Why I am a big metal fan: Melissa Spence tells all on the night that Anvil plays Winnipeg

Anvil  (myspace)

My metal."  It's something I say to myself when I peruse my CD collection of black, heavy, goth, death, and even gloom metal albums.  Strange as it may sound metal warms my heart.  How could such wickedly sounding music sooth?  It's what got me through my teens, it was there when it seemed like nothing else was.  It was there when I was having the time of my life at a concert, head banging with friends, jumping into rowdy crowds and it lead some of the craziest sing along parties ever!  It's always there for ME.

What is metal? That is the question that metal enthusiasts can go on and on about, a never ending conversation about where and how this potent genre came to exist.  What I've gathered in my 2 decades of listening to metal is this: Metal is whatever the person listening to it wants it to be.  Now that can get weird as there are many crazies out there.  But usually, metal is a great time that's really loud, at least for me it is.  Technically it's comprised of loud amplified guitars and bass' with sometimes extreme drumming.  The vocals vary especially at this stage in its evolution from growls, shrilling screeches (my favourite) and melodic chanting to tons more.  Traditionally though, metal comes from the rock and roll genre which of course was born of blues. 

It's always been an underground genre and that can seem a little too far gone for many.  For other's it's what draws people into it, a mysterious style with very dark undertones that looks really fun - an escape.   Over the decades it's truly become its own culture as there is much of it to go around, especially here in Winnipeg.  I've been going to metal shows since my folks let my ride the bus alone and I'll probably never stop going.  It's definitely a do it yourself genre and if it weren't for the many great people in this city who live and breathe metal I honestly don't know how we'd get by.  There's people behind every show who go out of their way to make sure that people like me have an awesome experience.

Groups like Anvil have paved the way for many bands over the years.  They've held it down for Canadians for years, inspiring monster bands like Metallica and Megadeath.  Like Canada's metal version of Led Zeppelin missing an opportunity at this point in time to see Anvil would be lame.  Throw in the fact that they're playing at venue like The Pyramid  - you may as well prepare to call in sick the next day to work cause you're not getting away with "taking it easy" on a night like this.  Anvil are on what I call the full circle path right now.  They've done it all.  Wouldn't you want to be a part of that? I am.

Miss Melissa Spence, CBC "Ab-Originals" Host & Heavy Metal Fan