Mankvill's End Of Year List Extravaganza!

[Wizzbang11]

Originally Posted by mankvill

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Killswitch Engage
July 21st
Kansas City, KS
Review HERE

There comes a time when a fad has reached its peak and the biggest users of the fad are pulling at strings to remain on top. Killswitch Engage has resorted to being over the top "silly" and making fun of people who don't like their music (read: people with good taste in music). Pathetic.

I despise KSE, but not because of the silliness.
And if you mean by making fun of people saying things like "is this a tampon convention" etc. then I will agree with you, but I actually find making fun of individual crowdspeople pretty entertaining.

[mankvill]

I've already defended myself and argued until my face was blue with y'all.

[idrinkwine732]

Originally Posted by DethMaiden

I'm a little disappointed that you hated KSE so much, even more than two deathcore acts. I think their old(er) shit is pretty much as good as metalcore gets. Haven't seen 'em live though, maybe they suck in that environment.

In my opinion, Alive or Just Breathing is the best* metalcore album.

[mankvill]

Mankvill's Top 10 Live Performances Of 2009


10.

Warbringer
December 5th
Kansas City, MO
Highlights: Living In A Whirlwind, Total War, Combat Shock
Review HERE

The third time I saw Warbringer, they really solidified why I think they're the best straight-up new thrash band today. Insane energy, vocals and guitars were spot-on, and the drummer tore everyone a new one. And the setlist was near perfect. Headlining tour, plz!

9.

Cannibal Corpse
July 20th
Omaha, NE
Highlights: A Skull Full Of Maggots, Death Walking Terror, Pit Of Zombies
Review HERE

The first of three times I've seen Cannibal Corpse this year, but the only headlining show. They pulled out 20 songs and completely decimated the place. "Hammer Smashed Face" is without a doubt one of the greatest live death metal songs ever played!

8.

High On Fire
October 12th
Kansas City, MO
Highlights: Cometh Down Hessian, Waste Of Tiamat, Rumors Of War
Review HERE

A band must be good to make such an immense impression with an opening set of about 30 minutes. High On Fire are, without a doubt, the greatest metal band of the 00's, and they proved it live, even with such a short set. Matt Pike is the greatest riff-player in metal today, and they're loud enough to make Lemmy proud. Insane solos abound and a HoF show.

7.

Quo Vadis
June 11th
Baltimore, MD
Highlights: Absolution (Element Of The Ensemble Part II), On The Shores Of Ithaka, Legions Of The Betrayed

So many factors went into this. It was their 2nd-ever US show, I had flown halfway across the country for it, and Quo Vadis was one of the first metal bands I'd ever heard! A few technical problems couldn't hinder them from playing a high energy show with amazing musicianship. They should be so much more popular!

6.

Skeletonwitch
July 23rd
Kansas City, MO
Highlights: Within My Blood, Fire From The Sky, Crushed Beyond Dust
Review HERE

My love for this band is pretty well documented, but this was the most high-energy show I've ever been a part of. This was the equivalent of seeing Metallica play a show in your basement with Dave Mustaine: legendary. "Within My Blood" is one of the greatest endings to any live concert and Skeletonwitch are one of the greatest live bands of all time.

5.

Peelander-Z
October 1st
Lawrence, KS
Highlights: Everything, Mad Tiger
Review HERE

I could write page upon page explaining why this concert was the most fun I've ever had at a music event, but it wouldn't get across just how amazing it was. The most I can do is urge you to watch these videos and multiply it by 1000. Crowd participation at its' greatest.

4.

Testament
Kansas City, MO
June 6th
Highlights: The Preacher, D.N.R., Disciples Of The Watch
Review HERE

At the time of this shows, I'd seen Slayer, Exodus, and Metallica live in concert. Testament blew all those bands away in every aspect of their live show. Chuck Billy is awesome playing air guitar along with Alex Skolnick and is menacing on "D.N.R.". They deserve every ounce of respect available for being a classic thrash band. They're one of the best.

3.

Dragonforce
Kansas City, MO
September 28th
Highlights: Where Dragons Rule, Valley Of The Damned, Disciples Of Babylon
Review HERE

zomg poser!1! I've been a Dragonforce fan for a long, long time and I'd been dying to see them headline here. They were everything I expected and quite a bit more. Sorry detractors, the sound from Herman Ri and Sam were fantastic all night long, and the crowd sang along with every single song. Awesome to finally have heard those songs live after waiting so long!

2.

