Ranking ALL 9 of Norma Jean Albums

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Now round.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
All right, today, we've got our good friends JJ from
Idle Threat and Joe from Light Worker.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
You guys have been on the podcast so many times
you need no new introduction. Uh, but we're just excited
to chat with you guys. So what we're gonna do
today is we're going to be ranking all nine Normal
Gen albums, which it's kind of hard to believe that
they have nine albums now at this point, quite a
bit an output, especially for like a metal core band.
You know, I think, you know, obviously metalcore kind of

(00:57):
probably got it to you know, origin probably in the
late nineties, and so there aren't too many bands that
are even over like thirty years old, but they've got
to be probably have one of the greatest outputs now
at this point in the metal core scene. But yeah,
we're gonna rank each album from Uh so, each one
of us we'll do a ranking of our favorite Norman
Gen album all the way down to our least Norman

(01:19):
favorite Norman Gen album. And then what we're gonna do
is we're gonna compile all of our rankings and then
come up with a definitive Black Sheep Normal Ranking Normal
Gene Ranking list Normal ranking.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
Ranking. So I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
I just mentioned right before we started recording that, you know,
because they have so many albums out now, and because
each one of us, Norman Gen's probably at least for
each one of us a top five favorite band of
all time, you know that we're we love them enough
and they have enough albums out where it feels like
we could do something like this, you know. So we
we definitely have probably a definitive least favorite Normangen album,

(01:59):
and we certainly have a favorite Norman Gene album.

Speaker 4 (02:02):
So I'm super stoked about this.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
How about you, guys, dude, I'm pumped.

Speaker 5 (02:08):
I guess what I will say though, to begin with,
is that I don't think there is a single bad
normal Gene album like to me. To me, it's like, hey,
it's like pizza or like sex.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
It's like you know, I mean, it's which none of
it's JJ and I would not know about that at all.

Speaker 6 (02:29):
Right, Yeah, I don't eat pizza, and I definitely am
still a virgin.

Speaker 5 (02:33):
Yeah dude, absolutely, Yeah, dude, there you go. But yeah, no,
I mean it's it's one of those things where it's
just like a normal Gene record is always going to
be a solid you know, like four out of five
at minimum, so at least to me. So, I mean, so,

(02:57):
I you know, I don't want anybody coming at me like, yo,
what's up, because I know I have some takes here,
but yeah, but I'm pumped.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah, agreed fully. And also the fact that there's been
what twenty members of Normal Gene and they somehow maintain
just a solid, solid cohesiveness with just enough difference along
the way. That's the most impressive part to me.

Speaker 4 (03:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
The one thing that I think is maybe the thing
I like the most about Norma Gene is the fact
that they have that consistent sound throughout all of their albums,
even despite the fact that they don't have any original
members at this point.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
I mean, I.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Think it's just a really cool part of who they
are as a band. You know, obviously at this point now,
Corey has been a part of the band longer than anyone,
and you know, I would say probably the sort of
Norma Jeen sound that we associate with Normal Gene.

Speaker 4 (03:55):
Is probably due to to Corey.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
But still, the fact that, like you've got to be
that doesn't have any original members, having some sort of
consistent theme. I mean, if you listen to their most
recent album and you listen to bless the Martyr, there's
still going to be these common kind of core tones
that you hear that are just normal Gene tones that
sound nothing else, but like Norman Gene tones that there's
just something about it. I don't know that they just

(04:19):
have a Norman Gene sound.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
Through and through.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
It's one of the coolest, coolest things about the band,
I think.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah, I would definitely agree.

Speaker 5 (04:29):
I think, you know, even and every album sounds completely
different even so, like that's what's kind of weird, and
it's just like it's not linear but in terms of
like sound, but you can always tell where it's coming from,
and it's I think it's been very respectful of what
like the original lineup actually laid down with Blessed and

(04:53):
Martyr while still expanding and.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
Their sound and their identity. But yeah, I.

Speaker 6 (05:02):
Was talking about them today with a friend actually, and I,
you know, just to wrap it up nice and Neat
put a bow on top of it. It's like they
they go across the spectrum of chaos very well. And
we can get more into that later, but their entire
discography just shows you exactly what chaotic music is. But

(05:24):
then each of those albums are different, so it's just
all over that spectrum, covering every space.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
So really just a total complete band and yeah, absolutely,
Well we'll.

Speaker 4 (05:38):
Dive into it.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
But before we dive into ranking these albums, important news
to be made on the Blacksheet podcast.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
Do you hear you heard it here? Breaking news?

Speaker 2 (05:48):
I'le Threat is releasing a new album, which I don't
think is breaking news. I think that has been at
least known that you all are going to be releasing
new music at some point this year. However, is different
is Cullen, Joe and I have heard the album and
we got to say it's the best Idle Threat has

(06:09):
ever been. Got to be honest, yeahs, yes absolutely. I
don't know if we can say. We certainly can't leak
more than that, but I just want you all to
know it's the best Idle Threat probably will ever be.

Speaker 4 (06:23):
I used to.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
I don't know how you've peaked, JJ, you've.

Speaker 6 (06:28):
Peaked, man, I peaked in high school. I don't know
what y'all talking about.

Speaker 5 (06:35):
It's I think it's similar to Norman Jeane. I think
it's it also still retains a lot of that idle
threat sound that we heard on the earlier stuff, but
while still moving forward and the guest vocal spots are brilliant.
They sound seamless. And this is all I'll say. That

(06:59):
last track definitely made me reflect a lot, and you know,
maybe maybe made me well up a little bit or not.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
I don't know. I'm just saying, yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
That's you're absolutely right, it's it's it's great. JJ is
probably not going to say anything else. I don't think
he was supposed to share it with us, but he
did because he's a because he's a bro. He's a bro, like, hey,
I even wear his cat back.

Speaker 6 (07:26):
I'll share more about it, uh, in my own episode
or something like that. But we're he thinks he's getting
another one.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
Oh what.

Speaker 6 (07:36):
I am a black sheet podcast? But nah, I'm really
excited to finally put this out. Everything's kind of, you know,
hitting the grounds now and we're running with it. So
we're gonna have this out by the end of the year.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
You know.

Speaker 6 (07:53):
I don't want to make promises or anything like that
because it's out of my control, but we're really pushing
for it. Yeah, and I'm just really excited to get
it out. To whoever's going to listen to it. So yeah,
I can't wait. But anyway, Norma Jean.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
Speaking of real bands, all right, so what we're gonna do.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
We're gonna start with the very.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
First Normal Gene album and we're going to just slowly
work our way through each one to the most recent.
So it all starts out with Blessed the Martyr, Kiss
the Child two thousand and two. Yeah, Colin, I don't
I don't know if we have a particular order that we.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
Should probably put a little caveat on this that because
there are a lot of super fans of Normal Gen
out there, and so we're not going to include Ludacris
the band name before Normal Gene, even though it is
still technically Normal Gene. We're not going to include Throwing Myself,
which is also a great album in its own right.
But these are Normal Gene monikered names or bands or albums.

(09:04):
Jeez yeah albums. So yeah, bless the Martyr, Kiss a Child?
Who wants to go first? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (09:11):
Who wants to go first? Where do you have it ranked?

Speaker 6 (09:13):
You know, I don't want to just jump in there
and you know, be that guy, But I'm gonna be
that this is such an outlier because like, on one hand,
it's like, this is one of the most like iconic
records that we could talk about, and it, you know,
it deserves its own like glory. But also like the
way that I view Norma Jean is like, this is

(09:35):
Corey Brandon's band. Like I one hundred percent say that.
Like when I think Josh Goggin, I think The Chariot,
I think sixty eight. When I think Norma Jean, I think.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
Corey, and I think I don't know what you're talking.

Speaker 6 (09:48):
About it, but I just you know, I I love
this record for what it is. I had a really
hard time placing it in my my own ranking, so
it's literally smack dab in the middle. It's just such
an outlier, which like it's it's great for what it is,

(10:09):
but like, you know, does it stand the test of time?
I do think so, But like you know, when I'm
comparing it to the Quarry Records, you know, do I
like it more or less?

Speaker 3 (10:20):
You know?

Speaker 6 (10:21):
So I had a really hard time with this one.
I wrestled with it for a while, but I put
it at five out of nine for their records. But
before we really get into it, you know, Like, I mean,
there's so many different like pieces of this record that
we can talk about. But you know, Josh doing the

(10:41):
vocals on it alone, it's it's gonna bump it up,
you know, the ranking. But this album absolutely sat of
tone for you know what this band would end up being.
So yeah, I don't even know where up again really, Like,
it's just there's so much you can say about, you know,

(11:02):
the guitar work, the drums, the vocals, you know, their
live show during that time, and the fact that it's
you know, over twenty years old now is pretty crazy.
But I don't know, there's just a lot to sit
with with this record, and just because it's such an outlier,
it's just such a powerful entity. I you know, where

(11:24):
do you put it? So like, I'm curious to see
what you guys think too.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
Well, I think along those lines at least for me is.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
So let me just preface it by saying, I've got
it number two, culin, So I've got it number two
for me. So it's it's obviously in the in the
top third. Even what drives me nuts though about Bless
the Martyr is there are Norman Jeans fans out there
where when they think of Norma Jean, they only think

(11:55):
of that album and they really haven't listened to anything
sent or if they have, they almost think of it.
They almost like listen to the other albums or the
other Norman Gen songs through the lens of well, this
just doesn't stack up to Josh Cogga Norman Gen, and like,
I just think that totally does a disservice to normal Geneah.

Speaker 6 (12:15):
Absolutely, yeah, And.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
So that is the part of this album that sort
of drives me nuts. And it's not actually the album itself,
it's just normal some of the Norman Gen fans.

Speaker 4 (12:23):
Now, with that said, whenever.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
There is a Blessed Martyr song that they play live,
I don't like. I think part of my excitement about
that is seeing how everybody freaks out, probably more than
any other song on any other album. There's just something
about that album that just carries some weight that is
really cool for the band, and especially the fact that

(12:45):
it's the band's first album kind of and and I
don't know, there's.

Speaker 4 (12:49):
Just something really cool about that.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
So I have at number two partly because I think
it just it holds up me. It's almost twenty three
years old now and just sound wise, even though it
was recorded completely alive or whatever, it just holds up
really well, especially when you think of its contemporaries, even
outside of the Christian music world. You think of like
Converge releasing, Jane Doe, the Yeah Botch releasing some albums

(13:12):
around that time. Like you think of some of those contemporaries,
they sound kind of right in that mix, and it's
just as iconic. You have extremely iconic riffs. I mean,
especially you've got like just an iconic song like Memphis, right,
but just the whole album you've got. You've got a
sixteen minute long song and you have a one minute
long song. I mean, it's just it's like everything you
would ever want. And a number gen album. You have

(13:34):
an album Closer that just crescendos beautifully. Yeah, I don't know,
just everything about it is just lovely. And it's hard
to believe that a bunch of like eighteen nineteen twenty
year olds made this album.

Speaker 4 (13:45):
Wow, but they did, and it's it's pretty cool. So anyway,
I've got a number two.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
It's just it's an album that I listened to probably
at least once a month. I just think it's incredible,
And again, like I said, maybe I think it's within
the context of it does drive me nuts that there
are a lot of Norman Geen fans that only see
this album as like the pure Norman Gen album, and
I just think that does a disservice to the band.

Speaker 5 (14:08):
Yeah, Joe, I would say that for me, I kind
of don't look at it like norma Gene for the
reasons that you know, Justin said. It's it's like, I mean,
those are Josh's lyrics, those are his vocals, and you know,
I definitely recognize it as like a normal Gene record,

(14:28):
but I kind of see it as proto Chariot also,
and it exists in this weird like dimension where it's
Norman Jean Chariot ish, you know, just this weird like conglomeration.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
So and I would say that.

Speaker 5 (14:49):
As I was listening to it today, I noticed that
there's actually a little bit of new metal influence that
still is leaking over from the Yeah, and as you
guys know about me, I'm not really a big new
metal guy. So you know, like I definitely objectively I
do take in stance at the time, I love what

(15:11):
they were doing. Also, even back then, with having a
metal band or metal core band or whatever or heavy
band record like live.

Speaker 3 (15:22):
And stuff was just unheard of.

Speaker 5 (15:25):
You know, it's like everybody's just sitting next to the
console and just even back then.

Speaker 3 (15:29):
But this is number nine for me, to be honest,
Wow wow, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (15:36):
Because like I said, it's hard for me to correlate
it with what has become Corey's band. You know, I
would also say that I'm definitely a big Chariot band.
But there's something about Corey's lyrics, his approach, and especially

(15:57):
as he grew as a musician of vocalist and and
a frontman, like seeing that evolution and and is I
don't know, it really strikes a chord with me. And
as we get into the later part of the discography,
I think you'll see how passionate I get about this band,

(16:17):
because it's just something that just really stirs something in me.
But but I definitely do own you know, this album
on vinyl. I have two copies of this and and
you know, like I you know, face Face is like
a fucking classic.

