The National Final of The Emergenza Music Festival took place this past weekend at one of the greatest clubs in Montreal. Le Medley was to host 12 bands from Montreal, 1 from Vancouver, 1 from Toronto and 1 from Quebec City. The night began with baited breath as the audience began to roll in not knowing what spectacle was about to play out on stage. Abendlicht were the premier band and rocketed into full swing in just seconds’ time. Being a tribute to the Industrial gods ‘Ramstein’ skepticism was high if they would score in the originality department at all. The Spasmodic Paroxism have had some success in their young lives, and be sure, playing on stage at Le Medley would be a highlight to be cherished. Difficulty early on made for a rocky show for these young guys and the type of progressive rock seemed to turn but a few heads. Sunset Drivers seemed to relish the early slot they had been assigned and the crowd was ready to dance and sing to recognizable rock sounds of the band. The energy was there, the riffs were strong and the stage seemed to envelop and project their songwriting, music and lyrics to that sweet spot you seldom see. For all the truly talented bands on stage Saturday evening none felt as diverse as The Walsh Tribute. With bassoon, violin, keys, acoustics and immeasurable harmonies this performance had charm. Maclean the finalists and winners of Vancouver’s competition, showed they have style, melody, charisma and chemistry. Five songs in what seemed to be a bit of an unorthodox arrangement worked and didn’t, but their determination shone through. Third Place had their second chance at a final in Montreal this season and didn’t squander it. The back and forth lineup changes may have made the difference in taking their pop punk international this year though. Drastic took the stage with all guns firing once again, seeming to have boundless energy. A mix of old school heavy metal and a bit of glam rock style made these guys noticeable but questionably memorable. Quebec City gives a lot to Canada’s character. Quebec City’s Spacemaker bring a lot of characters to the stage. Winners in their own right the band performs an all out anarchic cirque du insane on stage. Complete with terrible, horrific monsters, a sexy young nymph and full on blazing streamer cannons for that party atmosphere. Not to mention the guitars, singers and DJ all on stage at the same time. Stain on Society fresh back from Woodstock en Bauce played for the second time in two days. Showing what true workhorses they were, they performed a close to flawless set of rock/rock metal tunes. Newly coined Shards of Jade had a run of the mill performance at Le Medley neither shining nor sagging. The singer performed with strong modern rock attitude but the band didn’t seem to follow and rather sunk into the background leaving the singer with few accenting pieces to play off of. Emergenza darlings, Oursens, showed why they were many other participating bands main competition. Strong musicianship, excellent performance chops and good-looking lads. Though the vocals stumbled from time to time and the stylists of the band may have been reading a few too many billboard magazines it was a relatively strong alt-pop-rock performance. Hip Hop-Urban music performances are not easy to come by during an Emergenza season. Quality Hip Hop isn’t either. Brothers from Different Mothers were sent down as the winners of the Toronto leg of performances to represent Ontario. Being there were 5 M.C.’s a DJ and a backing band the performance was merely above average. The co-ordination of the rappers was …well… just uncoordinated. Spitting lyrics over lyrics leaves no room for other lyrics. The band was energetic and the hooks were there, so maybe they just had an off night. I also mention that all other bands had 20 minute sets they played for close to 30, not le