Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child

Is an album by Norma Jean.
I sort of acquired it after church last Sunday. Basically, a mate from Church bought a collection of about 300 CDs from someone off trademe, mostly hardcore/emo/ punk type stuff...
anyway, there were a few he didn't really want, and he thought of me, bought them to church... and there we go... One of them was this.

Norma Jean are a band that in the past, I've kinda wanted to like, but never really got into. A mate at work has their latest album (redeemer) on his itunes share. I've listened to it a little, and liked it... but their earlier stuff, until now, the songs I've heard on compilations have just been a bit too weird/spasmodic/ insanely heavy ... even for me.

Well, I figured I'd give it a listen anyway...

Admittedly, when I'd first heard the song "Face:Face" on the This is solid state volume 4 CD, I was only just discovering a taste for music with screaming in it. It was about the same time as I got Dead Poetic's New Medicines... my first screamo album... and I wasn't really ready for metalcore. New medicines primed me for Underoath, who's They're only chasing safety was my attempt at finding more music along the vein of new medicines, albeit with even more intense vocals. Along the way since then, I'd finally developed a taste for zao (hardcore turned metal turned metalcore), who's music I had been flirting with for about 8 years, but never really loved before. I'd also discovered Blindside's earlier pre silence stuff, so basically I had slowly been increasing my tolerance for the more extreme end of heavy music, be it screamo/ metal/ hardcore punk/ metalcore, whatever. Still, I hadn't been able to get past my first impressions of this song...

In the context of the whole album, coming in at track two, and with my newfound tolerance, it's actually an alright song... featuring crushing riff after crushing breakdown after crushing riff and then track three is FREAKING AWESOME. The song, "memphis will be laid to waste", has some 'ahemming' about 5 seconds in, followed by a crushing riff, then it cuts back to a gentle/ melodic guitar bit, with someone kinda jsut whispering a word every now and then, then a cranking breakdown, with multiple yelled vocals, followed by some machine gun riffage and then... near the end, the guy from mewithoutYou joins in and it's epic. Track 4 is a good short interlude of heavy insanity, before the 15 minute monster that is "Pretty Soon. I don't know what. But something is going to Happen" begins. Fifteen minutes. in the middle of the album. There are only vocals for about 2 of those minutes. It builds and builds. and builds some more. Then cuts back. Then builds somemore. When it gets near closing, at it's most intense, the cries of "it's all worthwhile, it's all worthwhile" serve as a kinda describing that song itself...

Anyway. My wife is not a big fan of heavy music. Thus, I mostly get to listen to it on my ipod on my bike too and from work. which is about a 15 minute journey each way. So I haven't really had a chance to listen seriously to the rest of the album. But basically, it's awesome. nuff said.

Neadtobreathe - daylight

Track one
0.01 - very quiet voice saying 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4
0.02 - delay driven guitar kicks in - yet another christian band with a strong U2 influence
0.06 - the drums and bass kick in -we're in for some energetic pop rock, with production so shiny you can see yourself in it.
0.20 - The vocals join the mix - and to my ears the singer sounds like a cross between the audio adrenaline guy before his voice was completely wrecked, and both phil joel and Pete Furler from the Newsboys— not quite like any one of then in particular, but it brought those guys to mind as I listened to it walking through Hagley park on the way to work.
0.50 - The chorus - a big, big chorus! with shiny overdive and keyboard synth pads
1.00 - the falsetto harmony - just like phil joel
1.15 - second verse- verse structure is 2 lines at a time with dominant vocals and delay driven background guitar, alternating with 1 line with full on overdrive
1.50 - second chorus hits
2.16 - Instruments drop back a bit, making the gently sung bridge vocal "sing out, sing out" clear and obvious
Builds, builds, builds, builds then...
2.49 - The band drops out completely, leaving just the vocals for this rendition of the chorus
2.52 - The keyboard comes in
2.54 - drum fill
2.57 - The rest of the band come back in - cue impassioned chorus and bridge repeats until song end.

That one track is enough to give you a feel for the rest of the album. Highly listenable, highly polished, highly produced, and highly clichéd upbeat Christian rock.

