Anyone that knows me personally knows that I'm pretty burned out on the heavy music scene, but there are a few exceptions. One of those exceptions is Norma Jean (another will be revealed in a few paragraphs). When a friend of mine and I saw that Norma Jean was coming to town, and there was a possibility they'd be playing all of their definitive debut album, Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child, we made plans to go.
Said friend of mine happens to play guitar in a local band called Arcane Haven. As coincidence would have it, Arcane Haven won a battle of the bands competition with a local promoter. The same promoter who booked the Norma Jean show in Pittsburgh. You see where I'm going with this? Anyway, Arcane Haven played first. They're good friends of mine, so I will hold back on praise, but I will say I actually do enjoy their music. Brad Brunazzi, the band's lead guitarist and primary songwriter, is an incredibly skilled musician. Give them a listen, we'll call it a personal favor.
The first national act to play was Arsonists Get All the Girls. It's funny, I filled in on vocals for an Arcane Haven show opening for this band once, but I left early, and I've never even listened to them. Well, I was actually really impressed. Musically, these guys are incredibly skilled. It's not your typical generic metalcore. I also love their lead vocalists screams (even though he's not going to be able to do it at all in a few years, because his technique is terrible). Still, it's heavy music, and most of it sounds the same. Chances are, I won't be seeing these guys again, unless they find themselves on a bill with one of the few heavy bands I still enjoy (see: Converge).
Okay, so if I didn't seem too into Norma Jean, it's because I'm not. The real reason I wanted to go to this show so bad was this video. The Chariot have created quite a reputation for themselves in the scene. I had absurdly high expectations, but all of them were met, and far surpassed. Anyone who tells you The Chariot suck live is only half right. They didn't sound very good at all, I can attest to that, but live shows are a fifty-fifty experience. You also get the visual half too, and The Chariot was a real treat in that sense. All five members of the band were all over the stage, and occasionally off of it too. The crowd was equally fantastic. There was no overdone two-stepping or anything, just a lot of pissed-off people pushing and shoving each other, screaming the words, and having a good time, in our own way. The set list was an excellent mix of all three of the band's full lengths and their EP. Opening with the second half of "Teach:" was the perfect way to gradually introduce the crowd to the chaos that they were in store for. For me, the highlight of the set was "The Deaf Policemen," from The Fiancée. During the "blood on the roots/blood on the branches" part, I got up on top of the crowd and Josh Scogin, the band's frontman, shoved the microphone into my face, and I might as well have lost my voice right then and there. I didn't keep track of the setlist, but I know that along with those two, "Before There Was Atlanta," "Die Interviewer," "Yellow Dress," "And Shot Each Other," and "Daggers" were all played. They certainly made the most of their brief time on stage too, where every other band spent a little bit too much time on banter, not a word was spoken throughout the course of The Chariot's set - it was a half an hour of nonstop mayhem. I found myself exhausted at the conclusion of "Daggers," the last song played, and subsequently I stayed out of most of the action for the rest of the night. That 30 minutes was worth whatever the ticket, parking, and food ended up costing me though, and I'll be doing it again soon enough. The Chariot is something that needs to be fully experienced to be understood.
So how do you follow up an act like that? Whoever booked the tour must've thought something along the lines of "by furthering the outright confusion of the unsuspecting Norma Jean fans!" because that's exactly what HORSE the Band did. I honestly have no idea what was going on for the forty minutes or so that they were on stage. One second they'd be playing an incredibly technical breakdown, but then the next just drunkenly rambling. I wasn't all that impressed, but they drew the biggest crowd of all the bands that played, without a doubt. I spent about half of their set in the crowd, but I found myself indifferent, and much preferred talking to The Chariot's merch guy about 80's movies and foil shirts. I guess they're cool if you're already a fan, but HORSE didn't win me over.
When HORSE's set wrapped up, the room thinned out somewhat, leaving the few die hard Norma Jean fans that had been on the edge of the stage throughout the show, holding on for dear life to their prized spots. Most of the attendees knew ahead of time that the set list would consists almost entirely of songs from the first album, and excitement was mixed. I'm sure there were a lot of old school fans that were there only because of that, but personally, I don't care for Bless the Martyr. I'm partial to Redeemer, but I think even more fans prefer O' God, The Aftermath. Still, this handful of shows is pretty notable because of the front-to-back performance of an album, something not a lot of bands do. And honestly, the band sounded so much better live than on record for every single song. Maybe it's the poor production on the original release, or maybe it's the seven years of age the songs have, but regardless, I would much prefer to listen to live versions of these songs than the ones that appear on the album. I give the band credit for that reason. They also had more energy than most of their peers, but in the context of the other bands playing (cough The Chariot cough), it didn't strike me at the time. Overall, the set was good, definitely worth staying for, if only to see Josh Scogin of The Chariot do two songs with the band. Josh also happens to be a founding member of Norma Jean, and it's his vocals that you hear on Bless the Martyr, so it was really cool to hear him do these songs. The set ended on a good note, but the encore really killed the atmosphere. Note to bands that play heavy music: don't drag out your songs, end with a bang. The extended jamming the band did on "Vipers, Snakes, and Actors" was bland and uninteresting, and a terrible way to close out the night that was actually much better than I expected.
approximate set list:
The Entire World Is Counting On Me...
Face:Face
Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste
Creating Something Out Of Nothing...
The Shotgun Message
Sometimes It's Our Mistakes...
I Used To Hate Cell Phones...*
It Was As If The Dead Man Stood...*
The Human Face, Divine
encore:
Organized Beyond Recognition (Partial)
Vipers, Snakes, And Actors
*with Josh Scogin
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