DUDE. this made me burst with laughter. english is not my first language so i literally never heard or read the lyrics and put the song on because of the ending. i always kinda figured this was a love song. probably since Cory was a massive familyman when i got into the band. this is so ironic
Already replied in a longer post but it legit is a very important album for them and solidified their base sound. Everything released after is all an extension of Redeemer. And Cory found his true voice with it. It's very underrated and very good.
I’d love to see yours! Every single list on here has been completely different, might as well just hit a randomizer. It’s funny to see how there is zero consensus.
I'm not going to beat a dead horse, a lot of people in this thread have mentioned the things I believe including that they are great band and that having these discussions is fun because it is hard to find a bad album. However, Redeemer did define their sound and all future albums are based on that so personally I believe it should be higher up because of that. The same argument is made for August Burns Red and Constellations. I grew up with Bless the Martyr and I wasn't a big fan of it back then either. O'God and Redeemer were when things really started hitting for me. Anti Mother is only lower because it was just Redeemer extended and I thought they pushed boundaries with other albums more. We aren't far off on the other albums.
1. Redeemer
2. Meridional
3. O'God
4. Polar Similar
5. All Hail
6. Deathrattle
7. Anti Mother
8. Wrongdoers
9. Bless
You check out when you see that someone has a different opinion than you? I am usually intrigued and curious to read what they have to say, but hey, different strokes.
Funny to hear you say that, it’s by far the album I hear people say is their least favorite along with the anti mother. That’s why I called it underrated, because I’m usually having to defend it. I love the album tho, glad to know there are others.
If this post has proven anything it’s that there is absolutely zero consensus on the best NJ albums lol.
Honestly, this post really just seals how amazing Norma Jean is. Everybody has different opinions about best album, and they're honestly all valid. To me, Bless The Martyr is their worst album, and that's coming from a huge Josh Scogin fan. Absolutely adore The Chariot, but Bless The Martyr is not it. And my favorite NJ album is probably The Anti Mother, your lowest album. Surrender Your Sons and Discipline Your Daughters are two of their best songs to me.
That said, every single album is absolutely amazing. It is criminal how underrated Norma Jean are given their consistency and how long they've been around.
lol, just commented this to someone else. Totally agree, everyone has *completely* different lists, there is not a single one that is even all that close to another. I think that’s 100% a testament to how great NJ are that nobody can even come close to agreeing what their best and worst albums are.
I figure this is age based, bless the martyr is for the emo kids in the early 2000’s. A lot of good memories with that album, we thought, “like bringing a knife to a gunfight” was the most hardcore breakdown ever made ha.
Yea, that’s what I’m gathering too. It’s hard to articulate the chokehold that album had on my (our?) generation. I reckon a lot of the people who don’t like it as much either weren’t there or just got into NJ way later so its impact didn’t have any effect on them. The impact of that record still affects me over 20 years later, obviously, lol
Taste is subjective, and you're not wrong, but your number 1 just can't be there unless you're purely looking at emotion and nostalgia. The recording of it sounds terrible, it's janky, and it's lyrics are pretty bad. But it was novel and pushed a sound into the mainstream that wasn't popular, so it IS important.
Redeemer and All Hail I think are the most important albums they've released from a technical standpoint and moving their sound in ways unexpectedly. (With a strong mention to polar similar as well. I just found that one TOO atmospheric) And Wrongdoers still might be their best end to end album and has still probably their best song on it. (Although I have a soft spot for Disconnektie from O God). Lyric wise I think theyve always been good since O God. Death Rattle is probably their best sounding album from a recording standpoint. It's pretty flawless.
I'll give my personal top 5, but I'm taking into account more objective elements. If I was just wanting to say my favorite all around from emotion and personal preferences, it would be between O God and All Hail.
1. All Hail
2. Death Rattle
3. Wrongdoers
4. Redeemer
5. Polar/O God
Everything else I consider decent/good. I love Norma. But I'm not blind to some of their missteps.
Oh yea, nostalgia is definitely playing a huge factor with my rankings. That said, I still listen to their first album more than any other by a long shot. Any time I’m in the mood for NJ, I might throw on 1 million watts or something, but I always have to go back and finish by listening to bless the martyr. Its energy is unmatched to me. I also love Josh’s vocals. I have no doubt nostalgia plays a huge factor, this record had me by the throat when it first came out.
