Montreal has been blessed with so many exciting metal tours ripping through town lately. It’s been a stacked fall season, and last Monday at Beanfield was no different. Thrash royalty meets exciting up-and-comers in the game.
I’m glad I caught Candy’s set from the very beginning. A live set is the perfect introduction to these heavy-hitters. A healthy overdose of modern hardcore, prime for two-stepping and windmilling in a wide-open pit, with enough crossover thrash appeal to satisfy the older metalheads in the crowd.
Though it was still on the Beanfield floor for Candy’s half-hour of power, I hope they come back soon so I can experience how different an environment a headlining show would be. They kicked ass and make music to witness flying bodies to.
The lack of movement during the last band had me a bit concerned, but all I had to do was remember which band was up next, and which city I’m in. A pit erupted immediately as the thundering drums of A Point of No Return kicked off Havok’s set. Lightning-quick riffing and flashing strobes to match created an environment that mirrored the dystopian imagery ever-present in the band’s lyrics.
With Havok’s first Montreal appearance since the pandemic, frontman David Sanchez took some time to bitterly reflect on the pandemic period and curse the powers-that-be that kept us inside for years. Though I felt a pit in my stomach moshing to Hang ’Em High after it was essentially dedicated to the people that kept my grandparents alive for a few more years, myself and the crowd were grateful to see the Denver boys again.
They encapsulated what the tour was about: a celebration of the old school and the new school, with Havok comfortably towing that line at this point in their respectable career. After a gnarly forty-five minutes of moshing, I washed the cuts in my mouth out with some Jameson and got back to the floor to witness thrash royalty.
What followed was an auditory assault of muddy noise. Each instrument was indiscernible from the last, even during The Last Act of Defiance, which kicked off Exodus’ set. Frontman Steve Souza’s iconic snarl was lost in the fog, and the song was almost unrecognizable.
Thankfully, the sound problems were gradually fixed, and the Bay Area legends could play most of their set to an audience that could properly hear and experience them. What followed that evening was a masterclass in thrash metal performance. Decades of thundering riffs, headbanging, and wailing solos jam-packed into a single set.
The band was loving the receptive Montreal crowd, and Souza made that clear as he told anecdotes, shouted out Schwartz’s Deli, and overall looked equally comfortable on the mic whether or not the band was shredding behind him.
Souza also gave love to the singers of Exodus’ past, acknowledging the Rob and Paul eras of the band. He promised a night of old-school favourites before ripping into Deathamphetamine. Despite their menacing sound, Exodus were having a blast on stage.
A fun highlight included guitarist Gary Holt giving ex-member Kirk Hammett a birthday shoutout while the band teased passages of Metallica’s Motorbreath and Blackened. From there, they jumped into The Toxic Waltz, closed with Strike of the Beast, and before I knew it, the five-piece were saying their goodbyes to our city.
I walked away grateful for the night’s contribution to an incredible month or so of metal in Montreal.
*Dead Heat set the tone for the night with their electrifying fusion of thrash and hardcore, delivering ferocious riffs and face-melting shredding that had the crowd immediately fired up. Known for their versatility, they seamlessly bridge the gap between the hardcore scene and metal heavyweights like Exodus.
Review – Mathieu Perrier
Photos – Ryan Rumpel