Ben Folds
Lawrence, KS
October 26th
Highlights: Evaporated, Song For The Dumped, Such Great Heights
Review HERE

Easily the best of the six times I've seen Ben Folds. It was the first time (or so I'm inclined to believe) in a while he did a completely solo show: just him and a piano. "Evaporated" is far and away my favorite Ben Folds Five song and it gave me chills when he played it. "Song For The Dumped" was fantastic live with great crowd participation, and "Such Great Heights" might be a cover, but it's totally Ben's song now.

1.

Megadeth
Kansas City, MO
December 5th
Highlights: Everything, Sweating Bullets, Peace Sells, Everything, A Tout Le Monde, Everything, Tornado Of Souls, Hangar 18, Everything, Everything, Everything
Review HERE

This might be the best performance I've ever seen. Going into this concert, I assumed the crowd would sing along to Holy Wars and Symphony Of Destruction, but the highlight of the night was when the crowd took over the vocals for "Sweating Bullets". It was just one moment during a magical night full of instant concert classics. I will tell my grandchildren and make them tell their grandchildren about just how amazing it is to scream your lungs out to the chorus of "Peace Sells" with a thousand of your closest metalhead friends. Dave Mustaine and Chris Broderick are probably the two most talented guitarists I've ever seen live. Their insane technicality was only more impressive that their solos were amazingly 100% accurate to the source material. I'm still re-living the night in my head and probably will for the next few months.

Honorable mentions: GWAR, Weezer, Mastodon, Art Brut

[mastodon421]

Originally Posted by DethMaiden

I'm a little disappointed that you hated KSE so much, even more than two deathcore acts. I think their old(er) shit is pretty much as good as metalcore gets. Haven't seen 'em live though, maybe they suck in that environment.

I found KSE awesome live. If you enjoy them on disc you will proably enjoy them live.

[mankvill]

Mankvill's End Of Year Albums List 2009!
This is it! The moment you've all been waiting for. From the best to the worst and everything in between. I'm starting off with just one album, the worst, so I can have a nice, even number for the rest of the list. Without further aideu...the worst CD I heard this year:

41.



Dååth - The Concealers

Century Media/Roadrunner
April 20th
Highlights: Sharpen The Blades, Self-Corruption Manifesto, The Unbinding Truth

To be completely honest, this is the only album I've heard all year that I would out and out call "bad". And I feel a little remorse that it has to be Dååth, a band I was pretty happy to know about a few years ago. Unfortunately, everything that made this band semi-unique and interesting is pretty much down the drain by now. I'll start with the good on this album: Kevin Talley is the drummer! I mean, no, he's not nearly as good here as he was with Dying Fetus or Misery Index and his talent is definitely repressed by the mediocrity of the songwriting, but hey. It's Kevin Talley! What little there is improves what it can. And there's a couple of shining solos on the album as well. Out of left field is the song "The Unbinding Truth" that has a totally wild Neo-Classical solo (seriously) near the end of the song. It's unexpectedly awesome. But what talent is peeked at there is stored away for the rest of the album.

Dååth was a fun band that was equal parts industrial and death metal, and I really did enjoy their album The Hinderers. However, it's almost as if this album is made by a completely different band. Their sound is about as death metal now as Trivium is. In fact, the Trivium metalcore sound is alive and well all over these tracks. Pseudo-breakdowns, uninspired riffing, and the new vocalist would be much more at home with a hardcore band. And forget about anything "industrial" or interesting except for a few seconds on about two tracks where a keyboards breaks through before being cast back into the shadows. And then there's a completely useless, almost "techno" sounding track near the end of the album. Embarassing.

Next post will be 40 - 35!

[Natrlhi]

^ This opinion is officially approved by The Nat.

Yeah, I agree with everything you said. Their previous album was much better than their latest. It will be near the bottom of my list, also.

[DethMaiden]

Didn't hear this, but they were sooooooo bad the two times I've seen them live.

[mankvill]

Originally Posted by DethMaiden

Didn't hear this, but they were sooooooo bad the two times I've seen them live.

I really liked them when I saw them, but it was opening for Dark Funeral, they had their last singer, and they hadn't released The Concealers yet.

[DethMaiden]

Originally Posted by mankvill

I really liked them when I saw them, but it was opening for Dark Funeral, they had their last singer, and they hadn't released The Concealers yet.

Ozzfest and opening for DragonForce=bad and boring and "c'mon bro, let's mosh"tastic.