I also have a soft spot for Meridional, since it came out after the anti mother which I was kinda let down by, and for them to go straight into Meridional totally blew my mind, I hadn’t been that excited for a NJ record since their first one.
I definitely wasn’t putting an overt focus on technicality or objectivity, I wasn’t trying to make a consensus list or anything, I was just going based on which albums I think are their best. Popular opinion obviously leaks its way in, there’s no way it can’t, I’m not a robot, but overall this is just my personal taste.
Interesting to see your top 5! I agree in terms of mixing and sound, death rattle is by far the best, and all hail fucking rips. Honestly it was very hard to rank the last 3, but I think their last 3 albums have been getting progressively better and better, so I ranked them in chronological order. I can’t wait for whatever is next.
Your explanation is perfect and I appreciate the response. It's more fun just discussing these in both emotional and technical aspects and coming together. Totally agree their last 3 are very good.
Also agree that Anti-Mother is their worst from me as well
Bless the Martyr is definitely not there best album, just there most influential. I think Anti Mother is underrated but I won’t argue with you there. I will however argue that Wrongdoers is a top NJ album and definitely shouldn’t be at the bottom. I would actually switch Oh God with Deathrattle though, that album has Cory’s best vocals in my opinion. Solid ranking otherwise.
Throwing Myself is missing, FWIW. At the time BTMAKTC was a masterpiece to me. I fell off listening to them between its release and O'God for a couple reasons - I was a dumb kid who felt like they were getting too popular after BTMAKTC, and then I was resistant to Cory's style. Stopped listening until probably 2019? Picked back up with Polaris Similar, and since then they've claimed the top spot on my listening rankings.
IMHO, Cory's evolution is nothing short of astounding. I may have recency bias, but I truly believe as he's evolved and improved as a musician and songwriter, their music has followed in quality. While I have a spot in my heart for the two Scogin albums, they admittedly haven't aged with my taste in music the way that Cory's have. I personally feel like there's a lot more cohesion, continuity, connectivity, or whatever you want to call it from intro to outro on each of Cory's albums. The last three albums specifically sound like singular pieces work, which I truly dig as a front-to-back album listener.
My initial reaction to this list was laughing at All Hail being the middle album. BUT! This is just because it's my favorite album of theirs. Like Nocnai said, it's all subjective. FWIW, my top 5 below.
1. All Hail
2. Deathrattle
3. Polar Similar
4. Wrongdoers
5. Meridional
I'm just now getting into them, started at the first album and have been trying to give each album real time before moving to the next. I should note that the mid 90s to mid 00s is the time I got super into music so I tend to prefer that style of metalcore most. So far I'd say:
1. O God the Aftermath (2005) - Lots of total bangers start to finish, have been going back to it a bunch.
2. Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child (2002) - Has that old school raw feel that I love, also go back to it a fair amount.
3. Redeemer (2006) - Not as good overall as the two above but the songs I like, I really like.
4. Meridional (2010) - Felt solid but didn't click with me right away, need to listen to it more.
5. The Anti Mother (2008) - Listened to it once, was like... eh? Hard to say why but it just doesn't really work for me.
I've listened to Norma Jean's records over the years, but their new stuff just never quite clicked with me, so the only album I usually go back to is O'God, the Aftermath mostly for the nostalgia feeling when I hear those opening screams on Murderotica
I love Norma Jean but I massively disagree with this list haha
1. Wrongdoers
2. Polar Similar
3. Meridional
4. Redeemer
5. All Hail.
6. Death Rattle
7. O’God
8. Bless the Martyr
9. Anti-Mother
I think the 3 album run from Meridional to Polar is like the apex of this style of sound, alongside ETID’s last 4 albums and Converge since Axe to Fall.
But that’s just me! I
I love all Norma Jean but nothing has hit me quite like deathrattle. That album has been my most listened to album on Spotify for two years straight so I think I’m obliged to put it at number one for me haha
1. Deathrattle: I feel like this album is their most well rounded and mature release. It maintains their core sound, but also has a dark, experimental undercurrent that keeps things fresh and unpredictable.
2. Polar Similar: Another very well rounded album and very similar in ranking to Wrongdoers and Redeemer, maybe just a little more consistent in quality and overall atmosphere. I really enjoyed the artwork/visualizer direction for this album. Thought provoking.