Speaker 6 (16:37):
It's my favorite song on that record.

Speaker 5 (16:40):
Yeah, And and so I mean, like I said, the
caveat for me at the beginning was like, yeah, you know,
some of these records might be ranked lower, but that
doesn't mean that I don't love them.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
But that's where it is for you.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
Interesting I ranked this third on my list, but for me,
this record is so substantial in where it rests in
my personal music listening journey. This was the album that
like moved the needle for me like this this was
I got it in two thousand and three, and it

(17:21):
opened the door for what I realized music could be.
I did not know music existed that was that heavy.
I did not know music existed that that was that unpredictable,
but also still maintaining so much, so many melodic elements

(17:46):
that didn't seem like anything else I had heard, And
even to this day, I would argue that that dissonance
they have like the like. If there's one thing I
can say about Norman gen throughout their entire catalog, it's
that they have a dissonance in all of their songs
that produces melody. Usually dissonance and melody, I feel like

(18:09):
they don't really coexist very well, but Norma Jean does it,
and they've been doing it since Bless the Martyr, and
that's absolutely astounding to me. On top of that, like
just visually, the first music videos that I really remember
watching over and over and over again were from this record,

(18:31):
and it really just blew my mind. It it expanded
my my universe. I went from listening to like Aaron
Carter to to fucking Norma Jene, Like how does that work?
How does how does how does that that key get unlocked?
You know, like, how does that key unlock that door?

Speaker 4 (18:53):
But it did?

Speaker 1 (18:54):
So they're my They're my gateway drug. This is the
gateway album for like my entire listening experience. That's why
it's it's high for me. But third is not first.
So that puts our average score at a four point
seventy five. So I assume we round that up to five. Yeah, yeah,
sounds good.

Speaker 4 (19:15):
See how that.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
We'll see how that plays out at the end. Yeah
that works for us, all right. Next album came out
in two thousand and five. Oh god, The Aftermath another
incredible album.

Speaker 4 (19:30):
Yes, yeah, look at that. Wait, JJ, when did you
get that?

Speaker 6 (19:34):
I've had it?

Speaker 4 (19:36):
What Colin and I have that on? I have it
on my back?

Speaker 6 (19:39):
Oh really?

Speaker 4 (19:40):
Oh my god?

Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yea, I have it on my legs.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
Joe, You're next dude, I have no tattoos.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
I mean, oh, you're so straight edge.

Speaker 3 (19:49):
But I thought even that, dude, it's just that I'm
afraid that Trump's gonna come after me and tattoo. Bro, Like,
come on, can't wear skulls.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
They're gonna photoshop it on you anyway, don't worry.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
Yeah, like this, I mean, if they're gonna photoshop tattoos
on you to deport you, they might as well photoshop
the hook man, right.

Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
Actually it would probably save you. It would probably save you,
would be like, oh that's an umber gene. You're good,
You're good, You're definitely you're definitely.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Southern metal court baby, let's go. Yeah, so.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
That they should just like they should give you like
a red carpet right to the White House, like you
are as American as American gets.

Speaker 5 (20:39):
Dude, fucking give me have like a luxurious McDonald's meal
with Trump.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah yeah, there you go, but I go.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
But anyway, yeah, oh god, let's see here. I'll go first.
If you guys are cool, do it to it, man,
Yeah yeah.

Speaker 5 (20:57):
I could not get Network out of my head like
a solid three months, and it's so cool.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
And like I really liked.

Speaker 5 (21:12):
That kind of gruff, tough guy singing that like Corey
does on some of the tracks on There and They
and and while there was like some dissonant sounds that
you could hear on and and that chaos that you
could hear on Bless the Martyr, I feel like it
got a little in some ways, it became a little

(21:32):
bit more straightforward, but in some ways some of the
riffs got like even crazier, like Charac Tarantula. Yeah, like yeah,
like it's just like that, dude, I fucking love that.
And it's just like it literally just reminds me of
like a tarantula.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
It's just so fun and I just love it. And
and I think also the way that I I guess for.

Speaker 5 (22:01):
Me, like thinking back on it now and having been
in a band now for a while, you can definitely
see the seeds of him as a lyricist beginning to grow.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
Like if you read the lyrics that he had back.

Speaker 5 (22:15):
Then compared to like on Death Rattle, like it is
night and day, and you see the evolution of this vocalist,
this human being. And also you know, let's go there spiritually,
how different the trajectory is also, you know, and with
that being said, I mean we got to mention the

(22:37):
B side, which is Sean Lou Yeah, you know, which
definitely and Norman Gene definitely has their share of B
sides that are sick. I'm not sure why some of
those were omitted, but like, that's probably my favorite B
side of theirs. And coincidentally, I think of you know,

(22:58):
early Norman Gene. I would say that's definitely one.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
Of the more spiritual ones.

Speaker 5 (23:03):
And and it's just it's so cool and the fact
that they named it after like a band friend, you know,
who had passed.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
I think is is uh is an awesome testament.

Speaker 5 (23:15):
And yeah, it's just so for me, I would say
it ranks like again, it's hard, it's hard. This is
really hard, but I would say it ranks at number
six for me because I feel like the best is
still yet to come.

Speaker 6 (23:32):
I'm gonna take that and run with it. This is
my favorite Norma Gen record, so it's number one.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
Dang.

Speaker 6 (23:40):
Yeah, we already kind of mentioned I have a no
God tattoo. Actually, and even though this this is literally
the first Normal Gene record in my you know, in
my mind, I think it really set the tone for
how this band you know, kind of really created something

(24:01):
that is a masterpiece, which you know, that's their whole
body of work. But oh God, was just you know,
chaotic but also melodic. And then I think, you know,
Corey stepping into the role that he has, like you
know with his lyricism and vocals and you know, with
the guitar riffs and the I don't know, like I

(24:24):
could gosh forever, but like the drums, like especially how
I want to play, Like you know, if if I
could pick a band to be in in a specific
record like in an era, it would be Norman gyna
O God like and I don't know, like it's just

(24:48):
like like the beginning of Liarsonic is one of my
favorite like opening like sections to a track because it's
just so crazy and since I'm a big horror fan,
it's like this is what I feel like like serial killers,

(25:08):
like here with killing someone, you know, like that the
beginning of the track is like what is going through
someone's mind when they murder someone, but in the same
vein too, Like the opening track is called murder rotica,
which is coincidentally my favorite genre of movie. But I

(25:32):
don't know, like this band's like really did something special
with Oh God. And you know, I've seen reunion shows
and stuff that they played with this record, and you know,
I'm just I listen to I listened to it all
the time, like it's it's in my top fifteen records
of all time. You know, every time they play anything

(25:53):
from it live, like it's just so fun. You know
when when Idle Threat toured with them for a little
bit a couple of years ago, they were playing like
the Breakdown from Dylan Machine, and I don't know, every
once in a while they'll just be like, you know,
here's the song from Oh God, and like play it.
It's just it's always so fun for me. But I

(26:16):
don't know, I'll pass the torch like it's my favorite
Norman Jean record by far. It's sitting pretty at number one.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
Well, I'll jump in right after you. It's also number
one for me. And I've blown out at least two
of my vehicles speakers to this album, which is the
best way to do it in my opinion, because it's
such a big sound. Even though it's not the best
recording in the world, it feels like it feels it.

(26:48):
It feels like it fills every single ounce of Airspace Possible.
I think that this is the absolute masterclass of heavy
music drumming by Daniel Davison. It is the record that
put him number one as my favorite drummer ever. I

(27:09):
think especially the snare sound. What the hell is that.
I don't know what he's playing there, but that snare
sound absolutely rattles me to the bone every single time
I hear it, and it's like crack cocaine. It gets
me so excited every time I hear it, especially, it's

(27:31):
what I would imagine it to feel like. On top
of that, you brought up JJ the breakdown from Dilemmachine.
That's probably my most replayed part of a song ever.
I listen to it all the time, and when we
are when we're seeing him live and they play Dilemmachine live,

(27:55):
I always feel so proud because I can always air
drum perfectly to it and no one else in the
crowd does, because it's like a weird like time signing.

Speaker 6 (28:04):
The craziest thing about that is like at least the
last couple of times that I've seen them, where they
did do that, Corey just it's always at the end
of a song going into that part, and he just
goes like oh God, and like they'll do that. So
it's perfect.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
It's perfect. And I think I think the hidden gem
on that album though, is scientification or how are you
saying that is? I feel like you don't think Young Frankenstein. Yeah,
you know, like the vibe that that movie kind of
gives out. Yeah, When I listen to that song, I
feel like I'm transported into like Gene Wilder's body and

(28:47):
I'm I'm in Young Frankenstein and there's just like that's
like where my brain has gone ever since I was young.
And uh, I think that that that song in particular
has such like an interesting nomadic quality for a song
that has no business being cinematic whatsoever, and an album
that really isn't cinematic in any way.

Speaker 6 (29:10):
I just you know real quick, I the the track
names on these Yes are so good. I've never seen
anything that like really captures my interests in these track names.
I mean, when you when you were real like Bay Network,

(29:31):
all of them are so good.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
When you were younger or younger, did you like try
to make your own track names that were like that
or it's like a mixture of like two words together.

Speaker 6 (29:42):
I wish I was that smart?

Speaker 1 (29:43):
Like I used to sit in in industrial technology class
making different song names that bind two words together all
the time. It was so good.

Speaker 5 (29:55):
It's definitely clever. But I think it's called portmanteau. Yeah,
and it's it's it's it's so cool. One thing I
wanted to mention, though, was that you said you blew
out your speakers listening to Oh God. Well I got
into a car crash.

Speaker 6 (30:12):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
I don't want to know the aftermath of that. That'd
be terrible.

Speaker 3 (30:19):
Anyway.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
Did you used to hate car accidents but now you
hate cel phones?

Speaker 3 (30:29):
It is? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (30:31):
And then I remember like and the car was totaled
so I couldn't take my normal Jean CD out of it,
and I was just like, this sucks anyway.

Speaker 3 (30:41):
I thought you guys were going to kick out of that.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
Yeah, that's that's a little too on the nose though,
I tell you what.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
Yeah, for me, I've got it at number five, so
it is yeah, right, smack dab in the middle for me.

Speaker 4 (30:59):
Here here's what's interesting. I think for.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Oh God, and I think you all are kind of
alluding to this, especially for you JJ and and Clin.
I think Oh God for me has the potential to
be probably a top one or two Norman Gen album
for me based on the instrumentation alone. I just think
the instrumentation, like if we were just ranking this on instrumentation,

(31:25):
oh god, the aftermath would be my probably my favorite
Norman Gen album. My issue of the reason why it
just goes to number five, though, is the production of it,
for some reason just doesn't I don't know, it just
it sounds a little culin uses the term tinny a lot.

Speaker 4 (31:43):
Like, I don't know, there's just it doesn't quite.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
Have that full body sound that we now, especially with
the more recent albums for the last ten fifteen years
from Norman Gen, we that we expect, it just doesn't
quite have that same sound quality. And so I think
for that reason, and certainly like Corey, I think has
just gotten so much better as a vocalist with his
screams since this album. That yeah, I just I think

(32:06):
those two factors just places it down a little bit
lower for me to number five. But if those two factors,
like if that wasn't the case in two thousand and five,
like let's say it was you know, produced really really well,
and let's say Corey had the same sort of vocals
that he has.

Speaker 4 (32:23):
Now, it probably would be my favorite.

Speaker 2 (32:25):
Norman Gen album again because I think the instrumentation is
next level. So yeah, that's the reason why it's number five.
So it's right in the middle of the pack for me.
But you all are right, like, best instrumentation of any
Norman Gen album by far, I can totally agree with that.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
That puts it at a three point two five on
our average calculator.

Speaker 4 (32:51):
Nice three, okay, so we'll put it at three for now.

Speaker 5 (32:56):
I'm just see where asshole is just like bringing them
all these things down.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
My bad guys, my bad.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
Well, dude, yeah, all the bad ones are gonna go
right to the top because of you.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
You can already see it shaken out. I'm just kidding,
all right.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
Redeemer two thousand and six, Where where do we got Redeemer?

