Meridional is the fifth studio album by American metalcore band Norma Jean. The album was released on July 12, 2010, and is also the band's first release through Razor & Tie since leaving Solid State Records in 2009. After recording their two previous studio albums, The Anti Mother and Redeemer, with producer Ross Robinson, Norma Jean selected Jeremy Griffith to produce Meridional in order to expand their sound. It is the last album to feature guitarist Scottie Henry, bassist Jake Schultz and drummer Chris Raines. The first single off the album, "Leaderless and Self Enlisted," was released on May 6, 2010.
Writing and recording
Norma Jean began writing music for Meridional in January 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia. In April 2009, the band dropped off a tour with Silverstein, Blessthefall and Before Their Eyes due to a number of undisclosed reasons. They announced that, upon returning to Atlanta, they would resume writing their fifth full-length. The music Norma Jean was writing was described as "something totally new" and something that would pay tribute to "how this band began by digging deep into our roots musically." The band later clarified that "roots" didn't necessarily mean that they would write a new album similar to their first record, Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child. Instead, they were referring to their former mentality when the band members first started making music. The writing process continued throughout the remainder of 2009 and was officially completed in January 2010.
Norma Jean entered Glow in the Dark studios in Atlanta with record producer Jeremy Griffith (Saosin, Forever Changed, Cool Hand Luke) and Pro Tools audio engineer Justin Chapman to record Meridional February 1, 2010. They spent the first three days in pre-production creating live recordings of all the songs for the record. Griffith suggested that the band track guitars before bass guitars, which is backwards from conventional recording methods. Vocalist Cory Brandan stated that this switch was, "a great idea because we changed the chords and progressions on a lot of songs throughout recording, so we were able to have the bass follow the guitars and be a part of the rhythm section more accurately." Norma Jean welcomed Griffith's input on the album. During recording, he would occasionally record his own vocal tracks for songs to see how the band liked his ideas. Griffith contributed backing vocals to a number of songs, and also played piano. The group used a wide array of instruments in addition to the piano from Glow in the Dark studios, including acoustic guitars, organs, random percussion, and a lap steel guitar. Norma Jean also used a variety of guitar tunings from "drop C#, drop A, drop B and occasionally weird tunings like G# F# B E G# C# Eb which is the tuning for Landslide defeater."." Recording and production was finished before the end of February. Meridional resulted in the largest number of tracks Norma Jean had recorded in one session to date, with 13 songs and three short interludes.
Album title
Meridional is the term used historically in astronomy, generally by countries whose language is rooted in Latin, to describe a southern direction on the celestial globe. The title, when it was originally thought up by the band, was intended to be a tongue-in-cheek reference to Norma Jean's southern roots. The group is based the southern regions of the United States, specifically in Douglasville, Georgia. However, according to Cory Brandon, the title later fit together with the story and theme of Meridional, and also ties in with the artwork. The other three celestial directions: Septentrional (northern), Oriental (eastern) and Occidental (western) make up the album's three interlude tracks.
Release and promotion
Pre-release
Meridional was the first release from the band through Razor & Tie since they left Solid State Records after seven years and four studio albums. Norma Jean also spent additional years with Solid State, and released one album entitled Throwing Myself in 2001 through the label, under their original name Luti-Kriss. Some music news sites found the label choice odd as Razor & Tie is also home to the blue-eyed soul singer Michael McDonald, The Irish Tenors from PBS and the children's cover album series Kidz Bop.