Mankvill's End Of Year List Extravaganza!

[mankvill]

I'm getting a jump on it this year. This will be a multi-post thread. My final list (it needs one more listen-over for revisions) will be posted last. I'll start with easy stuff and as it gets closer to 2010, the list will eventually finish itself. Feel free to post in between my posts!

I'll start it off easy:

Mankvill's Top 5 "Surprise" Live Bands Of 2009
This is for bands that I didn't necessarily think I would like or that I didn't know of until I saw them live and they made a good impression on me.

5.

The Black Dahlia Murder
July 20th
Omaha, NE
Highlights: Statutory Ape, Elder Misanthropy, Everything Went Black
Review HERE

I've seen this band 4 times now without ever meaning to (?!) and I've actually kind of liked them live. This show was great (it was an off-date of Mayhem Fest headlined by Cannibal Corpse and featuring Behemoth and God Forbid) and TBDM really has quite unmatched live energy. I remember that "Elder Misanthropy" was an immense standout and "Statutory Ape" and "Everything Went Black" were fantastic live. Almost stole the show from Cannibal Corpse. Almost

4.

Styx
June 4th
Kansas City, MO
Highlights: Too Much Time On My Hands, Come Sail Away, Renegade
Review HERE

Yes, THAT Styx. I went to this show with my parents. REO Speedwagon headlined, but you'd have no idea if you just went to see Styx. They have so many classic songs that are meant to be sung along with a huge crowd, and although Dennis DeYoung isn't in the band anymore, his replacement does an admirable job of taking over his duties. "Come Sail Away" was the best crowd sing along all year.

3.

Trap Them
July 23rd
Kansas City, MO
Highlights: n/a
Review HERE

Barney from Napalm Death says this band renewed his faith in current heavy music, and he's totally right. Total aggression, this band is MADE for small bar/club shows. Even basement shows. It's impossible not to circle pit to this band. I don't have an exact setlist, but it was all insane.

2.

Revocation
June 11th
Baltimore, MD
Highlights: The Brain Scrambles, ReaniManiac
Review HERE

Imagine my surprise from flying halfway across the country to see Quo Vadis to have them easily upstaged by a three-piece thrash band! The injection of old school punk with their sound made them so infectious. I bought their album as soon as I could after this show. They're on tour soon, everyone should make it a priority to see Revocation.

1.

Art Brut
November 7th
Lawrence, KS
Highlights: Modern Art, Emily Kane, My Little Brother
Review HERE

"Surprised" doesn't even begin to explain my experience with Art Brut. I won free tickets to this show and my indie snob friend LOVES them. And the opening bands were pretty much indie hipster garbage. But Art Brut completely blew me away. Equal parts The Clash, The Smiths, The Dead Kennedys and Interpol, every single song was high energy and their frontman Eddie Argos is far and away one of the best I've ever seen.

Honorable mentions: Reverend Horton Heat, Priestess, Lamb of God

[DethMaiden]

Oh, did Lamb of God "surprise" you with how shitty they were?

[mastodon421]

BDM brings it live and everything you said is right on the money.

[SomewhereInTime72]

Styx are a fuckin' great live band.

[mankvill]

Originally Posted by DethMaiden

Oh, did Lamb of God "surprise" you with how shitty they were?

My expectations were so low that they could do nothing but surprise.

To be honest, maybe I should substitute them with As I Lay Dying. They wiped the floor with Lamb of God, to the chagrin of all the kids there.

[TonyD]

When did you see Priestess? I saw them a few years back and they were pretty good.

[mankvill]

Originally Posted by TonyD

When did you see Priestess? I saw them a few years back and they were pretty good.

Opened up for GWAR.

[mankvill]

Mankvill's Top 5 Worst Live Bands Of 2009
Flat-out gave the worst performances of the year.

5.

Job For A Cowboy
July 21st
Kansas City, KS
Review HERE

I thought that maybe their newest album, "Ruination", would at least make them a bit more tolerable live, they still were completely disappointing. The small bits of "Knee Deep" and "Entombment Of A Machine" that I find appealing were lost on the big outdoor stages of Mayhem Fest.

4.

Chester French
September 4th
Kansas City, KS
Review HERE

Chester French was an embarassment. They relied way too heavily on the "Look at us, we're white and we're rapping! How hilarious!" vibe that they doomed themselves to terrible self-parody by the end of their first song. Ironically, the second stage had Mac Lethal on it, a Caucasian Kansas City native rapper who has more hip-hop talent in one freestyle than Chester French has in two albums.

3.

Whitechapel
July 21st
Kansas City, KS
Review HERE

When you lose count of how many breakdowns are in a song within the first minute of the bands very first song, you know that the deathcore gimmick has worn out its welcome. Three guitarists (THREE) playing open-stringed breakdowns all the time is a good waste of instruments.

2.

Suicide Silence
December 5th
Kansas City, MO
Review HERE

I can't explain to you how hilarious it is to hear for an Olly Sykes look-alike to call for a circle pit before every song, but the song contains nothing but breakdowns. What little talent there is in this band is wasted on by-the-books deathcore and mediocrity that even their hilariously bad lyrics can't even save them as a gimmick act.

1.

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.

[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.

[rjturtle9]

Wow three of those were on the same bill. How bad was that