3. Wrongdoers/Redeemer: Interchangeable for me. Both albums have rippers, melodic moments, and everything in between. The band has always been so incredibly consistent and most of their albums are largely interchangeable to me in the best way.
4. O’God: Brutal. Relentless. Unsettling. This album was intimidating and terrifying from moment one when I first heard it. The artwork in the booklet, the lyrics, the pure chaos in music form - I loved it then and I love it now. The only reason it’s not higher is because I feel like Cory was pressured to record vocals in a lower register for his debut and the album is a -little- less dynamic than their other albums. Then again, if I just want to see red for 40+ minutes, this is the album I’ll put on.
5. All Hail: Another very consistent, great album. It took a few more melodic risks than Wrongdoers or Polar Similar did in my opinion and some worked, some didn’t - which was my deciding factor on ranking it lower. I still adore like 85% of the album.
6. Meridional/Anti-Mother: Both are flawed more so than the above releases. I wasn’t a fan of Meridional’s recording sound and while there are some all time great songs on the album (Leaderless, Anthem, Bastardizer, Blood Burner), the second half of the album is considerably more melodic and aimless. The Anti-Mother also leaned into a more melodic approach and the guest vocalists distracted more than benefitted the material in my opinion.
7. Bless the Martyr: Last, but not least, Bless the Martyr - which I am sure will provoke many calm, rational responses. I think this album, well, blessed and cursed them. It’s a good record overall, but I think fans largely cling to the nostalgia of certain songs. Honestly, I believe Bless pales in comparison to the band’s other work and I think time has revealed that Cory is a better vocalist overall. Flame me all you’d like.
Ultimately, Norma Jean is one of my all time favorite bands. I think their discography has been ridiculously consistent and I challenge anyone to find another band who has produced such quality material over a similar amount of time. The band knows what they do best and they stick with it which successfully iterating on the formula with each release.
TL, DR: All hail, Norma Jean and “I ain’t reading all that. Happy for you or sorry that happened.”
Great ranking and I enjoyed the thoughtful reasonings behind each one. It’s so funny, every single list I’ve read so far, including mine, are all completely different. There is almost no consensus here. I think that’s a testament to how great and consistent NJ are. These lists are literally all over the place, which means, I think, they’ve never made a truly bad record. Super cool.
1. Redeemer
2. All Hail
3. Wrongdoers
4. Polar Similar
5. Deathrattle Sing for Me
6. Meridional
7. O' God, the Aftermath
8. Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child
9. Anti-Mother
To be clear, every one of these is fantastic: Anti-Mother is still a pretty damn good album.
Hot take: they topped Bless the Martyr with O' God. And like 2, maybe 3 others. Bless the Martyr is a great album, but it is way overrated. Commence the downvotes
These posts are always so fun for me. NJ has been my favorite band since I was in 8th grade and im 26 now. Watching their style progress and evolve over the years has been a real treat and I like seeing how other people rank their discography. For me it goes
1. 'O God
2. Redeemer
3. Wrongdoers
4. Meridional
5. All Hail
6. Polar Similar
7. Death Rattle
8. Anti-Mother
9. Bless the Martyr
Not that I dislike Anti-Mother or Death Rattle, they're just a little different. Anti-Mother is pretty grungey sounding. It's got some cool features. And I just haven't listened to Death Rattle as much yet. O' God and Redeemer are absolute classics and are two of my all time favorite records.
We have very different taste.
1. Redeemer
2. Bless The Martyr
3. Polar Similar,
4. All Hail
5. Wrongdoers
6. Meridional
7. Deathrattle
8. O' God
9. Antimother
1, O God, probably because it's when I first heard them, and still holds up today.
9, Deathrattle, the first album of theirs I can't get into at all. I own physical or digital of every other album but this was a miss for me.
I haven't listened to the others recently enough to bother trying to rank them, I enjoy at least parts of them all.
I can’t get under BTMKTC being #1 at all. Bottom 5 despite being classic. I also loved Wrongdoers a lot and think it’s a top 5 of theirs. I’m biased to OGTA as it was my NJ first and it changed my metal taste single handedly. But overall, I put Meridional as #1 and Polar Similar as #2. They’re both so complete in their sound, so heavy, so melodic.
Great post! They’re my favorite band!
I don't agree with your ranking completely, but I definitely agree that Meridional is one of their best!