Speaker 1 (33:20):
Redeemer? I'll go first on this one. This is a
great record that impressed the normies. I feel like this
is a record that like if you were a friend
a fan of like Asking Alexandria or Sleeping with Sirens
or I don't know, what's another band from that time

(33:42):
period that was just like killing it. Can't think of it,
but you would maybe went to like Warp Tour and
then you're like, oh, Norma, gee, well okay, let's go
listen to them. And then you heard your Deemer You're like,
holy crap, this is really really good actually, and it's
good and it's in it's in a completely different way
than Oh God was. Right, Redeemer is is the most chantable, singable,

(34:04):
uh like, the most dynamic record on their on their
on their discography, I would say, and I love it.
I absolutely love it, not as a normy but as
you know, a hardcore fan, right, but it is it's
it's their most accessible, right. That's the reason that I

(34:26):
think it's it's it's great because it showed that, you know,
Oh God was definitely not for the average listener. It
was a little too much. Maybe Redeemer is the pendulum
swinging all the way in the other direction, at least
in my opinion. But man, the the dynamics on this
album are so incredible, so many different interesting textures that

(34:50):
I you know, you hadn't heard from Norman Gene, you
didn't really hear in the in the scene in general,
still maintaining that great dissonance when they need it. But
Corey really stepped it up here, learned obviously some new
ways to manipulate and use his voice to create melody

(35:12):
where melody was maybe sometimes lacking on Oh God. And
there's earworms here everywhere, And I have to say, No Passenger,
No Parasite. God, damn, why is that such a good song.
It's so simple in comparison to the rest of their stuff,

(35:33):
but it builds and builds and builds and builds and
finally releases in such a satisfying way. Again, that's one
of the If there's one thing that Norma Gen has
always done, is their closer song is so expertly crafted
all the way across their discography, and No Passenger, No

(35:55):
Parasite is easily up there. I do think that there's
a couple filler songs on this album, but the ones
that aren't are absolutely enormously impressive. To me. I have
it number five.

Speaker 6 (36:10):
I'm gonna piggyback on some stuff you said. I actually
have it on number two. For me, I think it's
their best record. It's not my favorite. Oh God is
my favorite, but Redeemer I think is their best record.
But yeah, to piggyback on what you said, I think
it's their most like accessible and then just the one liners.

(36:33):
Everything is chantible in this record, especially if you see
them live and you like know their music, like people
are always like climbing on each other and like going
nuts to these Redeemer songs, especially like, you know, my
favorite song on that record is the End of All
Things will be Televised. And you know, I'm a Southern boy,
but like you know, tonight the South is on fire,

(36:55):
so like everybody's always going nuts, you know, And I
just there was something really special when this record dropped.
I could be wrong, but I think this is when
they really broke into like the mainstream right, like like
markets and stuff, because.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
Like it definitely did feel like the biggest album to date.

Speaker 6 (37:18):
Yeah, Like I was like a kid when this came out,
so you know, I do remember seeing like stuff in
like Walmart and stuff like that, like and we can
touch on that later, but I just this record. I
saw the ten year anniversary show and that that is
in the top ten shows I've ever been to. H

(37:41):
they played at the end with Gray Haven and in Nashville, Sorry,
and I just remember like the whole room was going
nuts for these songs and just you know, Front to back.
It was just so special because it's like, you know,
this this is a record that you know, it's one
of the most impactful, like influential records that I've ever

(38:04):
listened to, and like from the album art to like
the actual songs, to like seeing those songs play live,
like it's just everything is so you know special as
a listener, as a fan of Norma Jean, like it
just resonates through your whole being, you know, but this

(38:25):
is their this is their best record in my opinion.
It's very fun. I listen to it all the time,
and you know, just to rehash, like it's not even
my favorite record from them, but I do think it
is their best.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
So yeah, I'll I'll say the same thing. Actually, JJ,
I think it is probably their best. Actually, what's interesting
is I've got two albums ahead of them, or ahead
of ahead of Redeemers, so actually Redeemers number three for me.

Speaker 4 (38:52):
But I do think it's the best.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
Like, like, for example, maybe the way I would say
or qualify the best is if somebody to say, I've
never heard of Norma Gene, Like.

Speaker 4 (39:03):
Where should I be Redeemer? Yeah, listening to.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
Norma Geen, I do think no, or I think Redeemer
is like maybe the best representation at least as an
whole album that kind of gives you the complete sound
of all of their records, uh in one I think
Redeemer might be the best at that. So uh for
that reason, I think it's their best or at least.

Speaker 4 (39:25):
Maybe most complete.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
I don't I don't know if there's a differentiation there
for me, but certainly the most complete Normal Gene album.
But I think it probably is their best album as well.
It's not my favorite, I've got two other albums ahead
of it, but it's certainly I think their best and
so yeah and yeah, just to you know, you both
have already talked a little bit about just the the
the way that people react to these songs when they

(39:49):
play them live, like outside of maybe well certainly outside
of Memphis and then probably outside of maybe one other
maybe like Face Face or something from Bust the Martyr.
I don't know if anybody gets as riled up about
any Norma Jean song other than Redeemer songs, Like I mean,

(40:09):
obviously lots of songs people start freaking out or whatever,
but the way like when they start doing like you know, uh,
they start doing that, you know, South is on fire,
like people will freak out. Yeah and yeah they just
they do that well or you know, like you know
the beginning of a small small Spark, you know, like

(40:31):
when people know that that's starting to build or whatever,
and then that first like crescendo hits, people freak out.
Like there's just something about, uh, some of the songs
on that album that just captured the imagination of their
fans more so than probably most of their other albums.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
So I have to I have to if I have to,
I have to jump in the real quick, because I
remember a core memory that just popped up for me.
I remember Mason and I traveling in the church bus
and we're sharing one headphone each from my iPod Classic
and uh we we turn on Small Spark versus Great Forest,

(41:09):
and Mason and I go absolutely ape shit, like a
bunch of like a like a couple kids who've had
way too much mountain dew and way too many way
too much Red forty or whatever it is. And everyone
on the bus is looking at us like.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
What a bunch of idiots we were, like legitimately having
like our own little mini mosh pit next to each other.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
Yeah, or seizures and you know, yeah, and we're like
shaking the seats ahead of us, and the kids in
front of us are like, would you please stop? I
am a distinguished gentleman, and we're like, no, you're not.
You're in the pit now, bitch.

Speaker 6 (41:48):
I have a similar story real quick. So yeah, Blueprint
Blueprints for Future Homes was featured on like a Vans
Warped tour like compilation or something like that, And specifically,
that was the one song I was trying to get
one of my best friends in middle school to listen to.
I was like, dude, you have to listen to this band,
like they're so good, you know, it's it's a rock

(42:11):
and roll bands, you know. And it didn't stick with them,
but you know, it stuck with me, so at least
I worked for somebody.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
Joe here.

Speaker 5 (42:23):
Yeah, So for me, I actually would say I before
I forget, I don't I this is okay. I'll say
it where it's in my ranking. First, it's at number
one and uh, and I'll get into the reasons why
for a second. However, it wouldn't be the first album

(42:44):
that I showed to somebody. That first album is I'll
point that out when we get to that album, because
I feel like there's another album that feels like more
of a compilation that's like encompassing of everything that they do,
and they really lean into it on each song. But
in terms of Redeemer, yeah, I think it just kind

(43:07):
of came out at the right time for me, you know,
And I think it was a good marriage of like
the chaos, but still they really kind of reined it
in in such a way that was accessible, you know,
and that's why there are a bunch of one liners
on that record. I think you also saw Corey beginning

(43:31):
to lyrically be that he began to be a little
bit more bold, I think by really just starting to
tackle some pretty hardcore stuff, like you know. I think
it was the song Cemetery like a stage he mentioned
on stage.

Speaker 3 (43:51):
I think it's about.

Speaker 5 (43:52):
Him getting home from school one day and then finding
out that his father had been killed by a drunk
driver or something like that, and and just uh and
I was just like, whoa, that's you know, and and
just a lot of the uh, the lyrical.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
Content just really stuck out to me, especially being.

Speaker 5 (44:13):
Uh uh, you know, kind of a younger, an greer
dude at the time, you know, like on Amnesty please.

Speaker 3 (44:20):
You know, I've been so bitter to you know, just
like over and over again.

Speaker 5 (44:24):
And I have to say, like both him and Droscovin
are really good at like taking one line and then
just beating you over the fucking school.

Speaker 3 (44:35):
Right, and and and and it.

Speaker 5 (44:38):
And the more you do it like it or like
scream it back, like the more kind of like violent,
you get to like it takes out something very primal
in like at least my like being, you know, and
especially if the lyric is something that I could really
identify with. And but I actually think think that they yeah,

(45:01):
they started to tap into that mainstream stuff, but I
feel like there is a lot of artsy partsy.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
Parts absolutely, yeah, and you know.

Speaker 5 (45:09):
Like a small spark like yeah, I mean, just who
would have ever thought that they would have had, Like
I guess I can't I don't know, I can't pinpoint
what percussion that's being used on the build.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
Up, but there's also acoustic guitar and.

Speaker 5 (45:24):
You're just kind of like, fuck, yeah, they're throwing the
kitchen sink at this, and they're heavy as shit, and
I mean they're literally putting their like dong and.

Speaker 3 (45:34):
Balls on the table.

Speaker 5 (45:38):
So anyway, so number one for me, you know, I
won't say uh, but it's very hard, like the top
three for me were very difficult.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
But yeah, yeah, good pick. That puts it at two
point seven five. So it is now in contention with
Oh God the Aftermath for the third spot. So we'll
have to come back and argue that at the end.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Colin, are you actually writing down like the decibel number
two because that would be maybe helpful to.

Speaker 4 (46:08):
Yep, I am good, good to know, all right? Perfect?

Speaker 3 (46:14):
All right?

Speaker 2 (46:15):
So next album Anti Mother two thousand and nine. Who
wants to start with that one?

Speaker 1 (46:21):
Ma said, I think you should start with this one.

Speaker 4 (46:23):
Great, I can do that. It's my favorite Norman Gen
album of all time. It's number one for me. Wow,
I didn't know that it's number one.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
And here's what's interesting. I think maybe i'll just add
this commentary. It certainly was not my favorite, you know,
like when it came out in two thousand and nine,
at that point, you know, having listened to Bless the Martyr,
Oh God and Redeemer, it immediately went to number four
for me.

Speaker 4 (46:49):
It was just like I didn't really know what to do.

Speaker 3 (46:51):
With it.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
It just sounded so much softer at the time, at
least the singles that came out for it. I just
it sounded way softer, and I just didn't really get it.
And then it was probably like, so that came out
in two thousand and nine, so I was probably like
a freshman in high school. I think maybe it's yeah,
freshman in high school, maybe eighth grade something like that.
But it was like later on in high school and

(47:12):
certainly starting in college when I would like revisit that
album that I was like, oh, there's actually probably the
like catchiest hooks of any normal gen album, like the
earworm kind of hooks that just constantly are playing in
my head. This album just has so many of those
for me, and I understand, like to a degree why

(47:33):
people think of it as sort of like a maybe
a softer album in comparison, especially in comparison to the
previous three albums. But there's just something about the way
that they design their riffs on that album that just
feel so heavy to me, and I also.

Speaker 4 (47:48):
Really love it.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
And not to say that this didn't exist on Oh
God or Redeemer, but you start to hear a little
bit of the the ethereal Norma Gen sound that we
really associate with Norma Jean. I think we start to
really hear that more on this album. I'm forgetting the
Is it like Corey's brother that's involved, isn't.

Speaker 4 (48:08):
Yeah, Will Putney, Yeah, Will Will.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
So it's I think, and again I don't know when,
maybe he was involved with the band before then, but
and I don't even know if he was involved with
with Anti Mother, But there is just something about that
kind of ethereal just noise that you hear or again
that we now associate with more modern Norman Gene albums,
that you start to hear that on this album. And
I really really love that dynamic that they added to it.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
So no anyway, actually I think on this record, what
I think that is, that almost ethereal kind of thing
is is actually the guitar tone. Guitar tone took a
big change on this record for sure, and I think
that's Page Hamilton influence from Helmet Helmett is is in
my opinion, they have the best guitar tone of any
heavy band ever. And Page Hamilton was helping write some

(48:58):
of this stuff a long with China Moreno, So I
think some of that kind of atmospheric kind of stuff
in terms of guitar tone, was Page Hamilton influenced, and
it is something that tends, at least in my ear,
tends to kind of translate to the records following as well.

(49:21):
And maybe that's just me, but you also have an
extra guitar here, so there's just there is more room
for some of that stuff to kind of kind of live.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
So yeah, anyway, I think it's one of those albums where,
you know, Colin, you mentioned before that Redeemer has like
maybe one or two fillers. I just don't think Anti
Mother has any filler For me at least I would
agree with that.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
I'd say that the Anti Mother is for me.

