The Rockpile, a well-known spot for up-and-coming bands, on Saturday night hosted absolute Canadian legends Anvil, with local to Ontario talent, definitely on the upswing. On this end of summer evening, it was listed as the European send-off show for the headliners, but for those in the know, this show was so much more.

DEVILZ BY DEFINITION 

Groove thrash metal coming out of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. This four-piece has things absolutely dialed in. Taking elements from groove and thrash metal legends from the early 1990s, Devilz By Definition has a very unique and Canadian spin on things; they make it sound flawless and truly their own genre. This set was short, but it set the mood for the night, warmed up the crowd, and set the standard for the later bands to come. A pair of dean guitars leading the charge, Bruce and Jamie, who were also on vocals, established dominance right out of the gate, matched up with Teddy on drums, and new band member Bobby rounding out the band on bass. The 5-song set was blistering, galloping, and got the whole crowd yelling throughout the performance. Jamie absolutely nailed the talking in between songs; interaction with the crowd hit a high point when one of the songs was mentioned as the new single from this past Christmas, and one audience member enthusiastically yelled out “OH, I LOVE THIS SONG,” which brought a smile to Jamie and the other band members on stage.

I will say the whole band looked like a cohesive unit on stage—lots of smiles, lots of dueling instruments. Both Jamie and Bruce were trading not only riffs but solos throughout the whole performance, and the band genuinely looked like they were having fun! A young crowd member got brought up on stage, decked out in a traditional metal battle vest to be a special guest while the band steamed down the set. Special performance shout out to Jamie. During one of the last moments of the last song with a sound you have to listen to believe, named ‘Trainwreck’, Jaime accidentally tripped, stepping backwards on a monitor, didn’t miss a single beat, and finished the song on the floor of the stage with the biggest smile and laugh on his face. Big things are coming for this band, and touring across Ontario/Canada needs to happen for not only this band but for the world to experience it. Go out of your way to check out the recent single ‘Under The Road’.

Setlist

‘Provocation’, ‘Dehumanizer’, ‘Bitter Remains’, ‘Under The Road’, ‘I Am The One’, ‘Trainwreck’

SELIAS

Supergroup is a term that sometimes gets thrown around too much, but for this five piece hailing from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The talent in this band is absolutely stacked. Doing melodic death metal is not for the faint at heart, but this new group would make legends of the genre jealous, accentuating the positives into a Canadian take of this genre. The unique styling of dueling vocals from Zac growling and Cesar doing clean singing live is something truly beautiful and very rarely done in music these days. The both of them trading vocals and then coming together to sing/scream is perfection—how in sync they are. Steve on guitars makes the performance feel like he, by himself, is doing double duty, even though it’s just him. New band member Dylan on bass, absolutely thundering in the mix to round out the low end, seeing Selias previously, Dylan does the music justice. And last but not least, Tyler on drums being an absolute timepiece, keeping everyone in check.

The band is in the middle of a Quebec/Ontario tour, which is proving dividends as time on the road and experiences make this band tighter and tighter with each performance. If they come to your area and you enjoy the genre, you need to see this. Much like the Devilz comment above, when Selias played the single ‘Headshot’, someone yelled out “This is my favorite song” with much enthusiasm, lots of headbanging, lots of positive feedback, and a decent amount of movement on the Rockpile’s concert floor. Selias is putting in the work; go out of your way to catch them, as I see the future being very busy for them, especially with the recent signing with Badlands promotions.

Setlist

‘Intro’, ‘Grateful’, ‘Revenga’, ‘Guilty’, ‘Mega’, ‘Clipped Wings’, ‘Conclusion’, ‘Headshot’, ‘Twisted Path’

ANVIL

It is an absolute treat and a gift to be able to witness a band from the late 1970’s still on the road, still touring, and positively full of life and vigor, like Anvil. As time ticks away, this band putting in 47 years in the business, on the road around the world, and seeing them still going today would make anyone hopeful; the same life could be possible for any band. A 3-piece band in Canada goes hand in hand. Like legends carving the path with Anvil and putting Canada on the map, Anvil has been crafting the metal over the years to craftsmanship perfection.

Chris on bass, although the newest member, plays with such ease and passion. Steve is full of smiles throughout the whole performance, one of the only artists I’ve ever seen put the guitar pick up to his mouth and talk into it, and almost immediately with the first song, he just ran off stage to play ‘March Of The Crabs’ with the audience. And Robb, although if you watch him play drums, his style looks to be his own, but they call it traditional grip (I didn’t know this before looking it up). With an army marching drum ferocity, Robb sounds like he’s going to come through the stage with how hard he is hitting the kit, aptly named Buddy White.

Anvil’s nonstop, just over 90-minute performance put on a clinic for old fans and definitely made some new ones as well. It would be hard to pick a perfect setlist with 20 albums over the career of this band; a majority of the songs were from the album Metal On Metal, and then choice cuts from other albums to round out the set. Even with 3 band members, each member had lots of time to shine throughout the set—guitar solos, bass solos, and drum solos! The crowd absolutely responded with lots of movement from the start, with an almost non-stop pit, some crowd surfing, and an endless amount of headbanging. ‘Sweet Caroline’ was a fitting outro to squeeze the last little bit of vocal energy from the crowd, capping off a heavy night of music.

Setlist

‘March Of The Crabs’ (with Steve in the crowd), ‘666’, ‘Ooh Baby’, ‘Legal At Last’, ‘Truth Is Dying’, ‘Badass Rock ‘n’ Roll’, ‘Winged Assassins’, ‘Free As The Wind’, ‘On Fire’, ‘Forged In Fire’, ‘Mothra’, ‘Bitch In The Box’, ‘Swing Thing’, ‘Jackhammer’, ‘Metal On Metal’, ‘Sweet Caroline’

Pound for pound, this night was stacked from the announcement this show was happening; a lot of people experienced some new music and left happy with hearing a lot of classics from Anvil. If this is what a 47-year-old in the industry performance looks like, I can’t wait to see what 50 looks like for them. With three very different genres represented and countless people from every generation represented, heavy metal music brings people together.