Review by JD on October 10, 2010.

Christian Metal/Rock I have a love and extreme hate thing for it. It can be incredible or simply a vehicle to whine and see condescending as well. I am a Christian and proud of it, but hate forcing my beliefs onto others. With that said, may I introduce Norma Jean.

This Atlanta based Christian Metalcore outfit have been making inroads into the world of secular music for awhile now, sharing the stage with many of today’s finer acts. They have been spoken about as some of the best out there in more extreme commercial end of things. My take on what this band is pretty much summed up simply... and I want to be clear. NO!

With the barest of idea for melody, the band relies on the furiousness of this new breed of Metal/Mathcore acts. They seem to never have a good sense of melody to anything they do, varying little in that department throughout the thirteen songs. They are great lyricists, tending not to bowl you over withy the religious side of things. But it is musically that I would rather listen to a blender full of cats and tin cans. They remind me of Alexonfire and others like that. NJ have all fire, yet no real musicality.

If they would scrap the whole Scream/Metalcore thing and get down to focus on writing some strong melodies and get some decently delivered vocals I can see the band garnering a wider and much more effective audience to spread their word. As it is now, this limits them to being pointless at best.

Hate me for this I don’t care! I find Norma Jean truly is a waste of quality studio time. I must have to admit that they are big and getting bigger, but I am only speaking for my views. This album was bad... real frigging’ bad. Its so sad... they seem to have some talent hidden somewhere, but they never seem to use it.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 5
Production: 7
Originality: 5
Overall: 5

Rating: 5.8 out of 10