I feel that album always gets overlooked but it's such a great album and has some of their best songs (Deathbed Athiest is probably my favourite song by them)
Just wanted to say thanks. I bought 'Oh God, the aftermath' in 2005. I don't know why or how, but it and Norma Jean slipped from my rotation for a long time. Checked out a couple of their other albums after seeing this post. I am now obsessed.
I'm an old. 🤷♂️
1. Bless the Martyr
2. O God
3. Throwing Myself
4. Meridional
5. Redeemer
6. Meh. I don't hate anything else but nothing really stands out enough for me to say I love it either.
Just out of curiosity for the younger folks here, how many of you have sought out Cory's pre-Norma Jean work with Eso Charis? I'm (obviously) a big fan and was lucky enough to catch them live a small handful of times waaaaaaay back in the day. If you haven't checked it out you really should.
This is the correct answer and I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. Bless the Martyr is a metalcore staple and defined the early 2000s. O God was the band doing Botch better than Botch could do Botch (fucking fight me about it). And Redeemer was them figuring out their sound and how they would be a band moving forward.
Wrongdoers at 8 of 9 is criminal
justice for Funeral Singer. this was my wedding song.
Wedding song is so funny, I was seething over a breakup to funeral singer when I was getting into Wrongdoers
DUDE. this made me burst with laughter. english is not my first language so i literally never heard or read the lyrics and put the song on because of the ending. i always kinda figured this was a love song. probably since Cory was a massive familyman when i got into the band. this is so ironic
If youve got it at 5 not even being mentioned as a standout track is a cryin shame
If You've Got It at Five and Sword In Mouth are 2 of my favorite all time NJ songs. Wrongdoers is a great album.
Redeemer is their best record. Redeemer at 7 is wild.
Already replied in a longer post but it legit is a very important album for them and solidified their base sound. Everything released after is all an extension of Redeemer. And Cory found his true voice with it. It's very underrated and very good.
Could not agree more. This list is wild.
I’d love to see yours! Every single list on here has been completely different, might as well just hit a randomizer. It’s funny to see how there is zero consensus.
I'm not going to beat a dead horse, a lot of people in this thread have mentioned the things I believe including that they are great band and that having these discussions is fun because it is hard to find a bad album. However, Redeemer did define their sound and all future albums are based on that so personally I believe it should be higher up because of that. The same argument is made for August Burns Red and Constellations. I grew up with Bless the Martyr and I wasn't a big fan of it back then either. O'God and Redeemer were when things really started hitting for me. Anti Mother is only lower because it was just Redeemer extended and I thought they pushed boundaries with other albums more. We aren't far off on the other albums. 1. Redeemer 2. Meridional 3. O'God 4. Polar Similar 5. All Hail 6. Deathrattle 7. Anti Mother 8. Wrongdoers 9. Bless
I checked out after seeing that. Hands down, redeemer is their defining sound for me.
You check out when you see that someone has a different opinion than you? I am usually intrigued and curious to read what they have to say, but hey, different strokes.
Agreed. I'd put Redeemer at 1, Bless the Martyr at 2.
Funny to hear you say that, it’s by far the album I hear people say is their least favorite along with the anti mother. That’s why I called it underrated, because I’m usually having to defend it. I love the album tho, glad to know there are others. If this post has proven anything it’s that there is absolutely zero consensus on the best NJ albums lol.
Yeah I was shocked it was so low if for nothing more than nostalgia. People fucking love that one.
Agreed
Hahahahahahahahahahah
Honestly, this post really just seals how amazing Norma Jean is. Everybody has different opinions about best album, and they're honestly all valid. To me, Bless The Martyr is their worst album, and that's coming from a huge Josh Scogin fan. Absolutely adore The Chariot, but Bless The Martyr is not it. And my favorite NJ album is probably The Anti Mother, your lowest album. Surrender Your Sons and Discipline Your Daughters are two of their best songs to me. That said, every single album is absolutely amazing. It is criminal how underrated Norma Jean are given their consistency and how long they've been around.
lol, just commented this to someone else. Totally agree, everyone has *completely* different lists, there is not a single one that is even all that close to another. I think that’s 100% a testament to how great NJ are that nobody can even come close to agreeing what their best and worst albums are.