Speaker 5 (49:56):
It's like I said, I love the whole discography. I
think I definitely need to be in a certain mood
for it. Yeah, it's uh, it rests at number eight
for me, but it's definitely got some of my favorite
songs that they've ever done on the record. And and
for me, I don't think any normal Gene record has

(50:17):
actually ever had a filler track in my opinion, So
for me, it's like I I genuinely enjoy everything I
think it. To me, it's also again just seeing like
Corey kind of opening up even further with fighters, snakes

(50:39):
and actors and self employed chemists. You know, just like
on the first track that I mentioned, you know, talking
about like you know, calling out religious people and whatnot.

Speaker 3 (50:52):
And that's something that I know Mason knows something about.

Speaker 5 (50:57):
And and you know I saw and uh and you
know Murphy was an Optimist. Just great fucking song and
you know it's to me, it's great. And then like
I think, I think what was the song? And there
will be a swarm of hornets? Yeah, not like just

(51:18):
even like I wonder if they like actually went to
an actual beehive or something like that and just like
took the mic or if it was just like a sample.

Speaker 3 (51:26):
But it's just it's so cool.

Speaker 5 (51:29):
And you know, however, I think, uh, for for me,
it's the the stuff that really resonated with me, aside.

Speaker 3 (51:40):
From like what we talked about in There was a Redeemer.

Speaker 5 (51:44):
Uh it's still yet to come, but again another great entry,
something that it's definitely an album I come back to.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
I have.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
This one is number six for me. I think this
is their perfect record, and by perfect, I mean there
is no filler whatsoever. Every song has something that I
have taken something from. I think that it's expertly crafted
all the way, all the way across. I also, Mason

(52:15):
was onto something when he said that this like when
he listened to it in two thousand and nine, it
felt softer compared to some of the other records and
stuff like that, and I felt the same way. But
I also didn't care also much that it did feel softer.
But I almost kind of put it in like a
I put it in a different category of music, I guess,

(52:37):
and it's not. It's kind of a record unto itself,
and that it is like it's like an indie metal record,
like think of like indie rock, kind of kind of homespun,
very designed for I don't even know how to say it.

(53:02):
It felt like it was much more designed for a
broader market, but it did not appeal to a broader
market due to its content of the lyrics, especially of which.

Speaker 4 (53:14):
I really quick on.

Speaker 1 (53:16):
Yeah, I'm kind of fumbling.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
Through because it's interesting you still categorize it more metal
because that this is the album where it feels it
actually is diverging a little bit from metal like the
previous three albums, feel very distinctly metalcore, very metal type riffs.
This is the album where their rifts sound more punk like.
To me, the rifts sound more like refused rifts. Then

(53:40):
they do sound like converg your Botch rifts.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
Totally totally just the riffs just.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
Sound way more punk rather than metal in this album,
and I think that I think that threw me off
initially when I first heard it, and now I've come
to really respect it to the point where They've become
some of my favorite normal Gene riffs.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
Yeah, I think, uh, other than one of the record
on this on this list, I think this is Cory's
best writing. It is bitter and angry and in some cases,
like Retributive U, it's so pissed off it feels like

(54:19):
all the way through. And it's funny because it's this
It's the album where the music feels like it fits
that mood the least. I'm I do feel depressed when
I listen to this album, and it makes me It
really does put me in that that mood, that mindset,
but it's the right kind of depressed. It's like the
depressed where like you're still motivated to do things, you know,

(54:42):
but maybe not like motive, not like gonna go out
like kill people as what I mean about that, but
like because when you say depressed and motivated, that's usual
usually where it goes. I feel like, but I mean
like like I can still I can still live my day,
if you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (54:58):
Does that make sense? I'm never gonna listen to that
album with you ever again.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
I think only when we're driving in the car, when
I'm when I'm that.

Speaker 3 (55:07):
That was some white dude ship. I just wow, Like
I wanted to.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
I wanted to put the stipulations out there so that uh,
you know, I didn't have people pointing fingers.

Speaker 4 (55:24):
Not like Marilyn Manson kind of depressed.

Speaker 5 (55:26):
Right, not that kind of impressed Trench Cope Mafia depressed,
but real quick.

Speaker 3 (55:35):
Also, I think we should mention this too.

Speaker 5 (55:39):
Ross Robinson Also, this was the first of the two
records he produced for the band too, which probably also
had an impact on a lot of the atmosphere and
the tone, you know, especially with his work with Corn
and what not to Yeah, which is part of the
reason why or slip Knot. But anyway, Yeah, sorry.

Speaker 1 (55:57):
I don't want to take I don't want to take
anything else. Out a JJ's mouth. But my last thing
is that I think Robots three Human zero is one
of the coolest opening drum riffs. I guess you would
call it? Would you call it a drum riff? Drum line?
What do you what do you call it?

Speaker 3 (56:12):
JJ?

Speaker 6 (56:13):
It's so funny. You were the only person I've heard
say the phrase drum riff?

Speaker 1 (56:19):
Like, yeah, what else?

Speaker 3 (56:20):
Do?

Speaker 1 (56:20):
What do you call?

Speaker 6 (56:21):
Talk to me about that? It's not I don't know,
a phill run whatever, like I I don't know, but see,
I call it a.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
Riff because it feels much more musical than that than
just a fill. Yeah, and it's it's it starts.

Speaker 6 (56:36):
I love that you've like quinned this phrase, so keep
saying it. It'll it'll stick. Eventually, I'll get its Wikipedia right,
But I guess it's a segue, not to ship on
everything that y'all have said. But surprisingly, this is my

(56:57):
least favorite Norman Jene record. It is at number nine
for me, and it's actually the only normal Gene record
I still do not own a physical copy of. I'll
probably change that eventually, especially now that I'm talking about it,
but I don't have it on CD. I don't have
the vinyl. I don't even know if they press that,
but I just got it never really stuck for me.

(57:23):
I listened to it occasionally, but you know, even saying
that that's being generous. You know, there's a couple tracks
on that record that I really like, but it's just
it's not one that I sit with, which like, I'm
just you know, surprised that you guys love it so much.

(57:43):
But this is why I love the normal Gene fandom.
It's because everybody has their you know, opinions on what
their favorite is, what the best is, and you know, yeah.

Speaker 4 (57:53):
Able to separate the true Numagene fans from the.

Speaker 6 (57:55):
Faith it just well, it just makes it really interesting
because like I don't know, like someone that's well we
even kind of talked about it earlier. It is like,
you know, if if you're going to show someone Norma Jean,
it's probably gonna be Redeemer, maybe even you know, one
of the other records. But I don't know, Like everybody's

(58:15):
favorite is always different, and I mean there are there
are some bands that have that, but a band of
this stature, you know, especially with the discography they have,
it's so broad and so unique. Everybody's gonna have something
different utronto.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
So I will say I think this is probably the
last Norma Gen album that I would introduce to somebody,
because I do think it kind of is its own thing,
like it's yeah, it just has its own sound that
it doesn't feel particularly representative of all of the other albums.

Speaker 4 (58:51):
Yeah, it just really is its own thing.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
So even though it's my favorite, it also is probably
the one that I would introduce to somebody last if
I wanted them Nagram.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
So something interesting about that is I do generally feel
the same way, but I have actually shown people first
not actually a Redeemer song, but I've shown Deathbed Atheist
as as an introduction because I do feel like that
song in particular is a very good representation of normal gene.
And maybe that's just me.

Speaker 4 (59:22):
But are we moving on?

Speaker 6 (59:25):
Is this a transition?

Speaker 3 (59:26):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (59:26):
Yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah, Sorry, my bad. I was,
I was, I was getting convoluted there.

Speaker 6 (59:33):
I don't know, but that this feeds into what you
were saying. Wasn't The Anti Mother the last record on
their first contract with Solid State before they switched over
to Razor tie with.

Speaker 4 (59:48):
It was also their first one without Daniel gotcha.

Speaker 6 (59:50):
Okay, that's right, Yeah, yeah, I say that. Yea cool?
All right? So next Cohen go.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
Oh well, I already went. But that gives it a
six on our list, So that one's interesting. That's probably
our most bipolar one because we went one, eight, six,
and nine crazy, so we're best, middle and least. That's
that's kind of all over the board. Next one is Meridional,

(01:00:21):
which came out when again Mason twenty twelve ten holy bukets.

Speaker 6 (01:00:25):
Okay, I was a freshman in high school.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
Also, I think I said Anti Mother came out in
twosand and nine. I am actually wrong two thousand and eight.

Speaker 1 (01:00:37):
Yeah, yeah, all right, Meridional. This one was a weird
one for me. I'll go I'll go first in this one.
This record I did not love when it first came out.
This was one of those I had to sit with
for quite a while before I started appreciating it for
what it was. But there was one track right away
that absolutely blew me away. And I think it's Norma

(01:01:00):
Jean's best song that they've ever made, hands down, bar none,
Falling from the Guy Falling from the Sky Day seven.
I think that song is their best song and regardless
of whatever else is on the record. I think that
that song in particular raises it up in my books,

(01:01:24):
like it could make an argument for wherever it wants
to be on the list. But I put it at
number seven. I think it's the record that I have
sat with the lyrics probably the least, though, I will
say so that being said, I don't have a whole
lot else to say about it except for this. I

(01:01:44):
kind of despise the album artwork, Like I know, I
know a lot of people like it, but I cannot
stand it, and I think it's off putting.

Speaker 5 (01:02:00):
I mean, I feel like that's kind of their theme though,
I mean, like at least for like Norma Jean, Like
I've always felt, like you know, just mentioned this earlier,
that there's kind of like some horror themes throughout their discography,
I feel, and you know, whether it's Oh God or

(01:02:20):
The Afterbath, talk about it subtly, you know, like you
look at the booklets and stuff like that, and I
think they got nominated for a Grammy for that. But
but yeah, I know, if it's not your taste, it's
not your taste.

Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
I yeah, go ahead, go ahead, it's all yours. You're
the guest, You're you're not the host.

Speaker 6 (01:02:43):
What It's fine.

Speaker 3 (01:02:45):
I just.

Speaker 6 (01:02:47):
Meridional like it. It's other than Blessed the Martyr, Like
it's the record that I wrestle with the most, because
you know, today it might be sitting at a certain spot,
but tomorrow it might be way higher or lower. It
just really roller coasters up and down their ranking for me,

(01:03:09):
and today I actually put it at six on my list.
But like my bandmate DJ, who is arguably the biggest
Norma Gen fan in my band, and we can get
to that later, Mason like it's his favorite Normal Gene record,
and you know, he and I have talked about it

(01:03:31):
at lengths before, but I'm like, it's always towards the
bottom half of my favorite records from them. But like
every time I listen to it, it's one of those
that just jumps right back up, and then you know,
it's not necessarily my rotation, so it'll fall back down,
but then I'll revisit it and it jumps back up again.

(01:03:52):
And really what speaks volumes to me is that this
record is the turning point of their career. And you know,
I'm not like a historical like you know expert or
whatever on Norman Jean, but this was their first record
with Razor and Tie. Also, Fred says, hello everybody, But

(01:04:14):
you know, I just like this record. I wish I
loved more, and honestly, I wish they would still play
the hits and stuff more from this record because it
deserves more love. And my dog is all over me.
So I'm gonna pass the torch to somebody.

Speaker 4 (01:04:34):
But I actually I like this point.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
I've never really thought about this JJ that Merinial is
sort of a transition type of album and and maybe
part of that is the fact that, you know, this
was their first album that wasn't on Solid State, and
maybe that's part of it. But just from a sound perspective,
it does seem like they start heading in a direction

(01:04:59):
where the the sound that we even know of them
now you can really kind of trace back to Meridinal.
With that said, it's my least favorite Normal Gene album, Like,
like that's not even a question.

Speaker 4 (01:05:11):
I've been interviewing thought twice about it, Like that's probably
been the case probably since it came out.

Speaker 2 (01:05:16):
And here's what's kind of a bummer about that, because
it was kind of the first Normal Gen album where
I was really really stoked about the release of it, like,
you know, knowing that it was going to be coming out.
I still remember going to Walmart the day that it
came out with Culin and buying the album and listening
to it for the first time in its entirety, and
obviously at that point they maybe had like one or

(01:05:36):
two singles out, but I just remember listening to it
in its entirety for the first time and just again
like kind of this excitement around, like, oh my gosh,
like a new normal Gene album, and feeling like I
was able to participate in that with Culin for the
first time because by this point Colin and I had
become really best friends, and it just feeling like I
remember that on that first listen, it just falling flat

(01:05:57):
for me, and honestly, like I've listened to it many
times since and I just can't like get over that
hump for me where it's just it's still been my
least favorite.

