Get your ears ready for a sound overload! Over the weekend of August 6 and 7, the word’s biggest heavyweights in metal, rock and punk descend upon Montréal for Heavy Montréal, the city’s heaviest outdoor music fest at Parc Jean-Drapeau.
The fun starts at 1 pm on Saturday when Pop Evil kick things off on the Molson Canadian Stage, one of the three stages onsite. Saturday is a big day, with mainliners including Black Label Society (at 6:30 pm), Suicide Silence (7:30), Mastodon (also at 7:30 pm! Gahhh dilemma), Nightwish (8:30 pm) and Five Finger Death Punch (9:30 pm). One act you won’t want to miss either is Fear Factory (3:05 pm), the old school American industrial metal band that’s been making ears bleed since 1989. You’ll have time to catch some mathcore on the Heavy Stage beforehand, as Jersey’s The Dillinger Escape Plan takes over at 2:30 pm. And Inquisition will be legendary: the thrash metal kings of Colombia will turn the sunny afternoon to pitch darkness at 2 pm.
On Sunday, get up and at ‘em early enough to catch I Prevail at 1 pm, followed by a veritable who’s who of heaviness. The biggest names include Kataklysm (3:45 pm),
Napalm Death (7:30 pm) and Disturbed (9:30 pm), but there’s also the guttural metalcore sound of Killswitch Engage (6:40 pm) that’s sure to give you a jolt of raw energy, the dark, moody rock of Breaking Benjamin (7:30 pm) and the legendary speed-infused power metal of Germany’s Blind Guardian (4:25 pm). Montréal’s own Despised Icon is not to be missed either at 2 pm on the Molson Canadian Stage; the deathcore band is known for the searing vocals shared by Alex Erian and Steve Marois.
For those still hungry for sound before, during and after the festival, Heavy in the City includes all sorts of extra programming on the island of Montréal itself, including the Grimposium (‘cause everyone needs a little education), on the theme Doomed to Death. The symposium unites key players in the global metal scene including musicians, journalists, visual artists, writers, filmmakers and fans of heavy music at events hosted both at Concordia University and Katacombes bar on August 4 and 5. (Buy your tickets here.) On August 6, don’t miss the Official After Party at Katacombes, with performances by SUMAC, Jon Mueller and nordra. (Buy your tickets here.) The big blowout after the last day, August 7, happens at L’Astral, where Swedish metal band Cult of Luna will perform their 2006 release “Somewhere Along The Highway” in its entirety. (Buy your tickets here.)
Heavy Montréal, at Parc Jean-Drapeau, August 6-7, 2016
Heavy in the City, various locations, August 4-7, 2016
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The post It’s all heavy hitters at Heavy Montréal 2016 appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.