Norma Jean - Deathrattle Sing For Me (August 12, 2022) Album • Page 5

I was thinking about it and while Converge comes to mind, I can't think of many more names. Heaven Shall Burn are still kicking but I've never really listened to them. Misery Signals seem to be active but they don't release music at a regular pace anymore. I guess there's As I Lay Dying as well which... ugh.

I'm craving a new Darkest Hour album, and Zao's last couple ones were excellent too.

edit: Just remembered about Unearth

 

This might be up there with my favorite NJ albums. It has everything I want from them: Moments of overwhelming heaviness, sections of breakneck chaos, dirty southern metal riffs, grungy melodies, and a little bit of sludge sprinkled on top. I feel like nearly every risk they took on here paid off.

 

Zao are a good one, everyone digging this should check out The Crimson Corridor, some of their best stuff in years.

Also from the same era as Norma Jean, Becoming the Archetype are back together and their new stuff sounds great.

 

Yeah Darkest Hour needs to get it together and get album 10 out there

 

Aria Obscura is so good

 

This new “glitched scream/growl” (I’m calling it) is fucking badass.

 

Geez… this record is so good. It’s easily one of their best IMO

 

Honestly? One of their best songs of the last 10 years. Blew me away the first time I heard it.

 

I have not checked out a Norma Jean album in a long time. How would people rank their discography?

 

For me it’s:
Wrongdoers
Redeemer
Occidental
All Hail
BTMKTC
Polar Similar
The Anti Mother
OGTA

Not ready to rank the new one but it’s probably towards the high middle currently

 

Personally, Wrongdoers was the one that really clinched their post- Bless The Martyr sound for me. O God is cool but such an anomaly in that they seemed to be just doing NJ songs through a Botch filter. Most here would probably put All Hail high up. There’s quality on all their stuff but The Anti-Mother would probably rank lower comparatively

 

The best part about O God is it’s Botch vibes, but Botch is obviously superior so I don’t reach for it often

 

Thirding Wrongdoers as the top

 

Wrongdoers is easily the winner for me and Funeral Singer is their best song

 

I’m having a really hard time ranking their discography

 

My rankings change on the reg, their whole discography is pretty solid

 

Wrongdoers
Polar
Meridional
All Hail
Redeemer
Bless the Martyr
O God
Anti Mother

 

Redeemer/Wrongdoers go back and forth at the top
Meriodonal is super heavy on the melodic side of things, which i’ve always enjoyed.

 

Redeemer
All Hail
Wrongdoers
O' God The Aftermath
Bless The Martyr
Polar Similar
The Anti Mother
Meridional

Despite ranking it low, I actually love The Anti Mother. There may be nostalgia at play because it was my first Norma Jean album, same with Redeemer. Meridional is the only one I'm "meh" on. I've found it to be disappointing when it came out, and that hasn't changed. The guitar work felt stale, like they wanted to go back to a heavier and more dissonant sound following The Anti Mother but weren't fully commiting to it, making that album a total blur to me at times. They really sounded rejuvenated on Wrongdoers and the quality has remained consistent since.

I don't know where Deathrattle sits yet. It's great but it's also modern Norma Jean slightly refining what they've been doing for the past decade, so it doesn't benefit from the surprise factor its predecessors had. It'll probably end up in the middle.

I had O' God at the bottom for a very long time as well. It's only in recent years it has suddenly grown on me. I don't care about the Botch rip off criticism anymore and I've been able to move past my gripes with it (flat production, monotone and buried vocals, barely audible bass) since. It's such a blast front to back, though I do sometimes wonder what it would sound like with the type of production they have now.

 

Meridional
Wrongdoers
Polar Similar
Death rattle
The anti mother
All Hail
Redeemer
O God
Bless the Martyr

Their last 5/6 albums for me have basically been untouchable. Meridional basically has it all imo, followed closely by Wrongdoers and Polar Similar. I could definitely see Death rattle moving up to over take Polar for me though.

 

Meridional used to be my go to Norma Jean album, but over time I've kind of grown sour on it (similar to how I did with Underoath's TOCS). I do still listen occasionally, but when I do - I immediately miss the harder NJ material.

 

Anthem of the Angry Brides though. I still remember hearing that song for the first time and being floored

 

I really need to do a discog run. They fell totally off my radar after Anti Mother and I really haven’t given Meridional or Wrongdoers a fair shot. Need to change that soon based on y’all’s rankings. Currently Redeemer and All Hail would be top two for me, with the new one (not enough time to really digest), O’ God, and Polar Similar being the next tier down.

 

Meridional has some all-timers and some skips. Anthem, Atheist, Falling From the Sky and Distance to Planets are my go-tos. Media-Friendly and People are some of their catchiest softer stuff too

 

I would be so interested in this type of project. Re-record those songs now with the current lineup and production and release it as a remaster.