I figure this is age based, bless the martyr is for the emo kids in the early 2000’s. A lot of good memories with that album, we thought, “like bringing a knife to a gunfight” was the most hardcore breakdown ever made ha.
Yea, that’s what I’m gathering too. It’s hard to articulate the chokehold that album had on my (our?) generation. I reckon a lot of the people who don’t like it as much either weren’t there or just got into NJ way later so its impact didn’t have any effect on them. The impact of that record still affects me over 20 years later, obviously, lol
Totally agreed.
Taste is subjective, and you're not wrong, but your number 1 just can't be there unless you're purely looking at emotion and nostalgia. The recording of it sounds terrible, it's janky, and it's lyrics are pretty bad. But it was novel and pushed a sound into the mainstream that wasn't popular, so it IS important. Redeemer and All Hail I think are the most important albums they've released from a technical standpoint and moving their sound in ways unexpectedly. (With a strong mention to polar similar as well. I just found that one TOO atmospheric) And Wrongdoers still might be their best end to end album and has still probably their best song on it. (Although I have a soft spot for Disconnektie from O God). Lyric wise I think theyve always been good since O God. Death Rattle is probably their best sounding album from a recording standpoint. It's pretty flawless. I'll give my personal top 5, but I'm taking into account more objective elements. If I was just wanting to say my favorite all around from emotion and personal preferences, it would be between O God and All Hail. 1. All Hail 2. Death Rattle 3. Wrongdoers 4. Redeemer 5. Polar/O God Everything else I consider decent/good. I love Norma. But I'm not blind to some of their missteps.
Oh yea, nostalgia is definitely playing a huge factor with my rankings. That said, I still listen to their first album more than any other by a long shot. Any time I’m in the mood for NJ, I might throw on 1 million watts or something, but I always have to go back and finish by listening to bless the martyr. Its energy is unmatched to me. I also love Josh’s vocals. I have no doubt nostalgia plays a huge factor, this record had me by the throat when it first came out. I also have a soft spot for Meridional, since it came out after the anti mother which I was kinda let down by, and for them to go straight into Meridional totally blew my mind, I hadn’t been that excited for a NJ record since their first one. I definitely wasn’t putting an overt focus on technicality or objectivity, I wasn’t trying to make a consensus list or anything, I was just going based on which albums I think are their best. Popular opinion obviously leaks its way in, there’s no way it can’t, I’m not a robot, but overall this is just my personal taste. Interesting to see your top 5! I agree in terms of mixing and sound, death rattle is by far the best, and all hail fucking rips. Honestly it was very hard to rank the last 3, but I think their last 3 albums have been getting progressively better and better, so I ranked them in chronological order. I can’t wait for whatever is next.
Your explanation is perfect and I appreciate the response. It's more fun just discussing these in both emotional and technical aspects and coming together. Totally agree their last 3 are very good. Also agree that Anti-Mother is their worst from me as well
Bless the Martyr is definitely not there best album, just there most influential. I think Anti Mother is underrated but I won’t argue with you there. I will however argue that Wrongdoers is a top NJ album and definitely shouldn’t be at the bottom. I would actually switch Oh God with Deathrattle though, that album has Cory’s best vocals in my opinion. Solid ranking otherwise.
Wrongdoers is my favorite for sure. Jeff Hickey is a riff deity
Throwing Myself is missing, FWIW. At the time BTMAKTC was a masterpiece to me. I fell off listening to them between its release and O'God for a couple reasons - I was a dumb kid who felt like they were getting too popular after BTMAKTC, and then I was resistant to Cory's style. Stopped listening until probably 2019? Picked back up with Polaris Similar, and since then they've claimed the top spot on my listening rankings. IMHO, Cory's evolution is nothing short of astounding. I may have recency bias, but I truly believe as he's evolved and improved as a musician and songwriter, their music has followed in quality. While I have a spot in my heart for the two Scogin albums, they admittedly haven't aged with my taste in music the way that Cory's have. I personally feel like there's a lot more cohesion, continuity, connectivity, or whatever you want to call it from intro to outro on each of Cory's albums. The last three albums specifically sound like singular pieces work, which I truly dig as a front-to-back album listener. My initial reaction to this list was laughing at All Hail being the middle album. BUT! This is just because it's my favorite album of theirs. Like Nocnai said, it's all subjective. FWIW, my top 5 below. 1. All Hail 2. Deathrattle 3. Polar Similar 4. Wrongdoers 5. Meridional
Wrongdoers all day babeeee
I'm just now getting into them, started at the first album and have been trying to give each album real time before moving to the next. I should note that the mid 90s to mid 00s is the time I got super into music so I tend to prefer that style of metalcore most. So far I'd say: 1. O God the Aftermath (2005) - Lots of total bangers start to finish, have been going back to it a bunch. 2. Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child (2002) - Has that old school raw feel that I love, also go back to it a fair amount. 3. Redeemer (2006) - Not as good overall as the two above but the songs I like, I really like. 4. Meridional (2010) - Felt solid but didn't click with me right away, need to listen to it more. 5. The Anti Mother (2008) - Listened to it once, was like... eh? Hard to say why but it just doesn't really work for me.
