by JOHNSON CUMMINS

I made it out to one night of the Under the Snow festival at Casa del Popolo last Friday and caught the Besnard Lakes just as they took the stage. With one of the three guitarists missing and a singer with a case of stage throat, the sheer volume of the Lakes' swirling psychedelic drone still managed to liquefy my fillings. Despite being criminally short, this pre-SXSW set proved that even on an off night, they continue to be one of Montreal's bands to watch.

The tea-totalling audience, on the other hand, kind of gave me the creeps. I know it's an Under the Snow thingy and heck, it is the Casa, but do these automatons even move? I'm not expecting them to do the wang-dang-doodle or the rock-a-doodle-doo or whatever you young people call your dances these days, but the golf claps between songs were just plain lame. I decided to cut these stiffs loose and went down to the Barfly to check out the old-school metal of Metallian.

Hell yeah, buddy! Metallian christened the new half-foot-high stage of Barfly with drool and Boreal Rousse, and with tongues firmly in cheek (actually, they may have been serious) and sneakers firmly in place on monitor (alright, if they'd had monitors, their Reeboks would've been all over 'em), these guys tore it up. Harmony leads, a song mentioning their own name (very metal!), falsetto vocals that could make King Diamond's cojones contract and more cheezy moves than Trixter on a treadmill, these guys delivered the goods. I'll let their second encore of covers speak for itself - Judas Priest's "Green Manalishi," Motörhead's "Overkill" and a note-perfect rendition of Iron Maiden's "Aces High."

Lots of things to do this week, but Friday night is a big one. Former Nils, Chino, Asexuals, Doughboys and Idées Noires members, as well as C'mon's Ian Blurton, Jerk Appeal and Chris Page, turn the pages of the late Alex Soria's near-perfect songbook. If you have ever had the pleasure of seeing Soria hunched over a microphone - and especially if you didn't get a chance - make it down to the Main Hall tonight and hear some pearls from one of Montreal's most gifted songwriters.

Also on Friday, Black Cobra (ex-members of the Black Hand, In Dying Days and Ire) launch their new seven-inch tonight at one of Montreal's newest live venues, Toc-Toc. If you're digging the new Cursed record, you're going to love this punishing band (nice Venom cover, BTW). Also up for the beatdown is Complications (members of Born Dead Icons), Desperate Living (ex-All Tensed Up) and Compton.

Saturday proves to be quite a coin toss when les Séquelles lay down their yéyé and fuzzed-out, Rickenbacker-based garage at their CD launch at Petit Campus with the Hellcats, while We Are Wolves launch their new disc Non stop je te plie en deux with Call Me Poupée, Demon's Claws, 1 Speed Bike and DJs Kinkajou and Cherry Cola at le Local.

Finally, the perfect excuse to call in sick on Monday is the annual MIMI gala at la Tulipe on Sunday night. Expect appearances by Sixtoo, Lesbians on Ectasy, Champion, Malajube, Chromeo, Patrick Watson and more.

DON'T BE A HATER, BE A CONGRATULATOR! jonathan.cummins@gmail.com

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