Montreal is receiving recognition for its heavy metal music scene. Councillor Craig Sauvé recently submitted a formal declaration to name Montreal a “heavy metal city.” The city council voted on the motion, which received bipartisan support, according to Global News.
The Quebec municipality has launched the careers of several well-known metal bands, including Cryptopsy, Kataklysm, Despised Icon, the Agonist, Necrotic Mutation, and Slaves on Dope. The city also hosts Heavy Montreal, a two-day metal festival every summer. The most popular heavy metal band, Voivod, is from Jonquière.
“Everybody knows that Montreal is an international music city, but by declaring it we are getting national and international press,” Jimmy Kay, who operates a YouTube channel called The Metal Voice, told Global News.
“Heavy metal has been an important part of Montreal’s culture for many years. That the city recognizes it is fantastic,” added concert promoter Nick Farkas, creator of Heavy Montreal.
Sauvé wanted to pay tribute to the music scene, which he believes is unique to the city.
“There are tens of thousands of fans in the Montreal region who are devoted, who spend so much time, who practice, promote, who attend concerts,” he told CBC Montreal‘s Daybreak. “The heavy metal music that we make is really well-regarded by many people all over the world because there’s a certain technical edge that we have here.”
He added that heavy metal music from Montreal tends to be more complicated to play.
“It’s not simply punky or straightforward. It’s a little more complex and thought-out and composed. I think that the academic approach that we have in Montreal — the CEGEPs, the universities that all have music programs, the jazz scene — contributes to the type of heavy metal that comes from Montreal.”
