Review Summary: Norma Jean shows their melodic side and their new album; The Anti Mother.
The Norma Jean line-up at the time of this review:
- Cory Brandan - Vocals/Guitars
- Scottie Henry - Guitars
- Jake Schultz - Bass
- Chris Day - Guitars
- Chris Raines - Drums
Norma Jean; a band known best for creating heavy, creative, and purely chaotic music have changed their tune (lame pun) on their fourth studio release,
The Anti Mother. They decided to show their melodic side, as well as retaining the heaviness we all know and love. Does this work well you ask? The answer is quite well actually.
Norma jean has completely unleashed a sound only hinted at on previous releases. They show the ability to write ear-splittingly heavy songs, completely catchy, almost radio-friendly ones, and even do both simultaneously in the same song. It is this variation that makes
The Anti Mother such a great album.
A subject brought up often when talking about
The Anti Mother is that Cory Brandan actually… sings… a lot. Is this a good thing? In my eyes: yes, although a lot of people would probably disagree. Brandan has been getting a lot of criticism about his clean vocals, people saying he sucks basically. I fully disagree. His voice is perfect for the type of music he is singing, and really adds something that I always though was missing from previous Norma Jean efforts. As far as his screaming goes, he seems to get better with each release, from his high-pitch screams, to his lower growls, it is all quite stunning. Brandan puts on an overall great vocal performance on
The Anti Mother, one that is by far his best yet.
Instrumentally, the band has progressed (for the better) yet again. The afore mentioned ability to create heavy, yet catchy songs applies to the rest of the band as well, Scottie Henry and Chris Day on the guitars could be playing chaotic guitar riffs, and the bass and drums complementing them in songs such as the opening track
“Vipers, Snakes, and Actors”, or amazingly catchy guitar riffs in songs such as the second track on the album,
“Self-Employed Chemist”. They merge the two sounds flawlessly.
One of the main marketing ploys for
The Anti Mother was that there was going to be guest vocalists, and to quote the band, "We are not just doing "guest vocal" spots for them either... every band does that... we are going to write songs with them." There are three guest vocalist/writers total: Chino Marino of The Deftones, Cove Reber of Saosin, and Page Hamilton of Helmet. The guests are most heavily used in the songs
“Surrender Your Sons…” (Chino Marino and Cove Reber) and
“The Opposite of Left and Wrong” (Page Hamilton), these two songs are two of the highlights from the album.
Overall, Norma Jean has created an exceptional, diverse album that will have you hooked from the opening
“Vipers, Snakes, and Actors” till the closer, and one of my personal favorites off the album
“And there Will Be a Swarm of Hornets”. However, even with the high praise I have given this album, I did not give it a 5 because I still think Norma Jean has the talent to create an even better album, and I look forward to hearing that album sometime in the future.
Pros:
+ Great fuse of two sounds
+ Great Vocals
+ Overall Great Instrumentation
+ Very Diverse
Cons:
- Norma Jean has the capability to do better
Recommended Tracks:
- Death of the Anti Mother (Track 5)
- Surrender Your Sons... (Track 6)
- The Opposite of Left and Wrong (Track 8)
- And there Will Be a Swarm of Hornets (Track 10)
