Show Review: Heavy MTL Day 2 @ Parc Jean-Drapeau, July 25, 2010, Montreal, QC

After about 5 hours of sleep I was back to Parc Jean-Drapeau for the second day of Heavy MTL. I quickly got myself to the front of the Mayhem Stage where Hail The Villain soon came on and rocked the crowd, opening with “Try Hating The World”. HTV were magnificent performing songs off their album Population: Declining. Bryan Crouch satisfied the crowd with his scary movements and talked about how they are the most badass group – Hail The Villain definitely won fans’ hearts.

When HTV finished their set I went to the back and watched Beneath The Massacre. Being the first of a few local acts they got right into their death grind metal. The crowd became one big massacre as they headbanged and thrashed around to the music. Just before the last song vocalist Elliot Desgagnés announced that next up was… DESPISED ICON!

Sadly It was one of the last shows Despised Icon would ever play before their pending break up. As a result vast amounts of hardcore kids came out to support the band. They took the stage and performed numerous songs all the while kids were getting into the solid breakdowns and shouting to every of the two vocalists’ words.

Once Despised Icon finished it was time to get back into English-speaking bands. Shadows Fall came up and showed us why they’re returning for their 2nd year of Heavy MTL. They opened with the song “King Of Nothing” and followed with some classic Shadows Fall tunes as well as a cover of “Bark At The Moon” by Ozzy Osbourne. Shadows Fall always packs an intense live set, especially when Brian Fair windmills his large deadlocks.

As Shadows Fall wrapped up everyone seemed to run to the left stage where Australian rockers Airbourne were coming on. They hit their set hard and during the song “Girls In Black” vocalist Joel O’Keeffe climbed the side of the stage to the very top and performed a blistering solo. Everyone caught a glimpse of this Aussie rocking Montreal like the crazy man he is. It was sick!

When finished I was exhausted from rocking out for hours so I sat down waiting for one of my favorite bands in the deathcore scene. “Earth” played on the PA and out came Winds Of Plague who crashed into their deathening music. Full of thrashing and breakdowns Winds Of Plague got two circle pits going throughout their set. On the last song they set up two wall of deaths on either side of the dividers which kicked high amounts of dust into the air making everyone cough. They definitely won over new metal fans that day with such an intense set.

After that set I went over to the small stage to check out In This Moment. I had never seen them before so I was filled with excitement. The crowd was pretty mellow during the set, but the instrumentals sounded great even though the vocals sounded a bit off – Maria Brink seemed to be too high pitched for the sound system. Overall I was happy to finally see them and also get the chance to see my favorite In This Moment song “Daddy’s Falling Angel”.

When their set ended I sat behind the Jagermeister tent and listened to Five Finger Death Punch and Alexisonfire then finally went up for metal favorites Lamb Of God. They performed a few of their metal hits and dedications were made during “Ruin” to Despised Icon and “Laid To Rest” to their Canadian guitar tech. The fans went crazy offspringing gigantic circle pits. Once done, everyone was tired from such a long day of rocking out but it was still not the end… on the next stage was Avenged Sevenfold.

This was their first show back since The Rev died and to fill in behind the drums was Mike Portnoy who just came off his tour with Dream Theater. The set was dedicated to their deceased drummer so it was neat to see the banners they had to commemorate the band as a whole. They even performed their 3 heaviest songs which was pretty cool to watch. Young fans went crazy for the band giving them a strong welcome back to the stage. With this big step forward the band are now hopefully ready to work forward conquering stages across the world.

After the history making A7X show I went to the back to watch the rest of the concert. Rob Zombie had a crazy stage setup that you could see from the very back of the venue. A robot opened up to reveal the multi-talented frontman. One thing that made this show great was the fact he had John 5 and Joey Jordison performing with him. Having two music legends on stage with him really helped to make the show a thousand times better. Since the Montreal crowd was so into this legendary lineup, John 5 smashed one of his guitars right in front of everyone. People cheered as the destruction happened. After Rob Zombie I left to avoid the crazy amount of Korn fans coming from the show.

Overall it was a great day and amazing festival. Heavy MTL has been announced to happen in 2011 so make sure you come out for the greatest North American metal festival to ever happen. I know I will be there again.  [ END ]

Check out the song: “My Reward”