PO NOW: NORMA JEAN - POLAR SIMILAR

[RyanSmithers]

This album is so good. Seriously can't wait to get to listen to this on vinyl. Been on repeat for the last week! So great. Great job guys!

[Vinyl Fury]

I dig the album, but still haven't seen it on vinyl for less than $30, and that's just out of the question. Disappointing, but I'll just get the cd. 

[mattisr1984]

i like this album and im looking forward to getting the vinyl but itll probably end up ranking towards the bottom of NJ albums for me. i dont think this band has ever released a bad record though - even with all the lineup changes. 

[throughbeingcruel]

41 minutes ago, mattisr1984 said:

i like this album and im looking forward to getting the vinyl but itll probably end up ranking towards the bottom of NJ albums for me. i dont think this band has ever released a bad record though - even with all the lineup changes. 

They kind of address the lineup changes in the liner notes for this one. It says:

 

Norma Jean is a collective of musicians in which association is flexible and creative direction is shared across a history of friends and family. 

 

Having been a (pretty diehard) fan since the release of O' God, and knowing from the beginning that their lineup was always changing, I found that little piece of the liner notes to be really fucking cool. 

 

Now I've been meaning to ask this for a week now, is @wiretap Goose? Cuz Goose Holyoak is the coolest name ever. 

[mattisr1984]

25 minutes ago, throughbeingcruel said:

They kind of address the lineup changes in the liner notes for this one. It says:

 

Norma Jean is a collective of musicians in which association is flexible and creative direction is shared across a history of friends and family. 

 

Having been a (pretty diehard) fan since the release of O' God, and knowing from the beginning that their lineup was always changing, I found that little piece of the liner notes to be really fucking cool. 

 

Now I've been meaning to ask this for a week now, is @wiretap Goose? Cuz Goose Holyoak is the coolest name ever. 

thats fair - and if past members had some kind of input on the album, i think thats pretty cool. i can only assume thats what has helped the band maintain somewhat of a consistent but clearly evolving sound. id rather them do that than try and rewrite o'god or redeemer. still, i think this band was on another level when scottie henry and chris day were involved on a full-time basis. 

[wiretap]

59 minutes ago, throughbeingcruel said:

They kind of address the lineup changes in the liner notes for this one. It says:

 

Norma Jean is a collective of musicians in which association is flexible and creative direction is shared across a history of friends and family. 

 

Having been a (pretty diehard) fan since the release of O' God, and knowing from the beginning that their lineup was always changing, I found that little piece of the liner notes to be really fucking cool. 

 

Now I've been meaning to ask this for a week now, is @wiretap Goose? Cuz Goose Holyoak is the coolest name ever. 

 

Haha, no. I am Jeff. 

 

28 minutes ago, mattisr1984 said:

thats fair - and if past members had some kind of input on the album, i think thats pretty cool. i can only assume thats what has helped the band maintain somewhat of a consistent but clearly evolving sound. id rather them do that than try and rewrite o'god or redeemer. still, i think this band was on another level when scottie henry and chris day were involved on a full-time basis. 

Cory and I have been the sole songwriters since Wrongdoers, before I joined Scottie was another, and he shined with tracks like Deathbed Atheist. We've tried to collar with him on both of the last records for fun but just haven't been able to make it happen schedule-wise. Cory pretty much wrote almost all of O'God by himself, I believe Daniel wrote pretendeavor, though. It'd be super easy to go back and write more chaotic stuff like that or Redeemer, as we both have a background in that type of music but it's just not as fulfilling to us as musicians at this point in time. Kind of a been there done that deal. My musical interest as far as heavy music goes is pretty much solely with bands like Neurosis, Cult Of Luna, Kowloon Walled City, etc etc for the last decade as it's sort of just more where we are as people. At the end of the day we can only write things we enjoy and feel strongly about and never worry about pleasing anyone else or how it compares to past records other than do we like it more, as any other way would be in my mind, business-driven and fake and what not. Can't please everyone, unfortunately haha. 

Edited September 17, 2016 by wiretap

[mattisr1984]

3 minutes ago, wiretap said:

 

Haha, no. I am Jeff. 

