I hear it all the time “Metal is Dead” but if you were to only go out on the town in such a city as Toronto on a Friday or Saturday night you would soon find that on every corner there is a club or venue and in this building there are people enjoying good ole Canadian Metal Bands and having a fantastic time moshing in the pits and banging tomorrows headache into reality and they are loving every minute of it.

It seems that in this day and age the only thing that people tend to believe is real and available is what they see on much music and that the only styles of music that are still alive and kicking are the ones that have expensive videos on these shows but alas I am here to tell all those who may not know that Canadian Metal Music is indeed quite alive and the scene is only growing larger. Don’t listen to the mass media when they try to shove their “instabands” down your throat and into your delicate ears oh no there is certainly more to life than what we are being pedaled by the profit hungry record labels and the music industry in general. If the band doesn’t have a cute little virgin dressed like a hooker or five pretty boys then you don’t tend to hear much about them and why is that? Possibly because the powers that be don’t think this will sell it’s definitely not what they are trying to force on you so it must not be popular or they would have capitalized on it sooner right? Well with bands like Slipknot breaking records and going platinum on every front how could one possibly think metal is dead? It’s NOT!

The Toronto Metal Music Scene is blasting on almost every street every weekend and almost every night the week, there are amazing bands out there all the time playing their hearts out for fans that are more than grateful to have them and one large question most of these fans have is. “Why haven’t you guys got a record contract yet?” I can’t readily give you an answer for this but I suspect it is because the industry believes it’s own hype that the genre is dead and how can you tell them any different when it is so hard to find good new metal bands in the record stores and why is this? Well I suppose it’s because no one is signing any of them. I’ve been to my fair share of amazing Metal shows in and around Ontario and they usually consist a some very good talent and I am usually in disbelief when I hear how long these bands have been playing and that they have not yet been recognized and given the opportunity to be heard by the world at large it is a travesty that this genre is being denied for if it wasn’t for this music many of the other bands we love so much wouldn’t even be out there to begin with I mean you would be surprised to hear that many non-metal bands were influenced and decided to go into the music industry because of their favorite heavy metal bands.

One place that I have found online that is a great place for independent bands to get noticed and to network is myspace.com If you were to visit this site you would soon discover that most of the bands there are metal and that tells you that at this giant of online networking “Metal Music” is one of the top styles that people are listening to and enjoying on a daily basis. I myself am a Canadian performing artist I am the vocalist for the Metal band “Downer St.” I have become friends with many Canadian Metal bands that I have found on myspace and have seen them live or have done shows with them and many of these bands are blessing Toronto with their sound and I really think that they all deserve a shot at the big time. The best way to support your local metal bands is to go out to their shows and request to hear them on your local radio because if the fans don’t show their support these bands will become among the numerous talents that fall into the cracks and it is a shame. If this article helps to get one person to listen to one of these fantastic Canadian bands if it helps people notice that metal is still one of the most listened to music genres I have done my job and so have you.