Death Angel (photo: Tim Snow)
By Kieron Yates
As expected, fewer people were onsite for the second portion of Heavy Montreal (aka Heavy MTL), but that isn’t to say the attendance was low, nor that the day wasn’t equally as entertaining as its predecessor.
Anybody even remotely interested in Thrash Metal has heard of the Bay Area scene of the early ’80s, and the second day of Heavy MTL continued on where two of the “Big Four” (Anthrax and Metallica) had left off the night before. Death Angel have been enjoying a tremendous comeback career these past few years and are seemingly only getting better. Playing a mixture of new and old, it was a mighty fine treat to hear the band doing selections off of the classic The Ultra-Violence record, with about half of their set coming from the bands most recent album, The Dream Calls for Blood, which is one hell of an album, by the way. Death Angel were playing a fill-in spot that the festival had set aside for D.R.I., who haven’t been able to cross the Canadian border in decades and who, according to their Facebook page, had never even confirmed their presence at the festival.
Exodus (photo: Tim Snow)
Exodus erupted on the adjoining stage moments after their friends in Death Angel had concluded their set, with a familiar face back in the fold. Vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza is one again part of the revolving door that is Exodus. The large number of member changes Exodus has been through can be summarized quite simply by looking at the two main headliners of this festival: Metallica’s Kirk Hammet played for the band during their first two years, and guitarist Gary Holt was Jeff Hanneman from Slayer’s fill-in when Hanneman fell sick, and is now a full-time member of both groups following Hanneman’s untimely demise. Exodus opened their short set with the classic cut “Bonded by Blood” and were devastatingly good throughout. I had hoped for a sneak peak at the band’s upcoming new album, but they had other ideas.
Hatebreed (photo: Tim Snow)
Other highlights of the day included sets by Hatebreed, with their upbeat, aggressive yet positive sing-along choruses that always manage to stir a crowd, as well a sold performance from punk rock icons Bad Religion. Frontman Greg Graffin is looking more and more like a college professor (well, he is a college professor) with each visit the bands pays to Montreal, but his performances are still as great as they have always been. I’d love to have had Graffin as my teacher.
Bad Religion (photo: Tim Snow)
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend came by way of a stellar performance by Twisted Sister, and I do admit to chuckling to myself when they were announced as one of the bands on the roster. Freshly reunited with all five original members in tow, despite numerous differences between them over the years, and on the 30th anniversary of their bestselling Stay Hungry album, they decided to play the record in its entirety, and I am glad they did. I had forgotten how many hits were on that album and I was stunned by how good they still sound today.
The weekend came to a close with a pummelling display from thrash masters Slayer, and even though they are half the band they used to be, they were still dead on with every song on their set. Very few guitarists could fill the shoes left by Jeff Hanneman the way Gary Holt can, and despite much displeasure from fans at the sacking of drummer Dave Lombardo, Slayer still delivered the goods. Much of their time slot was filled with older classics such as “Die by the Sword,” “The Antichrist,” “Raining Blood,” “Hell Awaits,” “Seasons in the Abyss,” “Dead Skin Mask” and a few tracks from latter years, including “Disciple” and “Hate Worldwide,” which just don’t quite add up to the classic cuts. Fittingly, the final song of the night, “Angel of Death,” was played in tribute to the great Jeff Hanneman.
As good as this edition of Heavy MTL was, I can’t help feel frustrated that metal fans were given the shaft.Few of the genre’s sub-cultures were represented; where were the death and black metal bands? The change of format will probably be considered a success, but how much of that credit belongs to booking Metallica? One thing’s for sure, organizers of the event have a mammoth task ahead if they hope to outdo themselves next year.
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