The Restitution - Waves

In the ever broadening subgenre of metalcore there is a huge divide between radio friendly cookie cutter bands, and progressive/experimental bands. Bands like Norma Jean and Oh, Sleeper cut their teeth pushing the genre to darker tones and all over the map playing, collections of noise and rhythms that when put together make wonderfully energetic music that’s unafraid to give the listener a wild ride. LA based band The Restitution are doing their best to further that progressive push. Waves is a swinging thundering giant, fighting for your attention and once it has that it does everything it can to keep you guessing what comes next. The album flows very well and the strong writing keeps things from falling into a lull.

Somebody Robbed Norma Jean

The world unfortunately has no shortage of dickish people. Tour life is already tough enough, but it seems Norma Jean was robbed on a day off in Chicago. The thief/thieves broke a window on their van and took a bunch of personal items and cash and all around just ruined the day. The band understands they aren't the only band this has happened to and seem to be really humble about the situation and aren't trying to take donations from fans or anything like that. Just asking that people buy merch if they want to help out.

Norma Jean - Wrongdoers

Norma Jean has always been a bright light in metalcore. The band’s existence has spawned some of the best music in metalcore and in a some way Norma Jean opened the gates for the fantastic band that is/was The Chariot. Norma Jean’s last album Meridional was well received by many, but something about the album didn’t quite click with fans overall. It is in no way a band album, and it features some of my favorite songs such as ‘Deathbed Atheist’ but overall something about Meridional felt out of place. It wasn’t as solid overall as Redeemer and it didn’t quite hit the high notes of The Anti-Mother. Now though we’re met with the release of Wrongdoers, and this album is nothing short of fantastic. This is the album fans have been craving.

Norma Jean Announced New Album Info!

Sorry the album cover isn't in the greatest quality, there doesn't seem to be a good upload of it anywhere at the moment, but regardless, there's good news! Norma Jean, who have been in the studio for a while officialyl announced details about their new upcoming album, entitled Wrongdoers.

Captain Roselyn - My Surrender Is A Victory

Captain Roselyn are a Chaotic Hardcore band hailing from Denmark, and although they are most easily labeled as a Chaotic Hardcore band it’s hard not to bring up their other influences. There’s a heavy impact from the likes of Melodic Death Metal, and modern Metalcore/hardcore like Zao, Norma Jean, and Oh, Sleeper. The band isn’t afraid of their inspirations, and make good note of where those bands succeed and blend those into their sound. However Captain Roselyn doesn’t sound like a mash of copycat sounds. They blend everything together with a heap of their own presence. They take the darker brooding atmospheres of Zao, mix it with the more chaotic tones of Norma Jean and Oh, Sleeper and throw in a spice of what I feel is pretty much a combo of doom metal and hardcore.

Norma Jean Album Update!

So a while back Norma Jean announced that they were writing and made plans to record a follow up to Meridional in January. Obviously that hasn't happened yet. however the band has posted an update on their website that explains the whole situation.

To Speak Of Wolves - Find Your Worth, Come Home

I've been waiting for this release for a while now. I was so taken by To Speak Of Wolves debut album Myself > Letting Go. It channeled Underoath, but with a more aggressive tone and was overall a fantastic debut, that met with a bit of an underwhelming response. One vocalist change and two years later Two Speak Of Wolves are back with their sophomore release entitled Find Your Worth, Come Home. The album continues the sound they established and adds influence from the likes of Oh, Sleeper (and a guest vocal spot from Micah Kinard), Underoath and Norma Jean's newer stuff.

Norma Jean Penning A New Album!

Not a whole lot to say here, but it's still good news. Norma Jean are in writing mode to do a follow up to 2010's Meridional, which was great in my opinion. I'm looking forward to whatever these guys make!

Oh Hey, Norma Jean Are Writing New Material.

Norma Jean are in the process of writing new material according to their Facebook. It will be sometime still before they start recording, but the fact that they have begun in earnest the next album is fairly exciting. I would hope/imagine it'll be out by the end of next year, if not early 2013. Although I feel like 2013 is too far. ME WANT NORMA JEAN!