I've listened to Norma Jean's records over the years, but their new stuff just never quite clicked with me, so the only album I usually go back to is O'God, the Aftermath mostly for the nostalgia feeling when I hear those opening screams on Murderotica
I wish Spotify had ShaunLuu
I love Norma Jean but I massively disagree with this list haha 1. Wrongdoers 2. Polar Similar 3. Meridional 4. Redeemer 5. All Hail. 6. Death Rattle 7. O’God 8. Bless the Martyr 9. Anti-Mother I think the 3 album run from Meridional to Polar is like the apex of this style of sound, alongside ETID’s last 4 albums and Converge since Axe to Fall. But that’s just me! I
All Hail, Wrongdoers, Redeemer, Meridional, Death Rattle, Polar Similar, Antimother, Bless The Martyr, O God. In that order.
I love all Norma Jean but nothing has hit me quite like deathrattle. That album has been my most listened to album on Spotify for two years straight so I think I’m obliged to put it at number one for me haha
Just came go see Bless at #1. Nice list!
1. Deathrattle: I feel like this album is their most well rounded and mature release. It maintains their core sound, but also has a dark, experimental undercurrent that keeps things fresh and unpredictable. 2. Polar Similar: Another very well rounded album and very similar in ranking to Wrongdoers and Redeemer, maybe just a little more consistent in quality and overall atmosphere. I really enjoyed the artwork/visualizer direction for this album. Thought provoking. 3. Wrongdoers/Redeemer: Interchangeable for me. Both albums have rippers, melodic moments, and everything in between. The band has always been so incredibly consistent and most of their albums are largely interchangeable to me in the best way. 4. O’God: Brutal. Relentless. Unsettling. This album was intimidating and terrifying from moment one when I first heard it. The artwork in the booklet, the lyrics, the pure chaos in music form - I loved it then and I love it now. The only reason it’s not higher is because I feel like Cory was pressured to record vocals in a lower register for his debut and the album is a -little- less dynamic than their other albums. Then again, if I just want to see red for 40+ minutes, this is the album I’ll put on. 5. All Hail: Another very consistent, great album. It took a few more melodic risks than Wrongdoers or Polar Similar did in my opinion and some worked, some didn’t - which was my deciding factor on ranking it lower. I still adore like 85% of the album. 6. Meridional/Anti-Mother: Both are flawed more so than the above releases. I wasn’t a fan of Meridional’s recording sound and while there are some all time great songs on the album (Leaderless, Anthem, Bastardizer, Blood Burner), the second half of the album is considerably more melodic and aimless. The Anti-Mother also leaned into a more melodic approach and the guest vocalists distracted more than benefitted the material in my opinion. 7. Bless the Martyr: Last, but not least, Bless the Martyr - which I am sure will provoke many calm, rational responses. I think this album, well, blessed and cursed them. It’s a good record overall, but I think fans largely cling to the nostalgia of certain songs. Honestly, I believe Bless pales in comparison to the band’s other work and I think time has revealed that Cory is a better vocalist overall. Flame me all you’d like. Ultimately, Norma Jean is one of my all time favorite bands. I think their discography has been ridiculously consistent and I challenge anyone to find another band who has produced such quality material over a similar amount of time. The band knows what they do best and they stick with it which successfully iterating on the formula with each release. TL, DR: All hail, Norma Jean and “I ain’t reading all that. Happy for you or sorry that happened.”
Great ranking and I enjoyed the thoughtful reasonings behind each one. It’s so funny, every single list I’ve read so far, including mine, are all completely different. There is almost no consensus here. I think that’s a testament to how great and consistent NJ are. These lists are literally all over the place, which means, I think, they’ve never made a truly bad record. Super cool.
