NORMA JEAN Frontman Checks In From The Studio

Atlanta's NORMA JEAN entered the Covenant Recording studio in Kansas City, Missouri earlier this month with producer Joshua Barber (YOUR MEMORIAL, HANDS) to begin recording its new album for an early 2013 release.

Commented NORMA JEAN frontman Cory Brandan: "We have been in the studio for 13 days now tracking our sixth full-length record.

"We love Kansas City! What a great place to live. Good people and definitely a LOT of good food.

"At this point, we have seven songs tracked on drums and seven more to go.

"We are looking at an 11- or 12-song track listing with a few left over for other special releases.

"We have been working very closely with producer/engineers Joshua Barber and Aaron Crawford. Awesome dudes with a lot of great ideas. They've definitely helped us push ourselves to do more with the record.

"Our days have pretty much consisted of going from the apartment to the studio and back. We've been fairly isolated in the sounds of the studio. Because of that, we have found a new enthusiasm in and old pastime… sitting in the back of our van late at night and having a few drinks. We spend most of the time talking about the record but it's also a good way to get away and hang. We call it 'Van Hanglin.'

"We really like the idea of talking about the songs and all getting connected to them emotionally/psychologically. It's something we learned while working with Ross Robinson. It's a great way to get all of us on the same page and fused in a common vision, even though we may have different interpretations. We believe that if we all know what every song is about, then we WILL play the songs differently and with more passion. Van Hangs has been our way of achieving all that on this record and it's been a lot of fun too. Yeah, we're kind of hippies when it comes to writing and recording a record.

"We aren't ready to release the record title just yet. I think we just want to make sure it's the best fit. It's coming soon.

"We spent almost two years writing this. We have definitely found so many ways to expand on what we've done before and progress into making something new. This is definitely something new, but don't misunderstand. It's heavy! We're metalheads! Born and raised."

NORMA JEAN's last album, "Meridional", sold 9,800 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 45 on The Billboard 200 chart.

The band's fourth CD, "The Anti Mother", opened with more than 16,000 copies back in August 2008 to land at No. 29.

"Meridional" was released on July 13, 2010 via Razor & Tie.