They used to be, just depends now. I saw them on the Wrongdoers tour and they played to maybe 40 people who just kind of hung out with as little bit of movement. Some of their shows still look pretty busy from what I've seen on Youtube.
I honestly think Polar Similar is the greatest thing this band has put out. It's an incredible record. That said, if you pump O' God loud enough it gets a little harder to pick a favorite.
That's crazy - I had no idea there would be so few people at a Norma Jean show. I've only seen them once in the UK but it was packed. Edit: having said that, I think they were supporting Atreyu so that might have been why it was packed. It was a longer ago than I realised, haha! He Is Legend opened up though and that was fantastic.
I saw them a few months before PS came out and it was at a small bar, which was disappointing off the bat. But while there was more than 40, most of the people were pretty spread out and there was just a small crowd at the front really into the show.
Man, I just assumed they were still doing pretty well, particularly because the new albums were well received. Very interesting!
at that point i think only 100000 suns had come out and i don't think it was well publicized so hopefully it wasn't representative. i feel like there's a need for good heavy music and it blows my mind NJ aren't filling it; they should be up there with ETID in popularity.
Norma Jean still does pretty well overall. They get good press, release good records and still sell a good amount of albums. I think there's a couple factors to the outcome of shows, one being that the crowd that used to frequent NJ shows back in the early through mid-2000's has grown up and doesn't go to many shows at all anymore. ETID was in the same shape, but I think were able to rebuild themselves on top of Warped Tour, bigger shows, and "trendy" tours where they got more exposure. I really wish ETID and NJ would tour again.
That's how it was for me when I saw them spring of last year. He Is Legend opened for them and their were more people into them than NJ. Once they got off the crowd dispersed, I was kinda shocked.
i guess then i just wonder why younger crowds, or even older people within our scene who "grew out of" heavier music but may still go to shows don't take to NJ like they do to ETID. i enjoy ETID but i think NJ are way more dynamic and corey's got one of the scene's best screams.
Off the top of my head: Meridional > Anti Mother > Redeemer > Wrongdoers > Polar Similar > O God > Bless the Martyr
Robots and Murphy are my top 2 on antimother. After that it gets messy. Chemist, death, surrender, discipline, and hornets make up an amorphous second tier.
I've notice people who love Meridional also love Anti Mother. I wonder why that's not the case for me since I do like their melodic side.
Anti mother was the first I bought and listened to in its entirety and at that point I wasn’t too into less-melodic heavy music yet so that was a big draw for me. I actually didn’t listen to meridional too much after it came out either and only appreciated how melodic it was later on
Been listening to Fear Is The Driving Force quite a bit lately. Would love to hear a full length from that project.
I listened to Meridional the other day and I find it more enjoyable than I use to. It's what the Anti-Mother should have been, but my obsession with The Anti-Mother when it came out means I have a soft spot for it.
Would love this in the UK. When was the last time they visited? Feels like ages but I might have missed a tour or something.