Norma Jean and I have always had a bittersweet relationship. On one hand, I cannot deny the chaotic intensity of their debut album, Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child. Listening to that album's sheer fury, embodied in its ultra-raw production, makes for an enjoyable lesson on Norma Jean's brand of dissonance and aggression. However, I cannot ignore their blatant, unashamed mimicry of one of my favorite bands: the legendary mathcore outfit Botch. And that is where their third release, Redeemer, "redeemed" (no pun intended) the band for me. Redeemer marked Norma Jean's first real foray into unknown territory, and saw the development of a style that was, at least somewhat, Norma Jean's own. The sad reality for their latest studio effort, The Anti Mother, is that it is basically a weaker sequel to Redeemer and fails to stand out as anything other than below average, especially when compared to Norma Jean's previous work.

One of the primary failings of the The Anti Mother is that the album in its entirety seems dumbed down and is filled with compromises. Most of the tracks feature a more straightforward rhythmic structure and random, poorly timed and even more poorly done ethereal parts ("Vipers, Snakes, and Actors", which sounds like nothing more than a remake of the first track off of Redeemer, "A Grand Scene for a Color Film"). Guitarists Scottie Day and Chris Henry seem to have run out of ideas in their chord progressions, throwing in less dissonance, rehashing old ideas, and have ended up somewhere in an awkward limbo of boring melody and repetitive, unimaginative rhythms ("Murphy Was An Optimist") that fail to impress overall.



All of that being said, The Anti Mother is not completely without merit. The album does include some decent, memorable parts, such as the anthemic, driving chorus of "Robots 3, Humans 0", or the gritty doom-metal rapport of "Death of the Anti Mother". Guest vocalists Chino Moreno and Cove Reber (of Deftones and Saosin infamy) team up to deliver an angst-ridden effort to another highlight of the album, "Surrender Your Sons…". However, Moreno and Reber's presence is all too small of a contrast to what is perhaps the most dismal part of the whole album: vocalist Cory Brandan's performance. While his screaming remains decent, his clean singing (which is even more prevalent on this release) is sub-par at best. Most of his vocals lack direction, are riddled with intonation issues, and have a distinct thin whine that ranges from mildly annoying to downright horrid ("Self Employed Chemist"). 


The trend that plagues The Anti Mother throughout is that the few redeeming parts Norma Jean managed to write are surrounded by sections of resounding mediocrity. Even worse is that most of these parts coincide within the same song, leaving few tracks that could be viewed as complete or 100% solid. From the "chorus" in "Birth of the Anti Mother" that sounds like a sample taken from an Avril Lavigne record, to guest vocalist Page Hamilton (of Helmet) presenting a laughably awful, out-of-place performance on "Opposite of Left and Wrong", The Anti Mother is simply a disappointment from a band that seemed to have taken a step in the right direction with their last album. One can only hope that Norma Jean will not try and fail again with their next release.


 

Overall Rating: 3.5/10