Norma Jean Band • Page 6

Gonna go through a NJ run and post my rankings at the end for fun. I thought about skipping O God, but what the heck I'll give it another go.

I played Bless the Martyr today and I'm ashamed to say it wasn't until two years ago that I heard it for the first time. I truly got into NJ around 2011 with Meridional, but never went back to hear them with Josh. Which is weird to me since I loved The Chariot, but oh well. I've only heard the record a couple of times, but it has aged very well imo. I'm shocked this came out in 2002 and sounds the way it does. This has to be a classic. It's even an hour long and doesn't drag, really really good record. I always forget how much I enjoy this.

 

It's such a good record. Love the sound and the lyrics.

 

Definitely it still sounds fresh. I can't understand him at all on this album though haha. Just a phrase here or there

 

O God has it's moments, but man I dislike Cory's vocals so much. Least fav by far

 

WALKING TO WALL STREET IN A STRAIGHT JACKET

Also Aaron Weiss' cameo has to be one of my fav Norma Jean moments.

 

His appearance is wonderful, but at first I thought it was the guy from the Listener. Then google told me it was Aaron and I was like yeah that makes more sense haha

 

Dang Chris Raines really stepped up his game in Meridional.

 

How in the world did NJ bump their heaviness in Wrongdoers? Love this album. What an incredible follow up to Meridional. The ending with just the instrumentals hacking away is perfect.

 

I think I've come to the point that Wrongdoers is my favorite from them, but they really stepped up their game from Meridional on. And I still think their older stuff is great too.

 

i think anti-mother and meridional are my top 2. outside of a few songs i haven't listened to wrongdoers as much as i should have. for what it's worth its my favorite album cover of theirs haha

 

For me:
Bless The Martyr > Wrongdoers > Redeemer > O'God > Anti-Mother > Meridional

I don't like Meridional very much at all, even less than the Anti-Mother. Musically its probably one of the best, I just never listen to it.

 

Where Polar Similar at?

 

Need to give it a much longer time to sit. It’s probably between Redeemer and O’ God now. It’s a good record, and I like a lot of the sounds going on, it’s just missing the punch and urgency of their earlier work.

 

I still need to listen to PS to finish my discography run, but from what I remember PS stands in the middle for me too. Meridional is probably my fav though haha, at least a top two.

 

Damn, I forgot about PS. It’s somewhere in the top 2-3 for me. Earlier I would’ve said it’s 1 but I’ve cooled on it a tad. That said, the close and discontent is prob a top 3-5 NJ song for me.

 

PS is like top 2-3 for me as well, super super great.

 

having not listened to these guys in a while, I’d probably go
Wrongdoers
Redeemer
Meridional
Polar Similar
O God
Bless the Martyr
Anti-Mother

 

Your ranking is gonna look somewhat similar to mine. You should give them a listen! It's been a lot of fun for me.

 

Wrongdoers
Meridional
Polar Similar
Redeemer

I don't like the others really so they're pretty interchangeable

 

You don't like Bless The Martyr?

 

Nah, never could get into that one. Didn't really get the NJ hype until Redeemer came out

 

Ah gotcha. I think BTM is it's own beast, but yeah O God is not for me. They really found their groove with Cory on Redeemer

 

Yeah Bless The Martyr is probably the best album under the Norma Jean moniker. However, I kind of view the band differently after that album. So it’s hard to include it on the same list.

 

DON'T BRING ME INTO THIS

Love this song

 

Alright I finally finished my discography run. Time to rank!

Meridional > Wrongdoers > Redeemer > Polar Similar > Anti-Mother >>> O God

Meridional and Wrongdoers are pretty neck and neck, but Meridional was my intro to them, so I think that gives it an extra push. PS is in the middle, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I remember. Almost beat out Redeemer, but I think that has more highlights. Really from PS onward they're all fantastic. I'm pretty amazed despite member changes they've been able to stay so consistent. Wrongdoers had a new bassist and drummer and it turned out to be one of their best. I'm excited to see what they do next with new members again!

I love Bless the Martyr, but I basically see it as a different band, so I didn't include it in the rank.

Overall stellar band and are killer live!