I've never really listened to Norma Jean before this. They made an impression on me, that’s for sure. I like the fact that they have short songs, and then at the end their last song is like fourteen minutes long of pure awesomeness coming into your ears. The boys in Norma Jean don’t seem like no stranger to music, or making music. Now, the band is fairly new to me, and I might actually look into them more in the future, but I will say that they made me a fan of them with their album. This album is everything a chaotic album should be. The song structure exists, so it’s not all over the place like most chaotic hardcore bands. They definitely know how to structure their songs, and keep to their genre of music. Which is a pretty good thing on their part. The album artwork is pretty uh, different to me. I don’t completely understand the artwork on this album, but it’s pretty neat. Some of the songs on this album remind me of those poppy rock songs you’d hear back in two thousand five. The clean vocals in some places really show that influence, which isn't a bad, as much as it is different to hear from a band nowadays. Now, I do know that Norma Jean isn't a new band, but the year is two thousand thirteen so yes, it’s somewhat new to people that may have just gotten into this type of music. I really want to get the older albums from Norma Jean when I can, because it makes me wonder how much they've matured, and changed to get their sound that they have today. A few songs that stand out on this album would have to be, “Hive Minds”, ”Wrongdoers”, “Sword In Mouth, Fire Eyes”, “Neck In The Hemp”, “Funeral Singer”, and “Sun Dies, Blood Moon”. “Hive Minds”, is the first song on the album, and for new fans it sorts of shows you Norma Jeans sound, and a bit of a sample of what you’ll be hearing on the album. With chaotic hardcore band’s albums, no two songs sound the same. Every song sounds different in many ways, which is one reason that the bands are somewhat more interesting to listen too. “Hive Minds” does a pretty good job on showing Norma Jeans sound. “Wrongdoers”, remember how I said some of the songs sound like the songs that were being released in two thousand five, and getting those bands bigger? Those bands usually died two years later though, sadly. But this is the one song that sort of sounds like that with the clean vocals. I can’t really put my finger on the band that they sound like the most, but it’s definitely one of those old bands. It’s not a bad thing either, it was actually pretty interesting to listen to. It made me think of the old bands that I used to jam to. “Sword In Mouth, Fire Eyes”, I really liked the song title which made me give it a listen. The intro was pretty nice. The little guitar play is great, and then it just hits the fan, and gets into a soft song that sounds like another pop rock band that came out in two thousand five… but the band manages to impress me with it. The vocalist’s range gets a bit higher than it was on the other songs, and then the rest of the band kind of comes in, and does some work, which is really nice. Everyone in the bands vocals at the time when they come in, are pretty great. Each member kept up with the vocalists speed, and range. “Neck In The Hemp”, is one of the more chaotic songs, but it’s definitely a good song. Heck, even the title might bring in some curiosity to listen to it. I don’t recommend buying this album and then listening to it the first time, and being like “Wow… I wasted ten dollars on this?”, I recommend listening to the album stream and then deciding if you like it or not enough to buy it. I on the other hand have heard the album, and really enjoy this band. I will be buying the album on iTunes to show support (Support bands, buy their music physically, and tip them at shows!). “Funeral Singer”, when I first saw the name of this song, I was like that has to be the worst job to ever have. I mean, could you sing at a funeral? I definitely couldn't. I’m sure that some people might even find that offensive. The song is actually a great song to help end off the album. It’s five minutes long, and the last song is fourteen minutes long so that’s definitely a timely thing to add. “Funeral Singer”, has some of the heavier vocals as well, which is one reason I like the song so much. “Sun Dies, Blood Moon”, In all honesty, this song must be heard by everyone that’s a fan of Norma Jean. The guitar play on the intro blew me away… this song is very long but very good. I love this song, it’s probably my favorite song on the album, and it’s my favorite song (so far) from Norma Jean. You can tell that the guitar player was more than stoked to do this song, and show off more of his talents. Now, I’m not going to completely ruin this song, but this is a song that should be heard off the album, I mean that.

Breakdown:

Cleans: The clean vocals on this album really remind me of older music for some reason, which in my opinion isn't that bad. It definitely brought in some of the older stuff that I’m used to, which is pretty good. It was just something that I wasn't expecting at all from a chaotic hardcore band… but I can’t really say that it’s a bad thing because I ended up enjoying it the most.

Screams: The screams were what I was expecting, but the range of the screams wasn't as high as expected. They’re mostly toned down a bit until farther in the album, then he gets a bit higher and starts getting what seems more aggressive with their music, and shows off the power of the band. This was something I enjoyed a bit more than the clean vocals.

Rating: 7/10

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