6 landmark moments in Toronto heavy metal history

by Tyler Munro

March 26, 2014

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via Searching Toronto

I’m not old enough to really remember the roots of Canadian metal, but that doesn’t mean I don’t regularly celebrate them. I wasn’t born when Slaughter played its first show in March 1985, but through compilations and recordings I can still sort of experience it. Was I alive when Strappado dropped two years later? No. But the beauty of music—and you’ll pardon the poetry—is that it has a tendency to live on.

Canadian metal in particular endears itself across generations, and while Quebec’s influences have been well documented, Ontario’s metal history has led more than a few of the genre’s biggest innovations. While this list is localized in the Greater Toronto Area, it’s not to excuse what’s happened throughout the province; Gwar’s Dave Brockie was born in Ottawa, which isn’t insignificant, but his time in Virginia truly defined his career. And sure, the nation’s capital is having a moment right now, with solid sludge bands and an exciting new venue opening soon, but there just isn’t the narrative to tie its scene to one moment in particular.

And so with that context in mind, here are six landmark moments in Toronto’s prestigious heavy metal history.

 

July 29, 1974: Neil Peart officially joins Rush

Cygnus-X1

Rush were decent with John Rutsey, but their second album, and first with Neil Peart, caught onto something special. After original drummer Rutsey backed out of the band, partly due to health complications and partly because he didn’t want to tour, Peart immediately stepped in as their lead lyricist, adding his Rand-ian science fiction flavour to the band’s bluesy backbone. And while Fly By Night is far from the band’s best, it set in motion their increasingly grandiose scope with the four part “By-Tor & the Snow Dog.” Separated by Caress of Steel, they’d release 2112 one year later.

 

Lips change their name to Anvil, release Metal on Metal

The award winning Anvil! The Story of Anvil did a great job at overstating Anvil’s influence on bands like Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, begging the question: if they were that good, that influential, why hasn’t of thrash’s big four taken them on tour since? Metal on Metal is the answer: it’s fast and heavy, and not just for its time. Despite at least half of its songs being borderline terrible, the album survives as one of the bridges between traditional heavy metal and its heavier evolutions. Metallica would release Kill ‘Em All one year later.

 

Razor release Evil Invaders

Released five months after Executioner’s Song, Razor’s second album is a landmark in thrash metal. Nastier than their debut, 1985’s Evil Invaders is Guelph’s Razor trading in whatever shred of British heavy metal they had in their sound for something far more scathing. It’s an almost synesthetic collection of songs, with the smell of creaking, crusted leather jackets and stale beer seeping into the band’s breakneck brand of filthy, barebones thrash metal. More dangerous than Metallica and as wild as Slayer, Evil Invaders showed the world that thrash metal didn’t need to be born out of the Bay area, and in turn went on to influence everyone from Propagandhi to Darkthrone. It’s a stretch calling this a Toronto moment, but as the scene expanded, it’s cities outside of the Big Smoke that solidified the scene within it. Razor, in this case, are the exception that proves the rule.

 

Chuck Schuldiner leaves Slaughter to reform Death; Strappado is released

Chuck Schuldiner is death metal. No disrespect to Possessed, but Death are the clear-cut pioneers of the genre. But did you know Chuck had roots in Ontario? At 19, three years after forming Mantas in Florida, Chuck moved north to Toronto to join Slaughter. And while he only lasted a few months his departure set up kind of a chain reaction: Mantas became Death, and one year later reformed to release Scream Bloody Gore. Slaughter powered through, releasing Strappado that same year, and the two have been inextricably linked ever since. It’s hard to say who influenced whom, but death metal would not be as we know it without both.

 

Rammer’s last show at Adrift

via Stuck In the City

Weeks before their official final sendoffs at the Horseshoe Tavern and Siesta Nouveaux, Toronto’s Rammer played their final show at Adrift, Kensington Market’s iconic skatepark-turned-venue. It was utter chaos. Rammer were never as seminal or essential as bands like Razor or Slaughter, but their demise signalled something bigger; with Goat Horn already gone, Ontario’s metal scene was waning. Rammer were arguably the best band Toronto had to offer, and even then, they found themselves on punk bills. The scene was already fledgling; Rammer calling it quits was its death knell.

 

The Big Bop closes

via BlogTO

The Big Bop was the place in Toronto for young skids in training. It was the meeting place for skunks, punks and metalheads and the one place underaged brats like me could catch a solid show. The Rockit represented the way bands and promoters marginalized kids with their pay-to-play atrocities; The Big Bop gave them a place to just be. The purple behemoth at Queen and Bathurst held its share of Battle of the Bands cash-grabs, but spread between its three floors they never came to define the venue. And even with the Reverb’s collapsing floor and the Kathedral’s piss soaked couch, the Bop was a steadying presence in Toronto, more significantly, the last time the city’s metal scene had anywhere consistent to go. More than that, its closing was the final nail in the all-ages concert culture that influenced and inspired countless bands doing it big today.

Tags: Music, Cancon, Lists, News, Anvil, Rammer, Rush, sacrifice

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