 

Cory and I have been the sole songwriters since Wrongdoers, before I joined Scottie was another, and he shined with tracks like Deathbed Atheist. Cory pretty much wrote almost all of O'God by himself, I believe Daniel wrote pretendeavor, though. It'd be super easy to go back and write more chaotic stuff like that or Redeemer, as we both have a background in that type of music but it's just not as fulfilling to us as musicians at this point in time. Kind of a been there done that deal. My musical interest as far as heavy music goes is pretty much solely with bands like Neurosis, Cult Of Luna, Kowloon Walled City, etc etc for the last decade as it's sort of just more where we are as people. At the end of the day we can only write things we enjoy and feel strongly about and never worry about pleasing anyone else or how it compares to past records other than do we like it more, as any other way would be in my mind, business-driven and fake and what not. Can't please everyone, unfortunately haha. 

i dig that just about every NJ record has something distinct about it. i started listening in the bless the martyr days and wore the hell out of my copy of o'god when that came out - so there's a lot of history there for me stacked up to compare polar similar to. like i said though, i dig the record and overall i think its one of the better releases of the year (id prob put it in my top 10 were i to make such a list). so, i suppose its much less a statement about whether this record is good as it is how killer/important those early albums were to me.

[wiretap]

27 minutes ago, mattisr1984 said:

i dig that just about every NJ record has something distinct about it. i started listening in the bless the martyr days and wore the hell out of my copy of o'god when that came out - so there's a lot of history there for me stacked up to compare polar similar to. like i said though, i dig the record and overall i think its one of the better releases of the year (id prob put it in my top 10 were i to make such a list). so, i suppose its much less a statement about whether this record is good as it is how killer/important those early albums were to me.

Oh no, I feel you! I get that totally. I think everyone has records and bands like that. I was just being transparent because often times we see funny stuff about how we suck now because somebody who never had much hand in the song writing left the band. But it's way more of a collective effort that feeds off the vibe rather than dictated by anyone person. The songs write themselves so to speak.  Just saying our sound or mood for any given record is always very much a conscious decision.

Edited September 17, 2016 by wiretap

[DecayToDeath]

Well this blew my expectations out of the water

[mattisr1984]

2 hours ago, wiretap said:

Oh no, I feel you! I get that totally. I think everyone has records and bands like that. I was just being transparent because often times we see funny stuff about how we suck now because somebody who never had much hand in the song writing left the band. But it's way more of a collective effort that feeds off the vibe rather than dictated by anyone person. The songs write themselves so to speak.  Just saying our sound or mood for any given record is always very much a conscious decision.

I find that kind of funny considering NJ is one of the very, very few bands that originated from that era of heavy music that ive never felt "sucked" at any point (ETID and Poison The Well being two others that quickly come to mind). So many contemporaries that fell to the wayside at some point though. Its definitely interesting to me that cory mostly wrote o'god considering he was new to the band at the time. I always assumed since its a very guitar focused album that scotty and chris were more of the driving force behind that shift in sound. Anyway, thanks for the insight!

[wiretap]

17 minutes ago, mattisr1984 said:

I find that kind of funny considering NJ is one of the very, very few bands that originated from that era of heavy music that ive never felt "sucked" at any point (ETID and Poison The Well being two others that quickly come to mind). So many contemporaries that fell to the wayside at some point though. Its definitely interesting to me that cory mostly wrote o'god considering he was new to the band at the time. I always assumed since its a very guitar focused album that scotty and chris were more of the driving force behind that shift in sound. Anyway, thanks for the insight!

Not an unreasonable assumption, and not to detract from any other creative force but Cory was always a guitar player first before joining Norma Jean, I think some people don't really know that. He and the vocalist of my old band both played guitar in a band called Eso-Charis and shared vocal duties prior to joining, and I think he'd be the first to tell you he doesn't like his vocals on O'God because he still was learning how to do it. And this band has always been welcoming with ideas from new members, that's how it was for me and how it's been since. It's weird to us, bands that sort of shun newer members of their band or Downplay their existence. Seems more like aN ego or business driven decision and I thInk that would just be super strange.

Edited September 18, 2016 by wiretap

[himynameisdk]

Reaction is soooo insanely catchy. I really dig the whole vibe to the album. The interludes are awesome. 

[rcafilm]

19 hours ago, wiretap said:

At the end of the day we can only write things we enjoy and feel strongly about and never worry about pleasing anyone else or how it compares to past records other than do we like it more, as any other way would be in my mind, business-driven and fake and what not. Can't please everyone, unfortunately haha. 