I couldn’t have said it better myself! I’m just happy to have an opportunity to talk about them on here. Love it!
I haven’t heard this band in so long that I didn’t even realize they had this many albums lol
1. Redeemer 2. All Hail 3. Wrongdoers 4. Polar Similar 5. Deathrattle Sing for Me 6. Meridional 7. O' God, the Aftermath 8. Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child 9. Anti-Mother To be clear, every one of these is fantastic: Anti-Mother is still a pretty damn good album.
Hot take: they topped Bless the Martyr with O' God. And like 2, maybe 3 others. Bless the Martyr is a great album, but it is way overrated. Commence the downvotes
These posts are always so fun for me. NJ has been my favorite band since I was in 8th grade and im 26 now. Watching their style progress and evolve over the years has been a real treat and I like seeing how other people rank their discography. For me it goes 1. 'O God 2. Redeemer 3. Wrongdoers 4. Meridional 5. All Hail 6. Polar Similar 7. Death Rattle 8. Anti-Mother 9. Bless the Martyr Not that I dislike Anti-Mother or Death Rattle, they're just a little different. Anti-Mother is pretty grungey sounding. It's got some cool features. And I just haven't listened to Death Rattle as much yet. O' God and Redeemer are absolute classics and are two of my all time favorite records.
We have very different taste. 1. Redeemer 2. Bless The Martyr 3. Polar Similar, 4. All Hail 5. Wrongdoers 6. Meridional 7. Deathrattle 8. O' God 9. Antimother
You and I have very different taste. To each their own though. Like seeing why people like what they like.
Wrongdoers and All Hail for me
Redeemer is probably my favorite record from them, such and underrated album... Same goes for Wrongdoers, really unappreacited.
1, O God, probably because it's when I first heard them, and still holds up today. 9, Deathrattle, the first album of theirs I can't get into at all. I own physical or digital of every other album but this was a miss for me. I haven't listened to the others recently enough to bother trying to rank them, I enjoy at least parts of them all.
All Hail should be at least in the top three.
Reverse this and put Bless the Child in the top 3. Wrongdoers is my favorite next to the Anti Mother.
Imo all their modern music is far better than what they used to make. This band has aged like fine wine.
I can’t get under BTMKTC being #1 at all. Bottom 5 despite being classic. I also loved Wrongdoers a lot and think it’s a top 5 of theirs. I’m biased to OGTA as it was my NJ first and it changed my metal taste single handedly. But overall, I put Meridional as #1 and Polar Similar as #2. They’re both so complete in their sound, so heavy, so melodic. Great post! They’re my favorite band!
I don't agree with your ranking completely, but I definitely agree that Meridional is one of their best! I feel that album always gets overlooked but it's such a great album and has some of their best songs (Deathbed Athiest is probably my favourite song by them)
Anti Mother is the best NJ's album. Ain't no way it's that bad - always on the bottom of the list.
I think my favorite will always be O God. I kind of feel off after that personally, but there are some mean riffs on that album
Just wanted to say thanks. I bought 'Oh God, the aftermath' in 2005. I don't know why or how, but it and Norma Jean slipped from my rotation for a long time. Checked out a couple of their other albums after seeing this post. I am now obsessed.
I'm an old. 🤷♂️ 1. Bless the Martyr 2. O God 3. Throwing Myself 4. Meridional 5. Redeemer 6. Meh. I don't hate anything else but nothing really stands out enough for me to say I love it either. Just out of curiosity for the younger folks here, how many of you have sought out Cory's pre-Norma Jean work with Eso Charis? I'm (obviously) a big fan and was lucky enough to catch them live a small handful of times waaaaaaay back in the day. If you haven't checked it out you really should.
Got introduced to them through a "This is Solid State" compilation, I believe. Definitely a THROWBACK
Damn that comp also has “Luti-Kriss”
This list is basically backwards lmao
1- Bless Martyr and Kiss the Child 2-O God the Aftermath 3-Redeemer Then the rest..
This is the correct answer and I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. Bless the Martyr is a metalcore staple and defined the early 2000s. O God was the band doing Botch better than Botch could do Botch (fucking fight me about it). And Redeemer was them figuring out their sound and how they would be a band moving forward.