JUNOfest kicked off in London, Ontario last night as the city ramps up to host the 2019 JUNO Awards, with Canadian bands taking the stage at small venues across the city.

London’s Old East 765 showcased a sprawling (and very heavy) set of progressive death metal by JUNO nominees Beyond Creation.

The Montreal metal outfit, whose album Algorythm is nominated in the Metal/Hard Music category, showed off their impressive musicianship to an intimate but enthusiastic crowd of local metalheads.

With diverse arrangements and proggy tempo shifts, their set was enough to please guitar nerds and headbangers alike. Layers of distortion and Simon Girard’s guttural shrieked/growled vocals were offset by technically proficient (and pleasantly non-distorted) guitar solos, creating a thunderous soundscape that sounded like a new planet forming.

After a very chill opening set by Winnipeg Soundcloud rapper smrtdeath, local death metal quintet Kavara played a quick and brutal set characterized by lead singer Serena Dorton’s demonic growled vocals, Stephen Cummer’s apocalyptic drums, and frenetic headbanging that almost matched the breakneck speed of Chris Strange, Mike MacGibbon, and Spinny Guilbault’s heavily distorted guitars.

Line-up: smrtdeath / Kavara / Beyond Creation

Venue: Old East 765, London ON

Date: Friday, March 15/2019

The JUNO Awards will air on Sunday, March 17th on CBC. In addition to Sunday’s broadcast, more awards will be handed out at the March 16th Gala Dinner and Awards, which can be live-streamed here.