Norma Jean - All Hail (October 26, 2019) Album • Page 12

SO TOSS AGAIN

 

Right now it's this and Banks' III. I feel like these two albums are gonna be my whole spotify replay or whatever it's called.

 

Mines kind of wild. I think my top 5 will be this, Taylor Swift, Whitney, Turnover, and Local Natives, just based on my last.fm plays from albums released this year. The Menzingers, Oso Oso, and Opeth on the outside looking in.

 

This has grown on me a lot. Landslide and translational have entered the upper pantheon with with errors, careen, and Anna.

 

The back half of this album is awesome, which is saying something considering how strong the first 7 tracks are.

 

I wish I loved that Taylor album more holistically. I can pop in and out for a few tracks and be pretty content, but I don't feel a compulsion to do full-playthroughs at all.

 

YEAH, ALL HAIL

Damn this album hit me like a ton of bricks today.

 

burn baby, burn.

yeah.

 

If [Loss] then [Leader] has some Meridional vibes. I like it

 

This song is constantly stuck in my head. "Lies die, lies resuscitate, lies forever"

 

It was my least favorite of the album for a while... it was too reminiscent of UO's Erase Me at the beginning but holy shit I've come around on it.

 

So this is growing on me... and damn this could top Polar Similar in my mind.

 

I love Norma Jean, but sometimes I've had a hard time really going back to their past albums. That is not the case with this one and I'm listening to it 2-3 times a week since release. It's so good and hits so many notes on things I really love about them.

 

at 0:50 on If [Loss] Then [Leader], you could easily convince me that is Aaron Gillespie. Really such a dynamic performance from Cory on this album that keeps it fresh.

 

So I finally got some headphones back from a friend to use at the gym. Threw on an older playlist that coincidentally had Landslide Defeater on it from back when it was a single and because I put it on shuffle, that song hit different. And it was amazing. These songs are legendary NJ I think.

 

Yes this albums is still wonderful. These guys never disappoint.

 

I've forced myself to do this completely arbitrary and meaningless ranking system over and over since All Hail dropped, and I'm starting to think I'm going to go ahead and call it their best album, even though Wrongdoers has such a special place in my heart.

Why? Because i think they've progressed each and every time. Whether or not there are more bangers on one album or the other, or whether or not every album ends with "Sun Dies, Blood Moon", their ability to find ways to evolve and reinvent themselves over and over in a genre where folks are just writing generic pop shit to prove they've 'grown up' is so impressive to me.

So while there are high points on each album (the only one that doesn't hit me in my sweet spot since Redeemer is The Anti Mother) the definitive feature of each one is that they are improving and evolving from the last. So yeah, All Hail is the best version of Norma Jean, because of their history and because of where they're going. I fucking love this record.

 

I’ve been meaning to do a full discog run but I’ve at least been revisiting my favorites and various others off prior records and while I think their best songs are still elsewhere, I’m pretty sure this is the most consistent. Also definitely corys best vocal performance, very fresh as someone else alluded to.

 

I don't understand how he's increased his vocal range at 43 years old. He wasn't singing like this even on like, Meridional

 

I always think it's so neat that he has kids that are like, college age basically and he's still out doing this and killing it

 

Yeah I love this album, it just gets better with every listen. And the latter half really shines, from Full Circle onward it's

 

at all at all aT ALL AT ALL AT ALL AT

AT

ALL

 

I can't stop listening to this album, and I'm shocked how much I'm in love with Careen. For an Autumn album, I think that's gonna end up being my top-played for 2019.

 

pit was WILD for Mind Over Mind, not gonna be able to listen to that song the same way again lol. Super fun to see people going hard for these guys in-person and online, still

 

I can visualize the chaos that the "quiet weapon for a peaceful kill" breakdown could bring