Are you the kind of person that loves to discover new metal? If you are, you should have been to the Rockpile on Friday. There was so much metal you would have died from lead poisoning.  They had five bands playing that night and each one was very distinct.

King in Graves

The evening started with a Hamilton band called Kings in Graves. The opening line from the singer’s mouth was, “If you not into Metal, there’s the door”! He wasn’t wrong. This is no place for new age listeners.

They began with their style of Thrash Metal, which was raw and guttural. They came here to rock, and they worked the stage really hard.

The singer’s vocal style had many different ranges and styles, from the guttural roar to the high-pitched screeching and various form of singing in between. This band looked like a bunch of garbage men sweating on a hot day as they wiped their feet from the grease, they were slugging all day long.

Photos of Kings in Graves:

Valyear

Valyear, hail from good old Oshawa. These guys tend to go for the straighter forward approach to Heavy Metal. It is strong and plodding. It feels like running right into a brick wall at full speed without a helmet.

The lead singer wore an orange kind of outfit and would sing a lot of the songs with his right hand behind his back. I felt this dude was constantly ready to be arrested. With his body covered in tattoos, he comes off as a guy that has seen vertical bars in his days.

They played all original music and there were a couple of really solid songs like, “I hate your Face”, and “Beat the Machine”. This band probably is one of the better bands to come from the “Swa”!

Photos of Valyear:

Ametropia

This was the moment when the show got interesting. Ametropia is an American Death Metal Band with a bit of a plot twist. They walked on stage in full death make-up and started the showoff with a sound of complete annihilation. These guys were out there spewing their guts from hell.

I looked around at the audience and it looked like they just didn’t know how to respond to this band. They came all the way from Pennsylvania to have a Gorefest and the crowd just gawked. I found that pretty amusing.

The only comparison I can give this band is, if Cannibal Corpse can Cum Blood, these guys can Crap in a clogged toilet. It was wonderfully putrid.

The entertainment didn’t stop there. They let us know their next song was called “Blood Beast”. It was dedicated to all the Black Death Metal whores out there. It got even better when they were playing the song it actually had a sort of disco beat to it. Maybe this was their version of Abba meet Abbath!

As this song seemed gentler and friendlier I couldn’t help but notice the bass player reminded me of my childhood. He looked like Igor from The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. The drummer looked like the troll under the bridge, and he upgraded to live behind a drum kit. The singer reminded me of the cousin of Abbath, that nobody really talks about.

My favourite part of the evening is when they did a song dedicated to the classic film, “Blue Velvet”. With that I leave you with…” Heineken, fuck that shit…Pabst Blue Ribbon”!

Photos of Ametropia:

Offensive

Offensive hit the stage like a true Thrash Band. They felt as powerful as Slayer as they mangled you into dust from the opening note. As the show progressed, their sound morphed into other classic metal sounds.

I could hear some Dio in the singer’s voice.  I could hear some Rob Halford when he went for the high notes.  But most of all, there was plenty of Bruce Dickenson as he yelled his way through the heavier than thou set of songs.

They were very good at mixing things up as they did an instrumental from an Anime show. Then the singer strapped on a guitar and rock out like the Scorpions. They finished off their set with a glorious metal number that was reminiscent of Anvil. This band hails from Maryland.

Photos of Offensive:

Marc Rizzo

Ex-Soulfly guitarist Marc Rizzo brought this circus to town. So, we have to thank him for such a night of diverse metal.

He walked on stage to a dramatic classical piece of music and then went straight into a solid hour of power shredding.

In fact, there was no band, just Marc, his guitar and a metal soundtrack that crushed and ripped apart the Rockpile. It was like watching Joe Satriani with anger issues trying out primal screaming through his fret board.

He was intense and powerful and loaded to the gills with rocket fuel. His speed and control almost went beyond human.

I just stood there in awe as he must have hit over 100,000 notes in the time he was up on that stage. It was shredder’s paradise. After he walked off stage, he walked over to his merch table to talk to the fans.

Photos of Marc Rizzo:

Here is a list of sites you can visit if you want to learn more about these bands.

Kings in Graves- Facebook

Valyear- Facebook

Ametropia- Facebook

Offensive- Facebook

Marc Rizzo- Musician | Marc Rizzo