The Anti Mother has arrived – and Norma Jean wrestle her to the ground, with the most furious, and yet melodic, music of their career.

On The Anti Mother, Norma Jean – Cory Brandan (lead vocals, guitars), Scottie Henry (guitars), Jake Schultz (bass), Chris Day (guitars) and Chris Raines (drums) – deliver a heavy and potent song cycle that looks at life squarely in the eye, from the opening track “Vipers, Snakes And Actors” to the closing “And There Will Be A Swarm Of Hornets”. The crushing, sonically adventurous 10 songs that comprise The Anti Mother easily mark an artistic and creative high point for Norma Jean.

“The Jean absolutely live life’s purpose, giving away the pure essence of real love and it’s not pretty at all,” says producer Ross Robinson with whom the band re-teamed after he first manned the boards on the quintet’s strongly received Redeemer (2006). “Being fearless, The Anti Mother steps musically beyond the line of greatness—it’s the soundtrack of surviving any situation and becoming who you were born to be; if you don’t know, listen and find out…”

Norma Jean will launch a major nationwide headlining U.S. tour this Fall and are currently wrapping up their mainstage run on this summer’s entire Vans Warped Tour which ends Sunday, August 17th at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA.

The Anti Mother, the follow-up to their 2006 critically lauded Redeemer, is already garnering major critical praise:

• “The backstory surrounding Norma Jean’s latest album is fraught with domestic strife and great personal challenges. Not surprisingly, it’s also the best record of their career.”
  Alternative Press, September 2008

• ”... amazing and potentially a standard-bearer for an entire genre, The Anti Mother is an unexpected record for Norma Jean: It’s heavy without being dense; melodic, but not basely so… the crunching “Opposite of Left and Wrong” (with Hamilton) and the lush Moreno collaboration “Surrender Your Sons,” are not only musical firsts for the band but two signposts to their bright future…”
  Andrew Kelham, Alternative Press (Feature), September 2008

• “It’s impossible not to listen to Norma Jean’s latest and not imagine a mud-caked moshpit full of angry teenagers festooned in safety pins and studs… this Christian metal bands’ fourth full-length continues their recent trend of heaping distortion, drums and panicked/pained screams together. The song ‘Robots 3, Humans 0’ employs confusing, shifting rhythms featuring frantic drumbeats that sound like a frustrated writer banging on a typewriter. [On ‘And There Will Be A Swarm Of Hornets’] its frantic, literally buzzing ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’-ish guitars are an appropriate analogy to its title…”
  CMJ “Essential CDs”, Tiffany Kilfeather (8/11/08)

• ”[On] ‘Self Employed Chemist,’ the Atlanta Christian crew unleash another scything blast of ragged guitars and melodic vitriol to get their fans salivating…”
  Kerrang! (7/26/08)

• ”’Death of the Anti Mother,’ ‘Self-Employed Chemist,’ and ‘Vipers Snakes and Actors’ have a swinging, furious urgency…”
  Tim Grierson, Revolver (Feature), (September 2008)

• “Hyping this album based on the guest appearances alone would be easy. After all, Chino Moreno (Deftones) and Page Hamilton (Helmet) don’t just play on the record, they helped write parts of it. But there’s more to be excited about, namely the huge artistic strides Norma Jean have made. On The Anti Mother, vocalist Cory Brandan stretches his pipes to sing Thrice-style anthems (‘Robots 3, Humans 0’ ), but still manages one of noisy hardcore’s more convincing and dexterous screams for most of the album. “Discipline Your Daughters” is the new gold standard for controlled vocal abuse. The rest of the band have stepped it up on The Anti Mother as well, fine-tuning an already ridiculously tight engine. Guitarist Scottie Henry has a knack for finding chords between the chords and producer Ross Robinson is the right hammer for getting more blood from this six-stringed stone.”
  Oakland L. Childers, Alternative Press (Four-Out-Of-Five Stars, CD Review), September 2008

• ”’Robots 3, Humans 0’, the title sounds like the final score at the best football match ever, and the latest offering from Christian hardcore bods Norma Jean sounds like extra time in a brutal pit. Awesome.”
  Kerrang! (7/15/08)

• “The metalcore bans sounds and looks scary, and their new record The Anti Mother drops in August with a considerable amount of buzz. A few tracks have leaked and they are devastating, including a collaboration with the Detones’ Chino Moreno. They’re this year’s DEP as their shows are lively and wild and the band freakin brings it.”
  Brian Krasman, The Daily News (McKeepsort, PA), (7/28/08)

Hear the band talk about the album and preview this exciting new release on Norma Jean’s YMZ artist page.

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