Review Summary: Norma Jean delivers one of the best(and heaviest) albums of 2002. Worth buying if your into that sort of thing. Please please just hit the button that says was this review well written. Comments are also appreciated.
Christian Metalcore group Norma Jean Started as a Rap-Metal band named Luti-Kriss. Then they moved into metalcore/death metal. With they're debut album, Bless The Martyr and Kiss The Child they take music and turn it into an almost tangible expression of brutality and fury. That is what metalcore is all about, but Norma Jean slams away with more power than many secular metalcore bands.
Production on this album focuses on a dense wall of sound that seems to compliment Josh Scogin's voice which goes from a throaty bellow to a harsh scream. Many of the songs do go with the formula of using deep bass notes followed by high pitched distorted guitar. While this may annoy some after awhile and seem repetitive it's still an effective and original technique.
Norma Jean's musical style is all about power, force and fury. While bands like Mastodon use technical skill and great songwriting to create a concept within they're music, Norma Jean ignores technique and instead tries to just pound away as hard as they can. Some might see that as a weakness, I see it as a strength.
One problem I had with this cd was that it got repetetive around the middle. You listen to it in awe for about 15 minutes then move into the next song to realize that, surprise surprise, its intense heavy metal.(!) The guys in Norma Jean must have realized this so they decided to put a 15 minute track called "Pretty Soon I Don't Know What But Something Is Going To Happen" right in the middle. It is different and it is a refreshing change but It doesn't seem to be enough.
The real highlights of this album are the now semi-famous "Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste" and the thin almost buzzing sound of "Sometimes It's Our Mistakes That Make For The Greatest Ideas." After this last song the album starts to pick up again, finally ending on a high note with "Organized Beyond Recognition."
PROS- Brutal
Intensely heavy
Decent Vocals
Cons- some songs get repetitive after a while.
