant for it,’” Brandan revealed.
“We thought Heartache sounded like it would be a great conclusion for the record very early in the writing process. But by the time we got to tracking, we tracked another song to come after it in an effort to avoid it as a closer, as it seemed too obvious to us by then. But, in a way, we felt like ‘Heartache’ fought all of us to conclude the album, won, and the new song was ultimately B-sided.”
In the end, Norma Jean welcomes listeners into a suffocatingly beautiful embrace that never relents on “Deathrattle Sing for Me.”
“When you listen to this, I hope you let it simmer,” he left off.
“There’s a ’90s vibe when you look at the artwork, read the lyrics, and listen to it. Spend some time with it and maybe you’ll find something. Do whatever you want with it. I hope you escape with it – then let us know what you think in a year.”
