Okay, I didn't get into
Norma Jean for a long time. Every time I listened to them over the years, I've liked them a little more, and they've been one of those bands that I wanted to like more than I actually did. I knew they were pretty cool, and obviously talented, but some intangible something held me from being a real 'fan'.
I think Meridional finally got through to me though. Damn. Well, I like Norma Jean now. You never know when something like this is going to happen, but such is life. Nothing left but to sit my friends and family down and break the news. What's important is that I'm happy.
Decibel dubs Norma Jean's latest work "Career Defining", and Alternative Press claims it to be "Norma Jean's first true masterpiece", and they've earned this praise. From the first track, 'Leaderless and Self Enlisted' (available for free
here) Norma Jean is confident through the whole of
Meridional, both in sonic attitude, and in decidedly adventurous and sophisticated songwriting. Tracks like "Blood Burner" still bring the pain, but neckbreakers like this are tempered by long-fused bombs like "A Media Friendly Turn for the Worse" and "Falling From the Sky: Day Seven", which crescendo slowly, their bee-swarm guitars slowing into creeping melodies. Five albums into their career, the band doesn't have to prove much, and they know their strengths but don't lean on them. That said, the album covers a lot of ground, and in fact is among their longest playing releases. The songs are varied both among and within themselves, in a way that builds momentum rather than sounding scatterbrained. Among the heave and jerk of tempo in
Meridional, the bands use the abrupt time changes they have been so good at in the past, but build and release tension with them in a way that's elegant and not flashy.
Jeremy Griffith brings a beautiful production to
Meridional (recorded over February of this year), making the full album a rich, dramatic experience, with the band coloring passages with instruments from keyboards and organs to pedal steel, and Griffith providing some piano and backing vocals himself. The bass shifts around between clank and boom, and holds the bottom end down while occasionally being melodically surprising. The drums are powerful and precise, and the guitars are thick as they wash over you. Rather than put out a half-hour of facemelters, Norma Jean has brought an album that unfolds as it plays out, and rewards repeat listening.
Forgive me, Norma Jean? I'm sorry about before, there I said it.
4.5 / 5 stars