Blenderhead- figureheads on the forefront of popular culture

This album intrigues me. Do I love it or hate it? Is it Emo or Punk? Are the songs well crafted or chaotic? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Is all of the above true? The guitar tones and vocals could easily draw comparisons to early Juliana Theory, yet somehow it doesn't seem as likable at first. The songs seem abrasive, and at the first listen are too much. But after a second or third listen, you get past that and you notice the interesting guitar work, and nice guitar tones, the meaning in the lyrics. The instrumental in the middle is quite cool, and the songs in the second half seem a little more conventional— which is both nice and a pity at the same time. I think, when it comes down to it, this is album contains some fantastic music, but is put together in an odd way which hides that. Does that make sense? I think I love it, but I could be wrong.

So anyway

I'm getting a little annoyed that two CDs I want to buy are not out in New Zealand despite having been released in the states in May and June. Thney are Neon Horse, by Neon Horse, and Rival Factions by Project 86.

The late NZ arrival of the project album is particularly fustrating... as their last album I pre-ordered of the interwebs to get as soon as possible - then it turned up within shops here within about a week of my copy arriving. Figured that this time I'd just wait that extra week— bad move... and I just know that as soon as order either, I'll see them here. Oh well... I guess I'll wait.

Moving along, Mona Vale Falls are playing at the wunderbar in lyttelton this Saturday ( at least, that's what I've been led to believe). Should be a fun gig- it's a crazy little venue in Lyttelton with a roof that looks lik the outside of the millennium falcon, and one of the tiniest stages I've ever seen. Seeing as they go a little nuts onstage their should be some interesting carnage.

Blindside, Kings Arms, Auckland, NZ April 14th, 2007

So, take a band that, like the Refused, came out of Sweden in the mid nineties, with a similar brand of intense hardcore punk.

Have them tour the US, but instead of letting them implode mid tour, have them hook up with the management team behind POD and Project 86 and and let the biggest christian nu metal band in the world champion them to their fans.

This is how blindside burst on to the scene at the turn of the new millennium

Signing to an imprint of a major label, they released "silence" in late 2002, with a drastic change in musical style. Still heavy, still intense and still using screaming as a vocal technique, the production was cleaned up considerably from the raw feel of their early work and singing was also a lot more prevalent. At the time this and their touring associations leant it the label of just another nu metal album. Looking back with hindsight, both it and it's successor "about a burning fire" share more with emo tinged post hardcore than they do with hip hop flavoured metal.

Corporate restructuring meant they found themselves without their record label, and in 2005 they released a semi indie album, "The great depression" which has been notoriously hard to track down in New Zealand.

Finally in April 07, They came to auckland and played to a packed in crowd at the King's Arms Tavern. I managed to get to that show and get "The Great Depression" the next day.

Opening with the first track from silence, they ripped into the set. The drummer looked like Asterix. The guitarist looked like the wax doll of rasputin from the red dwarf episode "meltdown" with long black beard and long black hair, covered on top with a cap. The singer pulled off a look that only a lank northern european could— tight brown trousers, held up with suspenders, but somehow very rock and roll. The only thing down about the gig was his fly, which was at half mast throughout the show. Oddly though, the bass player looked completely normal. Like really normal. well cut, tidy jeans and t shirt. Well groomed hair. He could've been a young professional playing bass for the youth service on a sunday night. It was a massive contrast from the other 3, who despite very different looks all fitted with each other.

They played a considerable amount from both silence and about a burning fire, which was great as most of the crowd seemed to know all those songs really well, and were able to scream along. They also threw in a few songs off the great depression, as well as a new song from an upcoming EP. The only nod to their pre-silence days was the song "King of the Closet" second in their 3 song encore set, before they closed with about a burning fire.

The mix was perfect. every instrument was clearly audible but blended into the overall sound. The bass and drums were really strong and anchored everything nicely. A lot of the time there was a full band sound and heaviness from just them... so the guitarist was free to do cool sounding leads over the top.

The vocals were amazing. He can sing and he can scream— he can slide from one to the other so easily that you almost forget the difference. Listening to their albums it's almost unbelievable how well he can do both with the same breath... It's even more more impressive live.

All in all a great show.