Speaker 6 (01:06:08):
I'm shocked, honestly, and somebody can correct me if I'm wrong,
but I think I think there was a bonus track
called Killmore Presidents. So I'm shocked that, you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
I know, the actually probably the only redeeming thing about
this album was especially at the time where I really
hated Obama. I thought that was an amazing album track,
but I just, like you, you think that I would
be a big fan of it, but I just I
could not get over. I don't know, there's just something
about it to me that just felt like they went
in a direction that I just wasn't a fan of,

(01:06:41):
and it, I don't know, it just never stuck to
me in the way that the other albums have.

Speaker 1 (01:06:45):
What's the what's the Angry Brides? What's the anthem of Agribrides?
Is that the name of this song?

Speaker 3 (01:06:51):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:06:51):
Yeah, I think I think it was a track that
got renamed the anthem of it angry Brides, And I
was pissed because I thought Killmore Presidents was the perfect
song title, and I think that they should have kept.

Speaker 4 (01:07:02):
It, but they know they had their own like music
video for it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:06):
I think, yeah, Killmore Presidents is its own song. It's
and ended up being a B side. Uh.

Speaker 5 (01:07:12):
I think there was like another one that was a
B side called Distance to Planets.

Speaker 2 (01:07:16):
Yes, okay, yeah, yeah, that's iTunes version.

Speaker 3 (01:07:22):
So I guess I can give my ranking and stuff.
So a few things about this.

Speaker 5 (01:07:28):
I think that original since at number five For me,
I uh, I think this album was the first album
to me, I agree with what JJ and and and
and uh Mason were saying where it's like there was

(01:07:50):
a turning point you could see that they were going somewhere,
and uh, that was a little bit different. That being said,
I do feel like this kind of felt like it
kind of in some ways picked up where Redeemer left
off in terms of like having combining that heaviness and
that chaos but still a lot of melting that this

(01:08:17):
strikes me is ridial. Strikes me as their first album
where it felt.

Speaker 3 (01:08:23):
Like a real event.

Speaker 5 (01:08:27):
I don't know how how else to put it, but
like you know, before it was just like, oh, we've
released albums, and I feel like Theritiinal was just like, Okay,
not only are we dropping an album, this is like
a fucking event. And I think it has something to
do with how extensive the track list is, and also

(01:08:48):
like this has some of they also started to have
like instrumentals in there too. It's like little parts, and
so it felt like a story to me instead.

Speaker 3 (01:08:59):
Of a collection of song.

Speaker 5 (01:09:01):
And then I think they went back a little bit,
and then after that, I feel like every Normal Gene
album has just been a fucking event. And like, to me,
whenever I get a new Normal Gene record, now I
need to fucking I need to have the fucking vinyl.
I need to sit down with a beer or other
adult things.

Speaker 7 (01:09:21):
Man, it's just treats and uh and I just need
to really like listen to it and absorb it and
like it's it's definitely almost kind of like a spiritual
experience for me.

Speaker 5 (01:09:36):
But we'll we'll get into that a little bit later,
but you know it, this definitely feels like, yeah, that
different turning point. And it's also the last with I
think that with any other I think.

Speaker 3 (01:09:51):
This is the last record with Scott.

Speaker 5 (01:09:54):
Yeah yeah, and Jake and so yeah, where where it's
just starts to go in this direction where uh it's cinematic,
you know, just like uh and and that's where I
think where I really starts to tug at my own
fucking brain and as cheesy as it sounds like heart

(01:10:15):
and stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:10:16):
And that's when I really started to fall in love
with Normagy.

Speaker 5 (01:10:19):
Even though this is not my favorite, it's like in
the middle, but I sent something that's happening for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:10:25):
For sure. Six point seventy five is where Meridional lands.
That is the lowest one, sorry, the highest score yet.
So next is Wrongdoers, which came out. Let me guess
twenty thirteen.

Speaker 4 (01:10:40):
Mason, that's correct, that's correct.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
Okay, do you want me to start out with this
one because I've kind of got a fun little story. Yeah,
when it came out, So yeah, it came out, and yeah,
twenty thirteen. Let's see what the exact date was. Let's
see what Wikipedia says August sixth, So I remember probably
a week later, so yeah, like a week after August sixth,

(01:11:04):
I was going down to college to move into college
because I had to go to college early because i'd
fall camp for football and stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:11:11):
So anyway, going to college early.

Speaker 2 (01:11:13):
And I remember on the way down to like driving
to college with my parents and then with my car
driving all the way down.

Speaker 4 (01:11:20):
We stopped in Sioux Falls, and.

Speaker 2 (01:11:21):
I remember going to Best Buy because I think I
ended up buying my laptop.

Speaker 4 (01:11:26):
Finally got my laptop.

Speaker 2 (01:11:27):
So I remember going to best Buy and I remember
like getting my laptop and I was like, you know,
while I'm at best Buy, might as well, get the
New Normal Gen album because I knew it was coming
out or had just had just come out. So I
get the Norman the New Norman Gen album, Get to college,
get moved in, start doing all the football stuff or whatever,
and I remember, like in between practices at some point,
remember like having some downtime and listening to it for

(01:11:49):
the first time, and again it kind of felt a
little bit like meridianal where it just like didn't hit
for me the right way, like it just it didn't
feel like old you know, normal like Redeemer or Oh God,
the kind of that kind of Normagen, but unlike Meridinal,
Wrongdoers has become one of my favorites. Just again, it
feels a lot like Antime either in the way that

(01:12:11):
it just feels like every song has its place, and
so for this this album, it feels like if there
is any filler, it only has one one song that might.

Speaker 4 (01:12:22):
Be a filler.

Speaker 2 (01:12:23):
But what like the reason why this album has it's
so by the way, Colin, it's number four for me.
The reason why it probably jumps to number four over
even Oh God, The Aftermath is the closing track. I
always say that it's like something like Sun Moon, I
always forget how to what?

Speaker 4 (01:12:41):
It's Sundies.

Speaker 2 (01:12:44):
Yeah, by far my favorite Norman Jean song of all time.

Speaker 4 (01:12:50):
I will I will blow out.

Speaker 2 (01:12:53):
Speakers every time I listen to that song because that
crescendo just is unbelievable. I've never heard anything like it,
and I do think from a production standpoint, you really
start to see Normal Gene production kind of going next
level this album and out and just to hear that song,
Like if if that song would have come out during

(01:13:13):
like the O God years, it just wouldn't have hit
the same way because there's just something about the production
of that song that just makes this makes that song
in particular really stand out. So anyway, I think Wrongdoers
is one of their better ones. It's why it's in
my top half of Normal Gene albums.

Speaker 5 (01:13:29):
And you know what, ayson I would have to agree
because for me, it sits at number three, I think,
And this is actually the album that I would recommend
for first time listeners because I feel like it's a
compilation of everything that they had done to that point.

(01:13:51):
They've you've got the song like the more experimental, longer
songs like Hive Minds or Sun Dies, then you've got
like the cloud normagy and sounding songs like if you
got It at five, you got It at fifty. Potter
has no hands lash whistled like a singing wind. I
have the track of stick Care so cheating. But then
you've got like the more melodic songs like wrong Viewers

(01:14:15):
itself sort in Mouthfire Eyes is like a total like
perfect for active like modern active rock radio, you know.
And then you've also got their first songs that actually
start talking about love in a romantic sense, which I
found pretty interesting, and because I always I feel like

(01:14:37):
it's pretty rare to find like something in metalcore that's
especially kind of more of that mathy stuff that actually
talks about romantic love. I mean, yeah, you've got your
kill switching gages and stuff like that, but like for
something that's a little bit more extreme and a little
bit more heady, I think it's it's definitely unique, and

(01:15:00):
and it's done in the classic you know, Corey style,
you know, like lyrically, and it's it's it's great. And
I think that song's a funeral singer and I think
he dedicates that to his wife whenever they sing it live,
and and I think it's awesome and but and that's
kind of what I mean by like a compilation where

(01:15:22):
it's just like, hey, you've got these handsful songs, like
if you want chaotic Norma Gene, you go here. If
you want melodic here, cinematic here, and it's all you
can find them all in one out.

Speaker 2 (01:15:35):
I can see that that's a that's a good point.
I still think Redeemer is a better like intro of
normal Gene music, but for like for somebody who hasn't
heard it before. But I do think you're right in
the fact, like you obviously put Wrongdoers as like that's
like the best album to introduce somebody to to normal Gene.

(01:15:57):
I would say it's Redeemer, but I would say for me,
number two would probably be Wrongdoers.

Speaker 5 (01:16:01):
And I would say the other way around two for
me for Redeemers, that would because that would would have
been the first one up until Wrongdoers came out.

Speaker 4 (01:16:10):
Fair enough, fair enough colin jj.

Speaker 1 (01:16:15):
JJ go ahead.

Speaker 6 (01:16:16):
Wrongdoers is actually at seven for me, And mostly it's
just because I I don't know like the the hits
on that record, like if you got it at five,
like I love hearing them live. This is the first
record that Jeff was on, I believe, and Jeff is

(01:16:38):
playing with him again. So on the last couple of
tours that I saw them on, you know, they were
playing some songs off of Wrongdoers, so that, you know,
that was fun for me, but I don't know like that.
There's just something that didn't resonate with me with this record.
And I won't get too much into this because you know,

(01:16:59):
we have others to talk about, but I don't know
the artwork that came with this, the videos, like the
content or whatever that came with this record. I absolutely loved.
It was just the songs that really didn't like stick
with me. And I'm not gonna shit all over the
things that y'all just talked about. But you know, this

(01:17:19):
band is amazing, you know. I just because this is
at the lower lower end of my list doesn't mean
that it's not good. You know, I still recommend this
record to people, but it just wasn't my favorite.

Speaker 4 (01:17:31):
It's okay, be wrong.

Speaker 6 (01:17:33):
Whatever I do. I do want to point out that
I think it's very funny that you know, sitting here
and talking about Oh God, and then hearing your specific
favorites Mason, that you love anti mother and wrongdoers. It's
just so funny to see these at the very end
of my list while you're talking about them. But I

(01:17:57):
am glad that someone loves them.

Speaker 2 (01:18:00):
One thing before you go, Cullen, that I find I've
always found this interesting about wrongdoers. Sword and Mouth Fire
Eyes is consistently the top YEP song on Spotify for.

Speaker 4 (01:18:14):
Normally it is.

Speaker 2 (01:18:14):
I don't know, Colin, I know you don't use Spotify,
but yeah, I don't know if that's the case on
Apple Music or like YouTube music. On YouTube music too, Yeah,
I don't And I don't understand that, Like I don't
remember it being like some big single for them ever,
So I've never understood, like they must it must have
got playlisted at some pointers, but I've never understood the

(01:18:35):
reason for that song being so like cause I mean,
even if they played it live, like I'm sure lots
of people will like it live. But like when I
think of like, like, if we were to do a
ranking of Norman Jeen songs, not just albums, but Norman
Jeens songs, and if we got, like especially a lot
of Norman Jeen fans, I can assure you that song
it probably is not even coming close to the top ten,

(01:18:55):
if not even probably not even the top twenty five.

Speaker 4 (01:18:58):
So I just find it interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:18:59):
That it it's consistently ranked as the number one song
on Spotify for them, and I bet they rarely play
it live, right.

Speaker 6 (01:19:07):
I was actually like gonna bring that up. It was
really weird when I went back, and you know, it
was quote unquote doing my homework because like it worked today.
I was like gonna put some of the records on,
and you know, I'm an Apple music guy, So when
I pulled up their profile, I was like, why is
the song like in the top three. It didn't make

(01:19:28):
any sense to me. But also quick like little tidbit
so DJ in Idle Threat, he and I a few
years ago we were gonna start like a doom project,
me and him and our other friend Zan, and we
were gonna call it Funeral Singer, and we had their

(01:19:49):
old band in Nashville. We were gonna have their old
vocalists like play guitar for us and stuff, and we
had Ernie like step in and like kind of right
with us for a while, and then it was just like, ah,
I know, we're not going to do this anymore, but
I always wanted to do like a doom project called
Funeral Singer, and yeah, dude, it's so good. And honestly,

(01:20:13):
like I went back, you know, within the last year
or so and like looked and there's like fifty thousand
bands that are called Funeral Singer and really, you know,
shout out to Norma Jean for that one. But I
don't think anybody took off with it. So if anybody
wants to steal that and try to write, write a
couple of songs and start a band like good.

Speaker 3 (01:20:34):
Lue Go.

Speaker 1 (01:20:37):
Rock Doors is an interesting one. For me, It's the
one I have sat with the least. It's the one
that I think the songs are all great still, but
I don't think that they rise to the same level
as literally any other album. And so for me it
is ninth I when I think about Norma Jean, this
is this is the last record I'm gonna put on usually.

