There’s something about a metal show in Rouyn-Noranda that makes the locals go absolutely ballistic. Such was the case when the ’90s technical power metal house from Trois-Rivières , Martyr, took the stage and played tunes from their three albums; Hopeless Hopes, Warp Zone, and Feeding The Abscess. The setlist was a long one; close to 20 songs with a four-song encore, but the metal heads of FME ate it up like concrete cake and smashed into each other in a violent mosh pit. Martyr has the speedy thrash metal chops and strange time signatures, reminiscent of Voivod, mixed with a bit of Dying Fetus and the weirdness of Meshuggah. The visual show, like all shows at Petit Theatre, led by the incomparable projectionist/VJ, Anthony Piazza, also added a grim and melodic burst to the crowd’s energy.
Due to Martyr’s synthetic and cybernetic complexity, their songs sometimes felt like 8 or 10 minutes, even though they were in reality four minutes. It’s an aspect that anyone of progressive metal or rock loves, but I could see a few concertgoers slowly waning. This was also the last night of FME; a bender for the ages, so we were all very sleep-deprived. I gotta hand it to Martyr though; they didn’t stop the energy once and clearly know they have talent, as noted by the guitar tab books at the merch table.