I think that's what stands out the most to me about Norma Jean in the sea of heavy bands over the last decade and a half. No two albums sound alike and I'm convinced every album is a masterpiece in its own way. It never feels like you guys "find your niche and stick to it" (August Burns Red is another titan of heavy music in my book, but they definitely found what they do best and have been hanging out in the same corner for 3 albums now) nor do anything patronizing. Every record sounds like you guys wanted to make the kind of music you love, and you love a lot of different music. I truly believe NJ will always be remembered as a 21st century icon.

Edited September 18, 2016 by rcafilm

[RyanSmithers]

On September 17, 2016 at 4:59 PM, wiretap said:

Not an unreasonable assumption, and not to detract from any other creative force but Cory was always a guitar player first before joining Norma Jean, I think some people don't really know that. He and the vocalist of my old band both played guitar in a band called Eso-Charis and shared vocal duties prior to joining, and I think he'd be the first to tell you he doesn't like his vocals on O'God because he still was learning how to do it. And this band has always been welcoming with ideas from new members, that's how it was for me and how it's been since. It's weird to us, bands that sort of shun newer members of their band or Downplay their existence. Seems more like aN ego or business driven decision and I thInk that would just be super strange.

Jeff! Thanks so much for sharing insight into the band. I find it fascinating. I remember watching NJ playing for FuseTV a long time ago playing Vipers, Snakes, and Actors and Corey was playing guitar along with Scottie and Chris.

Hearing how organic some of the songs came about would you elaborate a little on how one of the songs like Everyone Talking or something kind of different like Close and Discontent came to be what they were?

Also, what is your favorite NJ song to play live as a guitarist?

Still loving the album!

[RyanSmithers]

On September 17, 2016 at 4:59 PM, wiretap said:

Not an unreasonable assumption, and not to detract from any other creative force but Cory was always a guitar player first before joining Norma Jean, I think some people don't really know that. He and the vocalist of my old band both played guitar in a band called Eso-Charis and shared vocal duties prior to joining, and I think he'd be the first to tell you he doesn't like his vocals on O'God because he still was learning how to do it. And this band has always been welcoming with ideas from new members, that's how it was for me and how it's been since. It's weird to us, bands that sort of shun newer members of their band or Downplay their existence. Seems more like aN ego or business driven decision and I thInk that would just be super strange.

Jeff! Thanks so much for sharing insight into the band. I find it fascinating. I remember watching NJ playing for FuseTV a long time ago playing Vipers, Snakes, and Actors and Corey was playing guitar along with Scottie and Chris.

Hearing how organic some of the songs came about would you elaborate a little on how one of the songs like Everyone Talking or something kind of different like Close and Discontent came to be what they were?

Also, what is your favorite NJ song to play live as a guitarist?

Still loving the album!

[hallowken78]

My only gripe about this record is II. The People.  I don't get it.  

 

Otherwise, the whole record plays solid from front to back, so much so that I can't decide on a favorite track.  

 

I also hope the pressing is top notch because this could sound huge on vinyl...

[daegor]

1 hour ago, hallowken78 said:

My only gripe about this record is II. The People.  I don't get it.  

It's an interlude, there's nothing to get... interludes an auditory palate cleanser

Edited September 20, 2016 by daegor

[subplotofcrows]

II. The People is one of my favorites.

[ejc625]

Anyone heard any updates on these? I think the last I heard is that they were tentatively planned to ship out this week or next. 

[wiretap]

1 minute ago, ejc625 said:

Anyone heard any updates on these? I think the last I heard is that they were tentatively planned to ship out this week or next. 

I got a message on our Facebook yesterday,  someone was having trouble with their download code from the vinyl so I think they are finally shipping. 

[kannibal]

Did anyone else have digital "skipping" errors in their 160kb download? Mine had a lot at the end (the last few songs), but when I redownloaded the album using the same email link, the errors were still there.

[ejc625]

Someone created a listing and uploaded this picture to Discogs

 

Edited October 14, 2016 by ejc625

[ejc625]

X

Edited October 14, 2016 by ejc625
Won't let me delete post for some stupid reason

[wiretap]

Looks like people in Europe are getting them first. (The plant is in Czech). Of course the worst photo had to show up on discogs lol. 

 

 

A little annoyed its not quite like the mock up but i but I should be used to that with these places by now.  Still looks cool, no sign of the purple/white yet. 

 

 

[ejc625]

Cannot wait for mine to come in. I like the way it turned out.