(01:20:59):
But that being said, I don't hate it. I think,
you know, surprisingly, I think one of the things that
I don't like about this album though, is that when
I think about it, all I can think of is
curdled milk vomits because of the if you got out
of five you got out of fifty music video. That
music video is just burned into my brain to another

(01:21:22):
extent because not all of those pukes were fake. And yeah,
so I think it just I think it actually put
like a very curdled kind of taste in my mouth.
But there are some really really good songs on this
record that I that I do love. And you guys

(01:21:45):
were talking about fire Eyes. That song in particular got
a lot of radio play. And I don't know if
it was pushed by the label or what, but I
was out in the Black Hills and they've got a
kind of a rock station out there, alternative rock station.
They usually play stuff like shine Down and vol Beat

(01:22:06):
and stuff like that. But that song in particular was
getting some some radio play out there when when that
album came out. So that's nine for me. Maybe I
assume that's probably it. I think it. I think it
just got some some decent radio play that ended up
transferring over to people's playlists for streaming. Uh So that

(01:22:29):
ends up with a five point seven five score. Okay,
that is the third highest, all.

Speaker 4 (01:22:39):
Right, next one twenty sixteen polar similar Who wants to begin?
Where are we ranking this one.

Speaker 1 (01:22:47):
I could begin. This is number two for me. I
absolutely adore Polar Similar. I think it is it's a
record that has capture my soul. It also caught me
out like the perfect time, especially with not being like

(01:23:08):
the most impressed with wrongdoers. Polar Similar was a pleasant surprise.
I feel like it took so many different directions and
it's so much more of a record that wants to
be I don't want to say artsy, but it kind

(01:23:29):
of is. I would agree. I would agree with myself.
It's a record that that feels so much darker and
so much more depressed than some of the other records.
And I think part of that is, you know, recording
at Packing Durham Studios, which is absolutely a haunting place.

(01:23:51):
In my opinion, this record really just it made me
feel something that I hadn't felt from Norman Gen before.
And I still don't know if I can quite put
my finger on it, but part of it, like I
was saying, it kind of caught me at the right time.
I'm a big David Bowie fan and I'm a big
Sound Garden fan. Twenty sixteen, I lost both David Bowie

(01:24:17):
and Chris Cornell like two of like my biggest musical heroes,
and I was just, like, you know, feeling kind of
down to the dumps. And I know it's weird to say,
like you feel down because some musical celebrity or musical
icon dies, But like those two individuals like really did
like change the way I thought about music, changed like

(01:24:40):
me as an individual personally, and for some reason, instead
of listening to all their music, I was oftentimes going
to Polar Similar and just listening to it over and
over again and kind of wallowing in my own in
my own thoughts with that. So I don't have a
whole lot else to say. I think that this is
just a really fantastic record all the way through. It's

(01:25:02):
the one I come back to probably more often than
any of these other records, and uh I I love
it for that. It's it's it's a it's a close
friend of mine. I'll say that.

Speaker 6 (01:25:15):
I So I have a lot to say about Polar Similar,
but I'll keep it concise, mostly because you know, we're
we're running at like what the two hour mark or
something now, but also because my dog is attacking me.
So I am playing with my dog while I'm talking.

Speaker 4 (01:25:32):
But that's not with yourself.

Speaker 6 (01:25:34):
I didn't I will neither.

Speaker 1 (01:25:36):
He didn't specify what kind of doubt or.

Speaker 6 (01:25:39):
Deny that I'm also playing with myself right now. And
I know that my lady is in the other room listening,
So honey, if you heard that, I'm joking so so uh.
Polar Similar is actually at number three for me, And
just a quick little story. When they were recording Polar Similar,

(01:26:03):
Corey told me one time that they actually had The
Shining playing while they were recording, like continuously, and that's
my favorite movie ever, which maybe maybe that goes hand
in hand with what you were saying, Callin like they
kind of have that like cinematic like haunting like thing
going for them. Yeah, but this record is just fun,

(01:26:25):
like from beginning to end, like just the little tidbits
of like the y'all are using, like the phrase filler tracks,
like the sampling and stuff that they do in it.
I think the guitar work is great. I believe that
it's the first record that Philly played on who I
just loved that man in general, but the guy fucking riffs.

(01:26:48):
But Polar Similar was really special and for me, like
I remember when it first came out, like upon first listen,
I just fell in love with it. And now that
I've seen a lot of those songs played live, like
it's just you know, it's it's a record that, like,
I just keep coming back to. I listen to it
all the time. Anytime I go to see them and
they play one of those songs, it's just like, oh

(01:27:10):
my god, Like you know, a polar Similar song, you know,
but I don't know, like just think of the each individual,
like you know, instrumentation too, is like so special. The
guitar riffs are great, the bass parts are great, the
drums are awesome. You know, Corey honestly might be at
his best on this record.

Speaker 3 (01:27:31):
I don't.

Speaker 6 (01:27:32):
I don't. I'm not bold enough to say that like
here now, but I just this record's so so good,
and it's sitting at number three for me, so I'm
curious to see where you guys put it.

Speaker 2 (01:27:44):
So for polar Similar again, I have Runderers at number four,
Oh god, the Aftermath at five, So Polar Similar I'm
gonna have at six, which might make it seem like, oh,
it's kind of in that bottom half.

Speaker 4 (01:28:00):
It is technically it is, but at least I want
to give.

Speaker 2 (01:28:03):
The caveat that those three albums almost feel like a
toss up for me, like there even though Polar Similar
I'm gonna put at number six. Out of those three albums,
they all are kind of a toss up a little bit.

Speaker 4 (01:28:16):
So to me, it's sort.

Speaker 2 (01:28:17):
Of it feels like more Polar Similar is kind of
in that like right in that middle range for me.
But here's what I will say about Polar Similar.

Speaker 1 (01:28:25):
Again.

Speaker 2 (01:28:26):
I know that I put Wrongdoers at number four. Wrongdoers
was a album that really grew on me, especially over
the last like I would say, five to seven years,
and that's why it's number four for me now. But
Polar Similar was kind of the first album since probably
honestly since Redeemer, so it had probably been a good

(01:28:47):
ten years where as soon as the album came out,
I was really really stoked on and for a normal gene.
And so Polar Similar was that like that album that
came out where you know, again like I wasn't super
stoked about Wrongdoers when that came out, wasn't stoked about Meridional,
wasn't stoked about Anti Mother when it had first come out,
and so this was like the first normal Gene album

(01:29:08):
that had come out, when probably the week or two
when it got released, I was like, oh, this this
is starting to feel a lot like Redeemer type of
Normal Gene again, Like it just has that riffage, It
has that heaviness that I had been looking for. And
so it was that it was Polar Similar that kind
of brought me back into normal Gene. Maybe the other

(01:29:29):
thing I'll just mention about Polar Similar was it is
you know, so there's been Polar Similar, there's All Hail,
which we'll.

Speaker 4 (01:29:34):
Get to, and then obviously Death Rattle.

Speaker 2 (01:29:36):
It feels like Polar similar, especially just from like a
production standpoint, these three, these like next three albums starting
with Polar Similar, they almost sound to me like there's
like a new era of Norman Gene and they almost
all could be like interchangeable.

Speaker 4 (01:29:53):
Like they almost sound like, you know, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:29:55):
What we've talked about, like switch Foot before a lot
culin where they'll like record like a hundred songs or whatever,
and then they just have like this like rotation of songs.
It seems like that for me, and I know that's
not the case for them, but it does seem like,
just from a production standpoint, they almost like each one
of these last three albums sound like they could have
all these songs could have been on each other's album
just because they just have the same kind of production quality,

(01:30:17):
so which I actually like. I don't see that as
like a downside, but it just does seem like we're
now in a new era of Norman gen because of that,
and it feels like Polar Similar was like the defining
mark of like now we're a new like era of
Norman Jeen.

Speaker 4 (01:30:33):
So anyway, I really like Polar Similar.

Speaker 2 (01:30:35):
I know it's gonna be on the kind of the
bottom half for me at number six, but it is
an album I really want to like sing its praises.

Speaker 5 (01:30:43):
And I would agree with that it's gonna be on
the bottom half for me too, but not because it's
not amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:30:50):
I just happened.

Speaker 5 (01:30:51):
I mean, they have such an extensive discography, so I'm
just like, fuck dude, Like so for me, man, it's
kind of funny, like I have quite a bit to
say about it, so I'll try to keep it as
concise as possible, But I completely agree with what you
were saying this and like it's the beginning I think.

Speaker 3 (01:31:09):
Of their their what I call their Depression.

Speaker 5 (01:31:11):
Trilogy, and this is what I was talking to Corey
and Philly about where to me, it feels like three
different kind of like sects of depression, you know, like
the to me polar Similar is very kind of despondent removed,
and then we can kind of go into the next

(01:31:33):
ones a little bit later. But like this one to
me just feels i mean, even with a song like
a million watts, like it's it's you know, he's talking about,
you know, like protecting his family, but it's.

Speaker 3 (01:31:46):
Still very cold the way that he's.

Speaker 5 (01:31:49):
You know, like talking about you know, like you're probably
gonna die, you know what I mean if you fuck
with me, you know, like and and it's just it's
very cold, but but I love it. And like the
creepiness factor is dialed up on this record.

Speaker 3 (01:32:06):
I mean you've got.

Speaker 1 (01:32:08):
Those Russian radio transmissions.

Speaker 3 (01:32:10):
That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 5 (01:32:12):
Yeah, it's just like to me, that sounds like that
track or or there's that other track what I think
it's called, Yeah, the Nebula where it's like all just
you know, like like steel guitar and whatnot. Like those
two tracks sound like they would have been on True
Detective season one, like you know, and it's just kind

(01:32:35):
of like swampy like and it's just you know, and
and let's just talk about how and that's what I
meant by like meridional kind of like beginning, like the
event kind of thing, like this is where I feel
like it kind of picks up and now we really
enter the trilogy polish similar and and you know, to me,

(01:32:56):
it's yeah, it's it's funny, even though.

Speaker 3 (01:32:59):
Now I'm kind of like thinking my ranking.

Speaker 5 (01:33:01):
Because I'm like, fuck, dude, because it does mean a
lot to me. And let's just also say, like the
the first tracks on the next on this record, in
the next two are just like fucking monumental as fuck,
like like again, this is just these next three records

(01:33:22):
are like they're putting their fucking balls and their fucking
whole cock on the table and they're just saying, like, dude,
like this is is.

Speaker 4 (01:33:33):
Light Worker Christian band anymore?

Speaker 3 (01:33:36):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (01:33:37):
Yeah, well, especially now, you know, like I watched The
Righteous Gemstones and I got very inspired and I was
like I.

Speaker 6 (01:33:45):
Could do that, dude. I'm I'm watching through that right now.
Should we start a band together?

Speaker 3 (01:33:51):
Let's go, dude.

Speaker 1 (01:33:53):
I love Righteous Jempstones, I feel like I feel like, right, Gemstones,
what the what the writers did was they just listen
to Marriage of Heaven and Hell by Plea and they're like,
all right, this is a TV show.

Speaker 5 (01:34:06):
Absolutely absolutely, dude, it's just or they just like read
up on the history.

Speaker 3 (01:34:12):
Of Benny hint, Yeah exactly.

Speaker 5 (01:34:16):
But anyway, Yeah, so polar similar I think is it
is a masterpiece?

Speaker 1 (01:34:23):
And where do you where do you rank it at? Joe?

Speaker 3 (01:34:25):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (01:34:25):
Sorry, I thought I mentioned that missed it. I apologize.
Seven so at the bottom half. But again, like I
I do love it. And the first in in the
Depression trilogy?

Speaker 4 (01:34:39):
Hell yeah, so where where is uh?

Speaker 1 (01:34:44):
That puts it at four point five, which is slightly
better ranked than Bless the Martyr. Wow?

Speaker 4 (01:34:53):
Who could have saw that coming? All right, well, good
to know.

Speaker 2 (01:34:58):
All right, well let's move on to All hal twenty nineteen.
At the end of twenty nineteen, where do we have
all Hale?

Speaker 4 (01:35:05):
Who wants to go first?

Speaker 6 (01:35:08):
Oh it's a four for me, I'm cutting you off.
We just talked. Oh yeah, and I'll be quick, I promise,
But yeah, it's a four for me. I think it's
sitting at four honestly because like you know, not jerking
myself off here, but like you know, we did tour

(01:35:30):
with them like right after this record came out and
then when Death Rattle came out. But if I'm not mistaken,
this is the first record that Matt drummed.

Speaker 4 (01:35:40):
On, and then that's correct.

