Norma Jean (band)
| Norma Jean | |
|---|---|
 Norma Jean live |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Douglasville , Georgia , United States |
| Genre (s) | Metalcore , Mathcore |
| founding | 1997 |
| Website | normajeannoise.com |
| Founding members | |
| Josh Scogin (until 2002) | |
| Scottie Henry | |
guitar |
Chris Derr Day |
| Joshua Doolittle (until 2002) | |
| Mick Bailey (until 2002) | |
| Daniel Davison | |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Cory Brandan Putman (since 2004) |
guitar |
Scottie Henry |
guitar |
Chris Derr Day |
bass |
Jake Schultz (since 2002) |
Drums |
Chris Raines (since 2008) |
| former members | |
singing |
Brad Norris (2002-2004) |
Norma Jean is an American band that is often assigned to the Christian metalcore or mathcore scene. The band members come from Douglasville , a suburb of Atlanta in the state of Georgia .
Band history
The band, founded in 1997, was originally named "Luti-Kriss" and released the EP 5ep under this name in 2000 , followed a year later by the full album Throwing Myself . Shortly afterwards, the band members renamed the band to “Norma Jean” in order to avoid confusion with the rapper Ludacris , who had meanwhile become famous for his explicit lyrics and who happened to also be from the Atlanta area .
After a large number of concerts, including Blindside , POD and Living Sacrifice , the band released the live recorded Bless in 2002 on the music label Solid State Records, which specializes in Christian metal bands (including Underoath , Demon Hunter , Becoming the Archetype and Beloved ) The Martyr And Kiss The Child their first "Norma Jean" album, which has sold almost 60,000 times to date. While previously, musically, Nu-Metal groups like Limp Bizkit , (hed) p. e. , Methods of Mayhem or Korn , the album was now characterized by hard breakdowns , as they are common in Metalcore , and in particular a brutal roaring vocals and monotonous repetitions. Melodies can only be found subliminally on the album, music critics often made comparisons with pioneers of the scene such as Coalesce , old Zao or Converge .
In the text, there are often metaphors that can be freely interpreted, but there are also occasional concrete Christian and biblical topics dealt with. In the only 90-second song The Shotgun Message there is a passage which quite clearly Jesus the words "Staring at the world through the hole you put in my hand - That was caused by a blade you gently inserted - I did this for you - Stop searching and find me ”puts in your mouth.
At the “Furnace Fest 2002” festival, shortly after the recordings and before the release of Bless The Martyr And Kiss The Child , singer Josh Scogin left the band and a little later founded the Christian metalcore band The Chariot . As the reason for the surprising exit, the singer stated that he had received signs "from above" that it was time for something new. Norma Jean found a replacement in Cory Brandan Putman (Ex- Eso-Charis and Ex- Living Sacrifice ). Jake Schultz joined the band for Joshua Doolittle, who had also left.
After countless concerts, which had given Norma Jean a reputation as a very good live band , the second album O 'God, The Aftermath, produced by Matt Bayles (including Isis , Mastodon ) was released three years later . It shows more Mathcore elements - such as B. becomes clear in the song Murderotica - and in phases it is clearly reminiscent of Botch , one of the favorite bands of all Norma Jean members. In doing so, the band did not follow the metalcore hype that had arisen in the meantime , but rather approached groups like The Dillinger Escape Plan or Will Haven , which operate further apart from the mainstream and hardly a mass audience , with dissonant borrowings and sometimes complicated polyrhythmic sequences ("Dilemmachine") able to achieve. Surprisingly, in addition to the aggressive, 10-minute “Disconnecktie”, the album also features melodic, clean vocal parts for the first time (see first single Bayonetwork ).
The steadily increasing popularity of the band could be seen particularly well in the following worldwide concert tours, so to this day Norma Jean toured with almost all major US bands from the extended hardcore area such as Converge , As I Lay Dying , Eighteen Visions , Atreyu , Every Time I Die , Unearth or Bleeding Through .
In March 2006 a re-release of O 'God, The Aftermath was released with an expanded and revised artwork , an additional DVD and two bonus tracks, including “ShaunLuu”, which was already featured on the Masters Of Horror soundtrack.
From June to August 2006, the group toured across the USA as one of the headliners of Ozzfest - one of the largest metal festivals in the world - and also played with bands from other musical spectrums such as Ozzy Osbourne , System of a Down , Disturbed , Strapping Young Lad or Black Label Society in front of an extremely large audience.
On September 12, 2006, Redeemer was the third full album released under the name Norma Jean . It reached number 38 in the US Billboard Charts , making it the band's most commercially successful work to date. As the producer of the eleven new, sometimes unusually melodic songs recorded at Radiostar Studios, Ross Robinson ( At the Drive-In , Glassjaw , Deftones ), the first two singles were Blueprints For Future Homes and Songs Sound Much Sadder .
After an extensive tour across the United States, a headliner tour across Europe , Japan and Australia followed for the first time .
In late September 2007 founding member and drummer Davison announced that he would be leaving the band in November of the same year. His personal understanding of the band as a Christian missionary activity can no longer be reconciled with the current status of the band's efforts. Davison was replaced by Chris Raines, who previously worked for Spitfire and was a long-time friend of the band.
Trivia
- There are a number of examples that the band members share an extraordinary sense of humor. The best known is probably the joint decision to have a "BBQ" with an arrow pointing towards the throat tattooed on the inside of the lower lips to express their enthusiasm for barbecue . The band's record company took up this and organized a competition in which participants could win an annual ration of a specially created Norma-Jean barbeque sauce.
- As the individual song titles of O 'God, The Aftermath each have a longer subtitle, the official long version of the release is O' God, The Aftermath: The Marvelous End of the Exhausted Contender .
Awards
In 2006, Norma Jean's O 'God, The Aftermath was nominated for a Grammy in the “Best Recording Package” category. Ryan Clark was responsible and executive art director .
Discography
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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- 1999: Luti-Kriss / Travail Split CD (as Luti-Kriss , Pluto Records)
- 2000: 5ep (as Luti-Kriss , Pluto Records)
- 2001: Throwing Myself (as Luti-Kriss , Solid State Records)
- 2002: Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child (Solid State Records)
- 2002: Norma Jean / mewithoutYou ( EP , Solid State Records / Tooth & Nail Records )
- 2005: ShaunLuu on Masters of Horror OST (Compilation)
- 2005: O 'God, the Aftermath (Solid State Records)
- 2006: O 'God, the Aftermath - Deluxe Edition (with bonus song and DVD, Solid State Records)
- 2006: Redeemer (Solid State Records / Century Media)
- 2008: The Anti Mother (Solid State Records)
- 2008: The Almighty Norma Jean Vinyl Boxset (Compilation)
- 2010: Birds and Microscopes and Bottles of Elixirs and Raw Steak and a Bunch of Songs (Compilation)
- 2010: Meridional (Razor & Tie Records)
- 2013: Wrongdoers (Razor & Tie Records)
- 2016: Polar Similar (Solid State Records)
- 2019: All Hail (Solid State Records)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Norma Jean drummer quitting band . lambgoat.com, September 23, 2007
- ↑ List of nominations for the 48th Grammy Awards
- ↑ Norma Jean in the US album charts