NORMA JEAN Shares Music Video For New Single 'Sleep Explosion'

NORMA JEAN will release a new album, "Deathrattle Sing For Me", on August 12 via Solid State Records. The official music video for the second single, "Sleep Explosion", can be seen below.

"Destruction is a variant of completion," says vocalist Cory Brandan. "We were nearing the end of a tour in January 2022, after a series of house shows. It was a couple of months before we started writing 'Deathrattle Sing For Me' when I first heard the demo for this song. [Guitarist] Grayson [Stewart] texted it to me. I looked at my phone and saw the mock title 'Valentine's Day Ass Beater'. Immediately, I put on headphones and listened. Why hadn't I heard this yet? It just got me so excited to start writing."

He continues: "We were staying with a friend that night and I opted to sleep in the van so I could listen to this song over and over. I pretty much wrote all the vocals for it that night and not much of it changed. I think sometimes we might think that we’ve spent so much time on something that we have to continue on the same path. Behind the music, I believe that changing your mind is freeing and we should be prepared and excited to do it anytime we want. Changing my mind is one of my favorite super powers. 24 hours and a new beginning!"

NORMA JEAN invites an intense level of intimacy on "Deathrattle Sing For Me", the band's ninth full-length. The group plunges into unparalleled emotional depths, as if their very existence depended upon the catharsis these 13 tracks promised.

"This record was really about banding together," observes Brandan. "It embodies the camaraderie of our brotherhood in NORMA JEAN. At the time, we needed something to do, and we wrote these songs for our own souls. The record was necessary to keep me alive in a very literal sense. It's a deeper place."

The band unearthed a searing signature style on "O' God, The Aftermath" in 2005. They struck up a creative partnership with iconic producer Ross Robinson on the seminal "Redeemer" (2007) and "The Anti Mother" (2008). The latter notably boasted appearances by Chino Moreno of DEFTONES and Page Hamilton of HELMET.

Following the acclaimed "Meridional" (2010),"Wrongdoers" (2013) represented a critical high watermark with a 9-out-of-10 score from Rock Sound and 9-out-of-10 score from Outburn. On the heels of "Polar Similar" (2016),they reached another level on "All Hail" (2019). In a perfect 5-star review, New Noise Magazine raved, "'All Hail' is yet another momentous accomplishment on their part," while Kerrang! attested, "'All Hail''s ambition and execution is worthy of worship." Along the way, they toured with everyone from ROB ZOMBIE and KORN to MASTODON, LAMB OF GOD, and more. During 2021, they recorded what would become "Deathrattle Sing For Me" with longtime collaborator Jeremy SH Griffith. They nodded to inspirations as diverse as ALICE IN CHAINS' "Dirt", THE SMASHING PUMPKINS' "Siamese Dream", and the sample-and-riff onslaught of WHITE ZOMBIE's "La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume 1".

"Deathrattle Sing For Me" track listing:

01. 1994
02. Call For The Blood
03. Spearmint Revolt
04. Memorial Hoard
05. Aria Obscura
06. Any%
07. Parallella
08. W W A V V E
09. A Killing Word
10. Penny Margs
11. el-roi
12. Sleep Explosion
13. Heartache

Photo credit: Rachel Putman