This Saturday and Sunday (Aug 11^th & 12^th), Toronto Metal Heads will make the pilgrimage to Downsview Park to unite at Heavy TO – Canada’s premiere heavy music festival.

Photo by: Randall Vasquez, AUX TV

Heavy TO essentially ‘swallowed’ Summer Slaughter, a traveling metal festival that has earned the reputation of touring the heaviest bands on the planet. The first 10 bands that play on Sunday is Summer Slaughter; thus, Heavy TO’s 2012 line-up far surpasses last year’s.  Technical Death-Metal gurus The Faceless and Between the Buried and Me have been performing a slew of tracks off both of their upcoming albums.

Cannibal Corpse

Having experienced FleshgodApocalypse, Origin, Goatwhore, and Cannibal Corpse nearly a dozen times– it’s easy to say this might be the most intense day of music Toronto has ever seen.

Overkill

A sister festival to Montreal’s Heavy MTL, Heavy TO offers two days of metal madness. With a diverse group of musicians playing each day, the two-day festival pass is a steal. Saturday starts with a few local, ‘up and comings’, though Toronto scene veterans will be looking forward to Overkill and Suicidal Tendencies.  Overkill never disappoints, and with Thrash metal on the rise- they are the band to see.

inFlames

Though many were disappointed to hear that Lamb of God dropped off the bill, Sweden’s In Flames are a wonderful addition. Recent set lists hint that it will be a performance packed with songs pre-Clayman!  The day ends with shock-rocker Marilyn Manson doing what he does best, followed by Slipknot pummeling the audience with their regular sonic assault. This will also mark Slipknot’s first Toronto show since the passing of founding bassist, Paul Gray.

Slipknot

Why is myETVmedia so excited about Sunday?  Let’s just say we have exclusive interviews lined-up with several bands from the Summer Slaughter portion of Heavy T.O., including a band that some might call the most important death metal band of all time. Period.

Deftones

Sunday ends with Deftones, Five Finger Death Punch, and System of a Down.  Deftones and System on the same day would have been a dream for me in High School, and 5FDP is a brilliant addition to this heavy day of musical debauchery.