Speaker 3 (01:35:42):
Yep.

Speaker 6 (01:35:43):
Like I don't know, Like for me, this was a
very guitar heavy record, but also like lyrically, this was
a really heavy record to like sit through, and I
don't know, it's just a very special era of this band.
So I saw them live I think like four or
five times when they were touring this record, and then

(01:36:04):
I don't know, it's just like all the visuals and
stuff that went with it as well, like really stick
with me. It's kind of where I feel like this
band matured into something to where they were, like, hey,
we're a legacy band. Any Norman jen fan from the
beginning or a new norma Jen fan finds something in

(01:36:27):
this record to really latch onto. But yeah, like that
that should like you know, put a nice little circumference
around like what I feel with this record. But all
in all, like there's a lot of really special songs
front to back on this one. I would highly recommend
it to somebody to check out. But this is maybe

(01:36:49):
an unpopular opinion, but my favorite song from them on
that record is actually Anna So and that's the one
that has Garrett Russell on it, so big fan of that.
So it's kind of a crossroads moment of like you
have a legacy band and a band that's really like
just shooting to the top of like the whole you know,

(01:37:12):
underground Christ Corps whatever scene. So that was just one
of those moments for me where I was like, yeah,
this this band still has it. You know, they're they're
reconnecting the old with the news. So yeah, so passing
the torch on that one, that one's sitting it for
for me, Oh yeah, Joe, Oh for.

Speaker 3 (01:37:34):
Me, that's sitting at number two. Wow. I really loved.

Speaker 5 (01:37:41):
The record, and yeah, the second Entry and the Depression Trilogy,
and that was the only reason why I was going
to go, just because I was like, ah, you know,
just starting forward with no, no, you're good. But you know,
to me, I think this one is a little bit
more of an external kind of depression, like of like

(01:38:04):
a reaction to.

Speaker 2 (01:38:09):
It.

Speaker 5 (01:38:09):
To me, it's it's definitely it's kind of funny. Even
though reactions on Polar similar, this one's kind of more
of a reaction to the things that are are around you.
And even Corey said this, you know, like the name
of this the album was inspired by the fans, you know,
all hail and yeah it's got I mean, dude, it's
got just like some of the most chaotic shit that

(01:38:30):
I've ever heard them do, and just like it's a
little bit more metal in some places too, you know,
like really quick risks. And I'm a total fucking metal head,
so like, you know, and I think, uh, you know,
Grayson obviously helped out with that, you know, I know
he's a huge Pantera fan, so and yeah, so like

(01:38:54):
all in all, just uh, you know, again, it's just
all encompassing and and again smash, like just a smashing
opening and like epic closing, a fantastic installment in that
depression trilogy.

Speaker 1 (01:39:11):
Yeah, I love that you call it a depression trilogy,
and I think it fits right in. I have it
at eight, but I that's I feel like this is
a very soft eight. I did not want to put
it eight. And the only reason I put it eight
the record snuck up on me. I was still even
three years later digesting Polar Similar, and I felt like

(01:39:35):
it was too much normal Gene for me too soon,
which is very strange, but I think it's just because
Polar Similar had that much of an effect on me personally.
All Hail. I was really off put by the by
the album name. And I know that you know, they've
they've always said all Hail the mighty normal Gene, but
like it's really kind of been off putting to me,

(01:39:56):
like just the just the album name, but the song.
Holy shit, are they good.

Speaker 6 (01:40:02):
They did record, dude, like it. They earned that, like
they did.

Speaker 1 (01:40:09):
They absolutely did. Like you nailed that, You nailed that.
I've just always been like kind of like firmly against
like self reverential kind of kind of kind of stuff.
But I think that they were actually trying to like
turn that back at the fans and be like, hey,

(01:40:30):
all hail the fans, Like you guys have like stuck
with us and like, you know, been been through this
whole thing with us. But the songs on this record
are the most I don't want to say anthemic because
they're not necessarily anthemic, but man, they just hit the heaviest,
like it makes you feel a lot of times like

(01:40:53):
you want to run through walls. Yeah, I don't have
much else to say. I really do love this album,
and I think it's I think this is actually a
really good spot. Like if there's someone who like does
listen to heavy music, this is a good album to
turn people on to to be like, hey, this is
kind of like what Norman Gene is if you want

(01:41:14):
some of that really really heavy stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:41:17):
Yeah, I totally agree with you all.

Speaker 2 (01:41:20):
Again, like kind of along the lines of what I
mentioned before of like you've got these there's kind of
this grouping of albums that almost kind of feel like
a toss up for each one of them. But what
I will say so I have All Hale at number seven,
so again it's sort of in that bottom third. And
I'll say this again for Death Rattle. All Hale is

(01:41:43):
just it's the album. It came out five six years ago,
and I just like haven't been able to listen to
it long enough to really fully appreciate it. I think
now you all are you know talking about like JJ
you mentioned Anna, you know the open track is unbeliev
whyle I listen to opening track all the time. Landslide

(01:42:04):
Defeat I think is like one of the coolest Raegene
tracks absolutely, especially with that like knife on on the
guitar neck that's so sick. I mean, they're just a
number of songs on this album that are just amazing songs,
and and so I want to have it higher than seven.

Speaker 4 (01:42:20):
I just haven't been able to like fully appreciate it.
I think in the way that it deserves to be
appreciated for it to be higher.

Speaker 2 (01:42:27):
But that also means, like, if I'm gonna rank it higher,
then there's gonna be other albums I really like that
are gonna they're gonna be rink lower.

Speaker 4 (01:42:33):
But yeah, I have a number seven.

Speaker 2 (01:42:35):
But again, it's one of those things where I still
love it, Like I still like whenever they play any
of these songs live, I'm gonna freak out. But yeah,
I just like I for whatever reason, it's just it's
gonna be at number seven for me.

Speaker 1 (01:42:47):
So yeah, that puts it out a five point two five.
These these number these rankings are actually working out really
really nicely. We're gonna be able to sort them out
pretty easily. I think good last one on Death Rattle
Sing for Me.

Speaker 2 (01:43:03):
Two thousand and two or sorry, two thousand and two,
twenty twenty two, which is gosh, album's almost three years
old now, it's.

Speaker 4 (01:43:17):
Just hard to believe.

Speaker 1 (01:43:17):
That is hard to believe.

Speaker 4 (01:43:19):
So yeah, where do we have this one? Guys?

Speaker 6 (01:43:21):
I don't want to cut line again, but I'm gonna so.
Right when they released this record is when we Idle
Threat was going out on like a little tour with
him and my favorite show that I have ever played.
We were in Colorado Springs and you guys were there.

Speaker 1 (01:43:42):
We were there with you, and.

Speaker 6 (01:43:45):
So if I'm not mistaken, it was either the day
before the day after they released Death Rattle was the
show that we played with them, and that record, Like,
I don't know, like it's to preface really quickly. I
don't think there is a bad Norma Gene record, but

(01:44:08):
it is sitting at eight for me. But I fucking
love it, Like I listen to it all the time still.
You know, maybe that's recency bias or anything like that,
but like I I love it, and I've seen these
songs played live like a bunch, So I don't know,

(01:44:29):
there's just like a special I don't want to regurgitate
like things I've already said, but like There's there's something
special going on with like the era of this band
right now to where when they're touring on this record.
When I listen to it now, even you know, a
year or two pasts, it's like I'm picking up different

(01:44:51):
little things that I love, especially in songs like Spearmint
Revolts or like the opening track, or you know, even
getting into like the lineup they have now, which I
will go ahead and pitch that. I think the current
iteration of Norman Jean is my favorite I've ever seen.

Speaker 1 (01:45:10):
Wow, I'm not saying a lot chore on.

Speaker 6 (01:45:12):
Vocals, and then Clay playing bass, and then Grayson Philly
and Jeff on guitar. I just I love like they're.

Speaker 1 (01:45:22):
Leave Matt out. Okay, I mean he's playing drums.

Speaker 6 (01:45:27):
He's playing drums.

Speaker 1 (01:45:28):
Come on, you're a drummer who doesn't think about the
drummer first with the are No, he.

Speaker 4 (01:45:36):
He is my dog.

Speaker 1 (01:45:38):
He is a dog.

Speaker 6 (01:45:40):
Did I not say that? Like anyway? Whatever?

Speaker 1 (01:45:44):
No, you didn't, you missed it.

Speaker 6 (01:45:46):
This is my favorite iteration of Norman Jean by far.
But I don't know, like I I this record like
it might be towards the bottom half, like you know,
seconds last for me, but it's still very very special.
So yeah, like, where where do you guys have it?

Speaker 1 (01:46:07):
I like how you're trying to braid your your your
your heir and to Grayson braids are right now?

Speaker 6 (01:46:13):
Oh my god. Now I have so many stories. We'll
skip that for another time.

Speaker 2 (01:46:19):
So so JJ you have at number eight you said yes,
so I do as well. And again, I think it's
similar to All Hail for Me, where I just haven't
been able to kind of sit on this album long
enough to really appreciate it in its entirety. With that said, though,
I do think Spearmint Revolt could for me go down

(01:46:42):
as like a top five norma Geen song of all
time for me?

Speaker 1 (01:46:45):
Does does anyone else? Whenever you hear Spearmint Revolt, do
you want to say Spearmint Rhino?

Speaker 4 (01:46:51):
No, that's never I've always thought it was like a rhino.

Speaker 1 (01:46:56):
Is a famous strip club.

Speaker 2 (01:46:57):
I just I always thought like Spearmint Revolt was like, all.

Speaker 6 (01:47:00):
Right, tell me more with visuals.

Speaker 1 (01:47:06):
I'll tell you with visuals through the spoken word.

Speaker 6 (01:47:11):
I'm gonna google it real quick.

Speaker 4 (01:47:13):
Yeah you do that, I will say Spearmint. Spearmint Revolt sounds.

Speaker 2 (01:47:17):
Like the like this what what like five or Stride
Gum would call their spearmints.

Speaker 6 (01:47:23):
Oh my god, Okay, i'd.

Speaker 1 (01:47:29):
Now you are actually playing with yourself, I can tell.

Speaker 3 (01:47:33):
Anyway.

Speaker 2 (01:47:33):
I think that song is an absolute killer of a
song again, just so well written, could go down as
like a top five normal Geen song of all time.
For me, it's just absolutely unbelievable. But yeah, I just
haven't been able to sit on this album long enough
to really fully appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (01:47:49):
So that's why I have it at number eight.

Speaker 1 (01:47:53):
I have it at number four. I am in love
with the songwriting, especially on this record. I think through
and through that this record is very very strong. I
feel like there's absolutely no kill, like, no filler, all
killer on this I think part of the reason I

(01:48:16):
like it the most, or I like it more than
than some of the other records as well, is because
I've seen Norma Jeene more touring on this record than
any other. Okay, get this, I hadn't seen I hadn't
seen Norma Gene until Polar Polar Similar came out. In

(01:48:40):
between Polar Polar Similar. In all hell, I just never
had the opportunity, and I feel like they they spread
their wings a little wider, a little farther, and I
had a lot more opportunities to see them more recently.
And I feel like I learned these songs like you know,
they get they get stuck in my head a lot
more than a lot of the other songs on the record.

(01:49:01):
And even like the verses and stuff like that. A
lot of times, you know, you just you remember the
choruses or like the big like chant vocals and stuff
like that. But like Death Rattle, like every single lyric,
I think I can, I can recite the whole album.
I'm not gonna do that for you right now, but
I think again.

Speaker 6 (01:49:20):
Do that to me in private.

Speaker 1 (01:49:21):
Actually I'll do it too, in private, to your privates.
And I don't know. I think this record it is
it does sum up the the Depression trilogy kind of
like you're talking about. And I feel like it's it's
it's a the part of the depression where you're like
looking back almost at the old days and being like

(01:49:43):
think about like how much better life was when we
were younger, and when when when there's less responsibilities and
there's less.

Speaker 3 (01:49:53):
Yeah, that's that's really what it is. Yeah, I agree, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:49:57):
And I mean you got you got a John lenn
uh kind of reference in here and stuff like that
as well. You've got You've got some really really classy
and also witty kind of references all throughout the album
that I feel like are very culminating. I almost felt

(01:50:20):
when I was listening to it like it was kind
of like a farewell kind of record, and I was
getting worried that this might be the last one. But
I know it is not, and uh that makes me
at least a little bit happy.

Speaker 5 (01:50:34):
So for me, it's set number four too.

Speaker 3 (01:50:39):
I adored this record.

