Norma Jean screams loud and clear at New Oasis

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Norma Jean's show on Saturday showed the band off, and it equally highlighted why the New Oasis works well as one of the few dedicated concert spaces in Reno-Sparks.

Before they went on, the crowed was warmed up by four bands at least somewhat similar to their post-hardcore "screamo" sound. The packed bill included Children 18:3, Mychildren Mybride, the Showdown and Haste the Day, all of whom are on Solid State or its parent label Tooth & Nail.

Thus, it was no surprise that the sounds were similar though played with passion. Fast guitars, a solid percussive backbone and vocals that fall somewhere on the hardcore gamut describe the night's dominant style. Basically, it's slower than hardcore punk and even when they growl/yell/scream, it's still pretty apparent that there are definite lyrics.

The melodic slant of Norma Jean means that there's actual singing interspersed, and that variety within songs is one of the big draws, thought they don't sound much like the bands represented on their T-shirts: Metallica, White Zombie and AC/DC.

Norma Jean's new album, "The Anti Mother," released in August, features this "singing" thing more than previous works, and it's more polished overall. This might turn off some of the more grizzled fans, but there's still plenty of yelling fervor from singer Cory Brandan Putman to get fists pumping, and the whole thing just plain sounds good.

And this brings me to one of the high marks the New Oasis earned Saturday. Norma Jean played many new songs, and they sounded as crystal clear as they could for the genre. Rather than leave with my ears ringing after hearing just a mass of noise, I actually was humming the chorus from "Robots 3 Humans 0" as I left. This was despite forgetting my earplugs (I'm old) and in stark contrast to many of the shows I've recently been to at bars.

The New Oasis has two walls of speakers stacked on either side of the stage, but they used them to create balance and fill the space as much as needed, rather than just turn it all up to 11. Previous shows might not have found this sweet spot, but the sound was mixed well enough that instead of thinking "this is loud" or "this is muddled," I didn't give it much conscious thought.

So, the songs sounded great even though many were — if not the same — hard to distinguish from each other. None of the people I asked who were crowded at the front of the stage or wearing a Norma Jean t-shirt could identify the closing song or encore. But their grins also suggested it didn't really matter.

Another thing working in the New Oasis' favor is the separate bar area. It's raised up, so you usually can still see the stage, and it allows those of age to have the best of both the musical and alcoholic worlds. And it can sometimes be a relief at an all-ages show to get away from a crowd peppered (or sometimes packed) with kids.

As for the crowd, it certainly skewed male and was draped in black t-shirts and hoodies. There actually weren't many people there, even given that it was a Sunday night. But this did leave plenty of room for people to slam dance without bruising the unwilling and left clear lines of sight for those that hung in the back.

But the 100-150 people gathered seemed to get what they wanted, and Norma Jean connected well with fans. Despite the relatively small gathering (quite a contrast after seeing the place packed), they happily bounced back onstage in response to a heartfelt chant of "one more song!"

So, they encored like true rock stars, hopefully making proud the bands looking out from their shirts.

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