Norma Jean

Norma Jean is a Christian metalcore/mathcore band from Douglasville, Georgia, USA, a suburb of Atlanta. Originally known as Luti-Kriss, they released two albums in 2001--an EP titled 5ep, and a full-length release, Throwing Myself. After t

Norma Jean is a Christian metalcore/mathcore band from Douglasville, Georgia, USA, a suburb of Atlanta. Originally known as Luti-Kriss, they released two albums in 2001--an EP titled 5ep, and a full-length release, Throwing Myself. After the release of Throwing Myself, the band changed their name to Norma Jean to avoid confusion with rapper Ludacris, who is also from the Atlanta area. In 2002, the band released Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child, a predominantly metal-core album, on Solid State Records. It featured heavy breakdowns and gut wrenching vocals. They released their second album in March of 2005, titled O' God, the Aftermath; this time with more of a mathcore influence. The record is very distinguishable by sounding very similar to the legendary band Botch, which many members of Norma Jean credit as their favourite band of all time. The change in sound is ironic as most bands tend to follow trends in the form of having more breakdowns to appeal to bigger crowds, but Norma Jean went the other way, with their sound leaning more towards respected bands like Botch and other Hydrahead Records related bands. Their original singer, Joshua Scogin, left after the release of Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child. He left amicably, feeling God was telling him it was time to move on. Later on he joined the Christian metalcore band The Chariot, also on Solid State Records.

The band's output as Luti-Kriss was often compared to rap- and nu metal bands like Limp Bizkit, KoЯn and (hed) p.e., but as Norma Jean their music is more similar to metalcore bands such as Coalesce, Converge, and The Dillinger Escape Plan and especially their favourite band Botch.