2007-01-31
Chaos, utter chaos from start to finish – that's what you'll find in Norma Jean's "Redeemer". Undisputed force or just suburb boredom a-la-"let's take a baseball bat and go trash some mailboxes" or better yet "let's break out the shotguns, we're going to town" (from opener "A Grand Scene For A Color Film") – that's for you to decide. After a highly appreciated debut ("Bless the martyr and kiss the child") under the name Norma Jean (the band was formally known as Luti-Kriss, and released one full-length under that name) and somewhat of a letdown, at least for the older fans, on the next full-length "O' God, the aftermath", it seems like "Redeemer" is this Christian-core band's Easter.
From the get-go the most evident improvement from "O' God…" are vocalist Cory Brandan's harsher screams; opener "A Grand Scene For A Color Film" starts blasting away without warning, while follower "Blueprints for future homes" is equally as dissonant, but has the addition of some minor guitar melodies infused in all the mess. From this moment on Norma Jean hardly takes any rest, other than with the mellower tunes (swelling guitar strums, tribal drums) featured in "A small spark VS. A great forest" – one of the highlights here due to its emphasis on Cory's screams ("Fight fair! Fight fair! Fight fair!").
Soon after, a quick jab in the face with "A Temperamental Widower", that's closer to their hardcore roots, and a sucker-punch right in the kidneys from the lengthy "The End Of All Things Will Be Televised" create a perfect moshing basis; elbows and knees will also fly around on "The Longest Lasting Statement", which could have easily served as an overloaded with feedback opener.
More grooves arrive with "Amnesty Please" while "Like Swimming Circles" is a more generic song, with some suitable clean vocal parts and breakdowns.
The next two tracks, "Cemetery Like A Stage" and "No Passenger: No Parasite", are rather unique; the former is bluntly added with various effect and noises which make it quite massive, and the apocalyptic latter, closing the album, has a repetitive form in both lyrics ("Wake up/ no passenger/ no parasite") and music, slowly building up to a strong finish.
Working with producer Ross Robinson, who's known mostly for his work with nu-metal bands (such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, Snot and Slipknot), quite surprisingly didn't soften Norma Jean's sounds whatsoever – on the contrary – Robinson decided to give 'em distorted guitars like rusty blades, an upfront position to Cory Brandan's voice, sharp drums, and basses that could cause fibrillation to your ribcage. One can actually visualize the moshing.
"Redeemer" actually sounds like a hybrid of both "Bless the martyr…" and "O' God…", meaning the Botch influences are still there, but so are influences from Converge, Zao and even The Dillinger Escape Plan. This hybrid of distortion dissonance, brute hardcore force, math sophistication, minor melodies between the lines and some melodic choruses (not in an emo manner whatsoever, in case you thought about microwaving this album) all highlight Norma Jean as one of the best contemporary core bands out there. Mosh on, hallelujah!
Ofer Vayner
