Norma Jean — Norma Jean

Norma Jean came out of Douglasville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, in 1997. They started under another name, changed singers after their first album, earned a Grammy nomination for their second, and have kept going through so many lineup changes that no founding member remains. Nine albums in, they're still changing shape.

Luti-Kriss

The band began as Luti-Kriss, with Josh Scogin on vocals, guitarists Scottie Henry and Chris Day, Josh Swofford on bass, Mick Bailey on turntables and Daniel Davison on drums. They released a split EP with Travail on Pluto Records in 1999, and those songs later appeared on 5ep in July 2000. That early sound was aggressive nu metal, very different from what came later. Swofford left and Josh Doolittle took over on bass, and Bailey left while they were making their first album, Throwing Myself, which began to mix in the metalcore and hardcore sound the band would soon chase fully.

Becoming Norma Jean

The band were forced to drop the Luti-Kriss name. They chose Norma Jean, after Marilyn Monroe's real name, Norma Jeane Baker, because she too had been made to change her name. Davison said that only after choosing it did they find a book claiming "Norma" meant "pattern" and "Jean" meant "God's grace and mercy," together "patterns of grace and mercy."

In 2002, Solid State released Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child. Our review is here. Soon after, Scogin left. "It was just something that I felt led to do," he said. He went on to form The Chariot, and has joined Norma Jean on stage over the years to sing "Memphis Will Be Laid to Waste." Doolittle left around the same time.

O God, the Aftermath

After a short stint with Brad Norris, the band found their new singer in Cory Brandan, formerly of Eso-Charis, Living Sacrifice and Uses Fire. O God, the Aftermath came out in March 2005, Cory Brandan's first album with the band. Its artwork, designed by Asterisk Studio in Seattle, was nominated for Best Recording Package at the 2006 Grammy Awards. Our review is here.

In 2006 they played Ozzfest alongside Ozzy Osbourne, System of a Down, Disturbed and Avenged Sevenfold, then headlined the Radio Rebellion Tour with Between the Buried and Me, Fear Before and Misery Signals. That December, Revolver's Christian metal cover story named Cory Brandan as one of "The Holy Alliance," alongside Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter, Spencer Chamberlain of Underoath and Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying.

Redeemer and The Anti Mother

The third album, Redeemer, was made with producer Ross Robinson. Davison announced in September 2007 that he was leaving, and played his last show at Irving Plaza in New York on November 7, 2007. He later drummed for Underoath.

For The Anti Mother, the band wrote a song with Page Hamilton of Helmet and two with Deftones singer Chino Moreno, which they described as diverse and anti-traditional. Chris Raines joined on drums. The album came out on August 5, 2008, and they played the whole Warped Tour that summer. "Robots 3 Humans 0" got a video with director Daniel Chesnut, and that autumn they headlined the Anti-Mother Tour with Haste the Day, The Showdown, MyChildren MyBride and Oh, Sleeper. In late 2009 they toured with Horse the Band, The Chariot and Arsonists Get All the Girls, playing Bless the Martyr in full in some cities.

Razor & Tie

In November 2009, Norma Jean left Solid State and signed with Razor & Tie. Meridional, produced by Jeremy Griffith, came out on July 13, 2010. Raines said they had taken "all the good that we liked from the past records" and added "a heavier and darker theme." Matt Marquez replaced Raines on drums. Founding guitarist Scottie Henry took a break in 2011, and Jeff Hickey stepped in.

Wrongdoers, produced by Joshua Barber, followed on August 6, 2013, with Hickey, bassist John Finnegan and drummer Clayton Holyoak.

Back to Solid State

In 2015 the band toured North America for the tenth anniversary of O God, the Aftermath, playing it in full with Sleepwave, '68 and The Ongoing Concept. That September they re-signed with Solid State.

Polar Similar came out in 2016. Its singles included "1,000,000 Watts," "Synthetic Sun" and "Forever Hurtling Towards Andromeda," featuring Sean Ingram of Coalesce. Rhythm guitarist Phillip Farris replaced Chris Day, the last founding member. Holyoak left in 2017 to drum for Every Time I Die.

All Hail came out on October 25, 2019. On June 6, 2022, the band announced their ninth album, Deathrattle Sing for Me, released August 12, 2022, led by the video for "Call for the Blood."

Friends in the scene

Norma Jean's members have kept turning up in other bands' records. Cory Brandan, Michael Palmquist and Matt Marquez helped write, produce and perform on Project 86's two-part album OMNI. In 2024 Norma Jean toured with P.O.D. on the Veritas tour, and in 2026 Cory Brandan sang on "Outbreak," the first single from P.O.D.'s twelfth album.

Why they matter

Norma Jean have never stood still. They went from turntables and nu metal to chaotic metalcore, from Solid State to Razor & Tie and back, and from one singer to another without losing what made them Norma Jean. The name was supposed to mean patterns of grace and mercy. Nearly thirty years on, the pattern is still being written.