Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Artist: Norma Jean
Label: Century Media
Release: 2006
No, we’re not talking about some seventies disco diva! It’s also not about the country singer of the same name or unreleased Marylin Monroe recordings. We mean a hard-hitting quintet from the suburbs of Atlanta, Douglassville to be exact, that you could slap with the label of Christian metalcore/ alternative metal or brand geographically as Southern metal, but none of it would really fit. If you had an audio-genetics lab at your disposal, you’d have to blend Dillinger Escape Plan, At the Drive-in and maybe a bit of Hatebreed – and even then you’d only get an approximation of who or what Norma Jean are.
Originally going by the name Luti-Kriss, they searched for a sound of their own through a mixture of different styles, and after three albums put out independently (actually, as Luti-Kriss they released their first split album together with the band Travail in 1999, and a year later the records 5ep and Throwing Myself on Solid State Records). After the death of Luti-Kriss, Norma Jean was born, and they can now boast three more records (Bless The Martyr And Kiss The Child (2002), O God, The Aftermath (2005) and this year’s effort, Redeemer (in the US you could hear it as early as September 12, 2006, while Europe gets it with a delay of almost two months). They’re not exactly established, but a single listen tells you they’ve got some pretty big ambitions.
Redeemer is the fruit of working with legendary producer Ross Robinson (who has worked with Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Slipknot, Sepultura and At The Drive-In, among others). Right from the start, their music feels driven by the urgency of vocal expression, enriched by the penetration of brutal instrumentals: the screamed vocals get intensely pierced by unexpected chords, the rhythm is fractured, and the whole sound demands quite a bit of effort from you, but the effort pays off. The music is soaked in daring, since you can count only a handful of bands that would dare to break the basic rules of the two-dimensionality of narrow genre commandments so consistently and artistically. If the laws of genre discourse are commandments, then Norma Jean break them from the first chord on, and out of metalcore and other modern derivatives they give birth to sounds that are entirely their own. Their own voice. From the dissonant breakdowns of rhythm and warped patterns of perceiving natural rhythm on songs like “The End Of All things Will Be Televised”, they effortlessly arrive at the melodic intensity of “Blueprints For Future Homes”, the beauty of “A Small Sparkle Vs. A Great Forest” and the swaying ambient of “No Passenger: No Parasite”, and through it all Norma Jean keep a lucid look and image, keeping the listener in a state of permanent alert. Ross Robinson’s production wizardry conjures up an atmosphere where you can picture sweat and blood dripping down the instruments. The songs are a polished whole, a call to wake up all the technocratic, dazed-out zombies, yet they have just enough fun in them that the criticism they jab us with never feels insulting. Redeemer is definitely a record that marks an important milestone in Norma Jean’s career, and their future work will be measured against it.
Definitely worth multiple listens and a gradual deepening of the belief that, after the frontal assault of Norma Jean, it’s possible to emerge from the remains of cataclysmic chaos into final catharsis, cleansing and redemption.
Lineup
Cory Brandan – vocals
Chriss Day – guitar
Scottie Henry – guitar
Jake Schultz – bass
Daniel Davidson – drums
Production
Ross Robinson
Tracklist
1. A Grand Scene For A Color Fil (3:23)
2. Blueprints For Future Homes (2:49)
3. A Small Spark Vs. A Great Forest (4:54)
4. A Temperamental Widower (2:46)
5. The End Of All Things Will Be Televised (5:20)
6. Songs Sound Much sadder (3:14)
7. The Longest Lasting Statement (2:48)
8. Amnesty Please (4:14)
9. Like Swimming Circles (3:03)
10. Cemetary Like A Stage (4:16)
11. No Passenger: No Parasite (4:55)
Album length: 41:46
