by JOHNSON CUMMINS

If you missed seeing Sam Dunn’s amazing documentary Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey when it played in town a couple of months ago, you really missed something. Without getting too mucked up in the histrionics of metal, like many other people have already done, Dunn gives the film a personal touch, and special attention is paid to the fans and their unwavering dedication towards the genre.

In one especially illuminating scene, Rob Zombie says, “There is nobody in the metal scene who is halfway about it. It’s not like somebody ever says, ‘Yeah, I remember that one summer I was into Slayer. What was that all about?’” For once, Mr. Zombie got it right. People who are into metal are committed for life, and Montreal is famous for having some of the most dedicated metal audiences in the world.

With so many metal fans in this city, we’re sorely in need of a metal club, given that it’s been over a decade since Backstreet closed its doors to make room for condos. Thankfully, plans for a metal/punk club called Katacombes in the St-Laurent/Ste-Catherine section of town is already underway, and it promises to open by spring.

“After l’X closed, we really started planning for this because there is just no other place to go,” says promoter/co-owner Janick Langlais. “This bar is definitely being started by people who really love the music, and not just doing it to make money.”

To help offset the costs of renovation and the other headaches that come with opening a club, a benefit show has been set up under the title Montreal Metal Massacre with Razor, Piledriver, Anvil, Exciter, DBC, Aggression and Lying Truth. If the bill seems a bit lopsided on the old-school tip, Langlais insists that is part of the fun of the event. “Razor wanted to play and then, once they were on the bill, all of these other bands wanted to play too,” says Langlais. “I’ve only seen DBC before and have never seen any of the other bands because I was too young, so I’m really looking forward to it. I think it’s kind of cool that thrash metal fans can get a chance to check out for the first time bands that helped lay down the roots. I have been doing a lot of promotion outside of the city and now people are coming all the way from California, New York, Boston and a bunch of other places in North America. These kinds of events with these kinds of bands doesn’t really happen.”

Check out the Montreal Metal Massacre at le Spectrum on Saturday, Dec. 10, and if metal really isn’t your dealio, then check out Toronto’s noise god Knurl, with the atmospheric doom of guests Nadja, the same night at the Casa del Popolo.

SIGN, SIGN, EVERYWHERE A (DEVIL) SIGN… jonathan.cummins@gmail.com

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