Norma Jean

Tony Sly Stage 2, Montebello QC, June 23

Photo: Chris Bubinas

BY Joe Smith-EngelhardtPublished Jun 24, 2017

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When metalcore phenoms Norma Jean hit the stage at Montebello Rockfest, they brought along an enormous amount of confidence and prowess to their performance. From the very first note, the band had the crowd thrown into chaos with their sludgy, hardcore rampage of a show.
 
After three ruthless tracks to kick things off, the band took a brief moment to talk with the crowd before unleashing the extremely abrasive "1,000,000 Watts" from their latest record, Polar Similar. Vocalist Cory Brandan called to the crowd to sing along if they knew the words, and the crowd eagerly showed that they were familiar with the song before the band flew straight back into the destructive closing breakdown.
 
Following this, the band blew through the blisteringly fast "If You've Got it at Five, You Got it at Fifty," while instructing the crowd to run a circle pit "just like Nascar." The crowd fiercely fought through the song and put security to work as fans crawled above each other past the barricade.
 
While Norma Jean only had a short, 40-minute set, the band were devastatingly good. The shining moment of their performance came with closing track "Memphis Will Be Laid to Waste," which spawned a flurry of crowd surfers, sing-along moments and sweltering feedback before the band finished the song.
 

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