MONTREAL -- The Heavy Montreal festival, which has showcased heavy-metal and hard-rock acts since its inception in 2008, will take the year off in 2020, promoter Evenko anounced Thursday.

Evenko officials said the decision to pause the festival for a year was not an easy one to make, but made sense in light of its plans to present more heavy metal and hard rock concerts throughout the year.

"We will continue to present CRAZY rock & metal concerts throughout the city and province all year round," Evenko tweeted.

"We'd like to thank the fans who have supported us and we're working hard to make sure to present to you the best metal/rock shows in the world," said Nick Farkas, Evenko's vice-president of programming, concerts and events.

This isn't the first year Heavy Montreal has taken off; the festival - which was initially called HEAVY MTL - was not held in 2009, the year after its inaugural edition, and again in 2017.