View Full Version : Norma Jean -- Lawrence, KS -- March 12th, 2011

03-12-2011, 10:16 PM
Totally awesome.

Opening the show was local garage rock n' roll band The Runaway Sons. I saw them last year and they impressed the hell out of me. This time, you could tell they were working against the crowd, but their danceable rock n' roll tunes definitely helped them win over the crowd. Always fun to see this band, they're something different and that's great.

The first of the touring bands was Of Legends and they pretty much personify everything that makes deathcore horrendous. I've seen some pretty terrible deathcore bands in my day, but Of Legends literally played the same note at the same tuning and the same tempo for roughly 75% of their set. It was one of the most atrociously boring performances I've ever seen. The only thing that saved them from being a total Whitechapel rip-off was that their vocalist was okay. Still, an absolute waste of time.

Impending Doom was a leaps and bounds better than Of Legends, but still not very good. I will say that they are probably the Best Worst deathcore band I've ever heard. Whereas each deathcore band before them was boring and atonal and repetitive, Impending Doom at least had their sound tight and spot on. The vocalist was actually pretty damn good as well. They had some fast parts that were a definite breath of fresh air. And the best part? They had ONE GUITARIST. See, Whitechapel? You don't need a million guitarists playing the same open-chords to be brutal.

Stick To Your Guns was the last opening band, and they were a lot of fun! They played pretty much good and fast hardcore in the vein of Terror or Bane, but with some not-too-terrible breakdowns thrown in. The crowd went absolutely ballistic for them, and it was awesome. I really wouldn't mind seeing them again, even in another support slot.

And then it was time. Norma Jean came on and never looked back. They played a lot from their new album, but those all sounded awesome. "Falling From The Sky" was definitely a song that didn't sound like Norma Jean, but it had great emotion. "Face:Face" was epic and "A Grand Scene For A Color Film" was the best surprise of the night. The crowd was insane for their whole set, but literally everyone, including most people standing in the back with their arms crossed, rushed the stage for "Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste." It was fantastic, and nobody does it as good as Norma Jean.

Norma Jean set:

Leaderless And Self-Enlisted
A Grand Scene For A Color Film
The Anthem Of The Angry Brides
Falling From The Sky: Day Seven
A Small Spark vs. A Great Forest
Murderotica: An Avalanche in D Minor
Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste
Outro (might have been an excerpt of Organized Beyond Recognition)
Vipers, Snakes, and Actors

Stick To Your Guns:

What Goes Around
Where the Sun Never Sleeps
Enough Is Enough
Some Kind of Hope
We're What Seperates the Heart From the Heartless
This Is More

Impending Doom:

1. There Will Be Violence
2. Anything Goes
3. Nailed.Dead.Risen
4. The Great Fear
5. Children Of Wrath
6. More Than Conquerors

Norma Jean: 8.5/10
Stick To Your Guns: 7/10
Impending Doom: 5/10
Of Legends: 2/10
The Runaway Sons: 7/10

03-12-2011, 10:26 PM
Nice, I'm hitting this up with a friend of mine who is a big Norma Jean fan. Personally, I can't get much into them, but it should be a fun performance.

Really looking forward to seeing Stick to Your Guns. Hopefully we can get some stagediving going on for This is More :party:

03-13-2011, 09:19 AM
I have friends who are going to this, I was curious (I think they get more shit than they deserve) but I'm going to GY!BE instead.