Cinema in black and white plus muscly rock

What
do Pulp Fiction, Oldboy, Touch of Evil, The Big
Sleep, Naked City, Sunset Boulevard or The Man Who Shot Liberty
Valance have
in common, besides all of them being cinema masterpieces? The
members of Norman would have to be asked that question. They are the ones who
have decided to adopt some of their
characters and revive them in their songs. In any case, the choice of films
gives us a clue about what we can find in the second album of this quartet.
Tension, darkness, twilight melancholy, brutality and, naturally, a good dose
of psychosis are what Norman is offering us in Perkins (a new
reference to Hitchcock’s Psycho, because the group was named after
Norman Bates, the character played by Anthony Perkins…).

 

 

The
album starts off at great speed with Naked City, the most
instantaneous item on the album, which goes straight to the jugular; the
cathartic power of Asphalt Jungle reminds one of bands like The
Make-Up, with a repetitive bass line and an obsessive guitar riff; Esmarelda
introduces us to a frenetic whirlwind, with a schizoid atmosphere and a voice
that leaps at times to death metal; as much can be said about the dizzying O-Daesu;
Marlowe feeds off 70s stoners and psychedelia; Pilgrim, one
of the most catchy ones, with a melody drawn by the guitar and its epic western
atmosphere; and Norma Desmond provides the
album with a touch of nostalgia.