Speaker 5 (01:50:40):
I think it's something that, like I said, you know,
with the Depression trilogy, to me, it's I think you
kind of hit the nail on the head. I think
it's a self reflective depression. It's you know, and it's
kind of coming to terms with how things might not

(01:51:03):
be the way that you want to be. And also
that hey, like I mean kind of like what Heartache says,
And I just love that for a title of a
Norma Jean song, you know, And it's just like and
it has nothing the fuck to do with romance, and
it has everything to do with like a self examination

(01:51:24):
of the human condition and also just feeling completely in
a way that I feel like kind of abandoned, you know,
by your peers or the people that you want to
associate with, whatever it is that you might you know,

(01:51:44):
I guess kind of correlate with with with that. But yeah,
I mean we've even got like, I think, the first
genuine guitar solo in Waves that they've ever done. Also,
you know, it's this record means a lot to me,
and it's in you know, and it's their newest one,

(01:52:04):
and uh, I feel like whatever they do next, I
think they're kinda I I'm curious to see where they
go next because I don't know if they're going to
keep exploring kind of that you know, like kind of
depression kind of thing. But like like I said, when
when Philly and Corey heard my theory about that, they're like, ah,
that kind of makes sense, you know, and and it's

(01:52:27):
going to be interesting, and I kind of you know, yeah,
it's it's it's it to me.

Speaker 3 (01:52:31):
It's a beautiful record.

Speaker 5 (01:52:32):
I think it's a piece of art, you know, honestly,
And uh yeah, I'll leave it at that.

Speaker 6 (01:52:38):
I I real quick, I going off of what you said,
hot take without knowing literally anything. I think their next
record is going to be their best record.

Speaker 5 (01:52:51):
I think, I think, to be honest with you, low
key I believe that too.

Speaker 6 (01:52:55):
It just feels like it like.

Speaker 5 (01:52:59):
Something's ruined and you know they've got, you know, just
the lineup they've got. Jeff is you know, he's you
know back in a sense, you know, and it's just like,
you know, you've got some of their I don't know, dude,
like and that's what I mean by an event like
each especially the last three albums, just kind of like,

(01:53:21):
I mean, look how we're fan boying over this shit, right,
I mean it feels like a like I'm not really
a Marvel, you know, cinematic Universe guy, but it feels
like we're talking about something like that or like alien
or you know, like any of that stuff. And that's
what I love about this band. They've built their own
lore and that's why it was a real treat. When

(01:53:44):
you know, Corey gives us more than like a short
summary about each song, when he actually peels back the
curtain like he did about Cemetery, like stage, like you really,
I mean, those are little nuggets, like real moments where
you're just kind of like, wow, that's where he's coming from,
and because his lyrics are kind of not as chineto

(01:54:06):
moreno and like cryptic, but they're definitely cryptic to a
certain extent, and you're just kind of like, whoa, what
is this guy talking about? Absolute master at his craft?

Speaker 4 (01:54:16):
Mm hmm, totally agreed.

Speaker 2 (01:54:19):
Yeah, all right, are you ready for the definitive Black
Sheep Norma Gean album ranking.

Speaker 1 (01:54:26):
Yes, we have one tiebreaker to make. Oh okay, so
number nine, number nine is for sure meridional.

Speaker 4 (01:54:34):
So that's the lowest ranked one.

Speaker 1 (01:54:36):
That is the lowest ranked one. Wow, we have a
tie between Anti Mother and Death Rattles sing for me, now, Mason,
Anti Mother was your number one?

Speaker 4 (01:54:47):
Yep, no one.

Speaker 1 (01:54:49):
No one had Death Rattle at number one, not even
not even close to be honest. So for Death Rattle
it was four, eight, eight, and four. For Anti Mother
is one, eight, six and nine. Now to me, I
would say, due to that ranking, we've got no definitive

(01:55:14):
answer is what number? Which one is number eight? So, Mason,
since Anti Mother is your number one, let's see if
we can make a good argument as to why you
think that should be ranked higher or better than Death Rattle.

Speaker 2 (01:55:33):
Well, again, and I think this all comes down to preference.
But I would say, you know, because I would imagine
the rest of the albums are going to be most
in most agreements of kind of where.

Speaker 4 (01:55:45):
We think they should be.

Speaker 2 (01:55:48):
Why I think at least Anti Mother should at least
not be you know, or it should be Is it
number seven, then it would be number seven.

Speaker 3 (01:55:55):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:55:56):
You're you're arguing for number seven instead of number eight.

Speaker 3 (01:55:59):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:55:59):
The reason for that then is again, Anti Mother is
the most unique sounding Norma Gene album, even if it's
not our favorite, I think we all can kind of
agree it just is its own sound, and I think
for that reason alone, just for the sort of risk
that that takes, I think we should at least give
it a little bit of an edge, especially if it's

(01:56:21):
tied with another album. So that would be my argument
for why it should be at least a number seven
in the ranking rather than number eight.

Speaker 1 (01:56:29):
Okay, Mason, I'm gonna argue on your side. I had
at number six, which was the next best ranking for
Anti Mother, and I'm gonna say that I think that
this is where Normal Gene found their guitar tone, the
guitar tone that they have almost essentially stuck with now

(01:56:51):
they haven't stuck with the three guitars all the way
through per se. But I think that the song structures
for Anti Mother are slightly more, slightly more robust than

(01:57:11):
maybe Death Rattle is, and that's only by a hair.
I think Death Rattle has incredible song structure and everything
like that, and and the lyric lyrically Death Rattle, I
would argue, is on par with Anti Mother. What about
Joe and JJ, do you guys have an argument as

(01:57:34):
to why you think Death Rattle should be seven instead
of eight?

Speaker 3 (01:57:42):
Better production? You know? I think.

Speaker 5 (01:57:47):
I think, like I said, it's a masterclass at what
what Corey does? You know? And and it even this
far into their career, their still finding ways to make
first happen. And on top of that, with Anti Mother
also being kind of like that ethereal kind of sound

(01:58:10):
like or that's when they started to add I think
a little bit more of that into it. I mean,
you've got a ton of that in Death Rattle. But
but the argument for Anti Mother is that, I mean,
it's his legacy, you know, and you also have like
like some awesome guests on there. I mean you've got

(01:58:32):
you know, Co from saus and you've got Gina Morono,
You've got Paige Hamilton, you know, and and I know
that that's an album that they personally love a lot too.

Speaker 3 (01:58:41):
So I'm down.

Speaker 5 (01:58:43):
I'm down to just just for you know, to remove
my recency bias is to knock it down to number eight.

Speaker 3 (01:58:55):
But know that it's painful, sure, sure noted.

Speaker 6 (01:59:00):
It's so funny because I'm looking at this just you know,
strictly from my own bias, and these are my number
eight to nine records, right, So I do think Death
Rattle is a better record, and that is recency bias.
But I also own all of the Norman June records

(01:59:24):
except for the Anti Mother. So maybe I'm the one
that needs to go back and like, you know, fall
in love with this record or whatever. But I just
I don't know. I think maybe being you know, we're
sitting here in twenty twenty five, like I think Death
Rattle is just a better record across the board, I

(01:59:46):
don't know, Like, you know, if this is a hill
I'm gonna die on, then I don't know if I'm
willing to do that.

Speaker 3 (01:59:52):
So yeah, all right, sick.

Speaker 1 (01:59:57):
Well, I think it makes sense that Death Rattle stays
at eight. Then because there's two of them, there's two
of us that ranked at number eight, so it feels
more more justified. Okay, so yeah you nine is Meridinal,
eight is Death rattlesing for me, seven is anti Mother,

(02:00:21):
six is Wrongdoers. Five is Blessed the Martyr kiss a Child.
That's the biggest one that like really surprises.

Speaker 6 (02:00:29):
That's what that's four exactly where I have it too.

Speaker 1 (02:00:34):
That's nuts. It's just your it's just your list.

Speaker 6 (02:00:36):
Or what go ahead.

Speaker 1 (02:00:41):
Number four is all Hail, three is polar Similar, two
is oh God, and number one is Redeemed.

Speaker 6 (02:00:50):
I was so close it was almost almost my exact list.
That's crazy.

Speaker 1 (02:00:54):
That's pretty wild. That's pretty wild what it called.

Speaker 2 (02:01:00):
Just say, like from a chronology standpoint, it is a
total mix, right, like, oh yeah, the Marter is right
in the middle. We've got their newest album, Death Rattle.
At the end, we have their more middle albums or
I guess maybe more recent albums as well.

Speaker 4 (02:01:16):
At the at the very top, like it's just it's
kind of intermersed.

Speaker 2 (02:01:19):
But also you've got Polar Similar at what number three
you said, and so it's just it's kind of all
over the place. In terms of just like you know
their chronology, it's not like their best album was their
first one and has gotten worse sense or vice versa.
Like it's just all over the place, which I think
is kind of interesting.

Speaker 1 (02:01:37):
And I think this is such a good cross section
of number Gene listeners too, because you're not going to
get a singular group of people that are gonna say, well,
obviously this is their best album, right, Like if you
were talking about under Oath, more than likely you're gonna sit.
You're gonna get people that say number one is obviously

(02:01:59):
define the great line. Number two is obviously chasing safety,
and then it's kind of a crapshoot from there. But like,
there's no obvious number one here. Even with Redeemer, we
weren't even close to an obvious number one, Like we
were percentage points away from Oh God, which was very

(02:02:24):
very small percentage points away from Polar Similar. It's it's
it is, like you said, all over the board throughout
the years, throughout the decades at this point, which I
think is an anomaly. That that has to be an anomaly.
There's so few bands that you could throw all their

(02:02:45):
records out there, put it on a list and have
everyone rank it who's a listener, and say, all right,
pick your best, and it be smattering a smattering of
their favorites all throughout the throughout the the years. It
is really an anomaly in my opinion.

Speaker 2 (02:03:06):
They are such an interesting band in that way. And
again I think it's a testament of just how unbelievable
of musicians they are. I mean, I think we can
all obviously agree on that. Also, Joe's got to jump off.
But thanks for coming on, Joe. We'll finish this up.

Speaker 4 (02:03:22):
But it's good to see your face.

Speaker 3 (02:03:24):
Yeah, No, absolutely love you guys.

Speaker 5 (02:03:26):
Sorry, my nephew's here and I actually happen to be
in his room and he's two years old and it's
way past at time, so I.

Speaker 1 (02:03:32):
Got well, sorry man, Hey have a good one.

Speaker 2 (02:03:41):
Well JJ, Joe, thanks so much for ranking Norman Geen albums.
Yeah again, just a band that I think obviously has
been instrumental in all of our lives, whether you know,
for Joe especially, it sounds like, you know, lyrically he's
been really you know, influenced by by Corey and you know,

(02:04:02):
I would imagine for you JJ, you know, just from
the drums, whether it's Daniel Davidson or all their other drummers,
especially you know, like knowing that you've gotten really close
with Matt, like you've really been shaped by their drummers.
And then like for Colin and I, it's just you know,
these are this is a band that I think, like Colin,
for Colin and I, like they have been one of
our favorite like just as a friend group, like between

(02:04:24):
Colin and I, like they've been a core band like
them in the Chariot, right, Like just this core band
that every time Colin and I hang out, either Norman
Jean or The Chariot's going to be played. And they've
just been such a core band in our friendships. So
what a like core band for all of our lives.
And so it's always fun to just reminisce uh and
you know.

Speaker 4 (02:04:43):
Duke it out a little bit too, to try to
figure out what what.

Speaker 2 (02:04:46):
Are the best albums in the Norman Gene discography. So thanks,
thanks so much for hanging out.

Speaker 6 (02:04:51):
Yeah, of course I always love you know, chatting with
you guys, y'all are all right? Just before we go, though,
I'm gonna plug Joe's band though, so make sure whoever's listening.
Make sure you listen to light Workers latest album, Have
the Beautiful Decay. It's great if you're into metalcore, please

(02:05:15):
please check it out. He and I are big fans
of each other's bands, and you know, I just want
to make sure that he gets his roses too, So
check out light Worker. Make sure you follow them.

Speaker 1 (02:05:30):
You Workers. Also, they're also going on a great tour
with Meadows and who else?

Speaker 3 (02:05:37):
Mason?

Speaker 1 (02:05:38):
Do you remember who else is on tour?

Speaker 6 (02:05:40):
Meadows, Confessions of a Trader and some other bands that.

Speaker 1 (02:05:43):
Yeah, that's gonna be a killer tour. We're gonna have
to go. We're gonna have to go to that, Mason
for sure. Maybe JJ can can join in on it
somewhere as well.

Speaker 6 (02:05:54):
You'll flum me out hang out.

Speaker 4 (02:05:58):
We'll do it all right, JJ. We'll see you whenever
we see you. But that's always fun to hang out.

Speaker 6 (02:06:04):
Love you guys, Thank you, hang out, love on your people. Goodbye,

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