It’s been one week since thrash metal giants Slayer accidentally leaked the 2019 lineup for Heavy Montréal — Canada’s biggest heavy metal festival.
Well, good news headbangers. It was confirmed this Monday that Slayer’s post was 100 per cent accurate.
Following much fan speculation and circulating rumours, the festival officially revealed its summer lineup in an official release.
The weekend extravaganza takes place on July 27 and 28. As expected, Slayer is set to headline the first night, while Swedish doom rockers Ghost, are set to close out the festival.
Evanescence, Godsmack and Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators are just a few of the many acts scheduled to rock Quebec to the ground at Heavy Montréal this year.
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“Slayer is excited. Are you?” joked the festival in its official release.
Heavy Montréal is known for providing a “healthy variety” of metal acts; covering many of its subgenres, which might explain why the festival continues to run successfully.
Heavy Montréal was launched in 2008 under the name Heavy MTL — a clever abbreviation for both metal and Montréal — in its first year, it welcomed nearly 300,000 fans from across the globe.
The festival has run annually at Montréal’s historic Parc Jean-Drapeau since its inception — aside from 2009 and 2017, when the festival was put on hold.
The all-ages spectacular unites thousands of rockers and metalheads each year for a series of explosive performances and a chance to try some of the province’s greatest food vendors.
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Many fans are thoroughly impressed with the festival’s 2019 incarnation, including an Oshawa, Ont., local Chris LaRocque — who was booted out of Slayer’s farewell gig in Toronto last summer.
He wrote to his favourite thrash metal band Anthrax, saying “Don’t forget Heavy Montréal. C’mon guys.”
“I didn’t go swimming for nothing,” he added. “I gotta hook up with you there.”
“That’s a killer bill,” wrote another user.
Hatebreed frontman Jamey Jasta, too, shared his excitement over Twitter. “Yessss! Love me some @heavymtl,” he wrote with the heavy metal horns emoji.
From Clutch to Municipal Waste, or Killswitch Engage to power metal icons Gamma Ray, there seems to be a little something for every metalhead.
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Heavy Montréal’s full summer lineup can be found on the official website.
Passes are now available for purchase. General weekend passes start at $175, while “Gold” passes will run upwards of $320.
As of this writing, it is unclear whether single-day passes will be an option, although in prior years, they have been available.