Back to the grind. Manitoba MetalFest caps off three nights of metal thrashing madness with a trio of grindcore comebacks - Peg City political grinders Malefaction and Head Hits Concrete, as well as legendary American act Brutal Truth.

"Cory Thomas (Putrescence drummer and MetalFest's driving force) asks us every year to play MetalFest and we've always turned him down, but this year he was finally able to convince us," says Malefaction vocalist Travis Tomchuk, who is joined in the band by drummer Cory Koss, guitarist Clint Chiarella and bassist Mike Klassen. "The fact that we haven't done a reunion show mostly has to do with our drummer. His reasoning was that our last show back in October of '04 was just too spectacular to ever top, so why bother?"

Why bother? Two words: Brutal Truth. The men in Malefaction are big fans of the groundbreaking grindcore group (pictured above), which is revelling in a resurgence of its own. Released in 2009, Evolution Through Revolution is Brutal Truth's first album in 12 years. An absolutely raging record, time has not tempered the band; then again, grindcore isn't one for slowing down.

"Grindcore has always stayed strong as a genre," says Dan Lilker, bassist and founder of Brutal Truth. "It's over 20 years old now and the fact we could come back after all that time and still have people into us proves its legitimacy and longevity. It shows that grind is still going strong and that's inspiring."

Of course, there's more to Manitoba MetalFest than just grindcore. The festival kicks off March 24 at the Park Theatre with an all-ages show that includes metalcore band Murder Scene Memories and progressive death metallers Eyam. Friday night at The Zoo features Vancouver funk/metal band Ninjaspy and Montreal technical death metal outfit Neuraxis, and before Saturday night's get-together, instrumental band Electro Quarterstaff and throwback thrashers Evil Survives will hit The Zoo's stage.

If anybody knows about the importance of multiplicity in metal, it's Lilker. He is the co-founder of speed metallers Nuclear Assault and crossover thrashers Stormtroopers of Death, as well as legendary thrash metal band Anthrax, playing bass on its Fistful of Metal debut. In addition to Brutal Truth, the 45-year-old bassist also currently plays in black metal band Crucifist.

"I like playing metal," Lilker says. "Sometimes it gets boring doing one thing, so I like to stretch out and explore other stuff, just as long as it's extreme in one way or another. Metal as a genre has different subgenres and it's always good to have variety. It gets boring if you have 10 bands that sound exactly alike, and the days are over when black metal bands were talking shit about death metal bands.

Lilker says regional festivals such as Manitoba MetalFest are vital to metal's health.

"In Europe they get really big metal festivals like Wacken, With Full Force and Hellfest but, in North America, you don't really get those," Lilker says. "It's really cool that there can be things like this (Manitoba MetalFest) that are bigger than just a regular gig.

"We're looking forward to coming up there and grinding you people into pieces - and enjoying some nice weed, some nice Canadian beer and some Canadian metal. We'll have a good ol' time."

MANITOBA METALFEST
March 24, Park Theatre; March 26 & 27, The Zoo