MDF VIII: May 28 - 30

MDF VIII
May 28-30, 2010

ENTOMBED (Sweden)
OBITUARY
PENTAGRAM
EYEHATEGOD
SINISTER (Netherlands)
INCANTATION
PORTAL (Аustralia)
HAEMORRHAGE (Spain)
IMPALED
GRIDLINK
INGROWING (Czech Republic)
GRIDE (Czech Republic)
MASSGRAVE (Canada)
16
BIRDS OF PREY
FUCK THE FACTS
TOMBS
HOWL

2008: The Year In Review

Top Ten 2008 Albums
note: these are only for albums i've purchased

1.


Ben Folds
Way To Normal
"His best musical offering since leaving Ben Folds Five"
Standout Tracks: Bitch Went Nuts, Brainwascht, Kylie From Connecticut


2.


Metallica
Death Magnetic
"The best thing for Metallica: Their best album since Cliff died"
Standout Tracks: The End Of The Line, All Nightmare Long, The Judas Kiss


3.


Hail Of Bullets
...Of Frost And War
"Solid Old-School Death Metal from a supergroup of some of the genre's finest"
Standout Tracks: Ordered Eastward, Red Wolves Of Stalin, Nachthexen


4.


Unleashed
Hammer Battalion
"Merciless offering of pagan death metal that stays true to its roots"
Standout Tracks: Hammer Battallion, Carved In Stone, The Greatest Of All Lies


5.


Deicide
Till Death Do Us Part
"It really is Deicide's most brutal album - EVER!"
Standout Tracks: Hate Of All Hatreds, Not As Long As We Both Shall Live, Angel Of Agony


6.


Arsis
We Are The Nightmare
"Equal parts of all their previous releases, this album shreds"
Standout Tracks: Shattering The Spell, Falling Winds Of Hopeless Greed, My Oath To Madness


7.


Hellhammer
Demon Entrails (Compilation)
"Absolutely essential to anyone who considers themselves a fan of extreme metal"
Standout Tracks: Euronymous, Crucifixion, Messiah


8.


Toxic Holocaust
An Overdose Of Death
"Bringing back the punk to thrash, a very enjoyable album"
Standout Tracks: Nuke The Cross, Future Shock, Feedback, Blood and Distortion


9.


Hate Eternal
Fury And Flames
"Shoddy production can't keep you from banging your head to this disc"
Standout Tracks: Whom Gods May Destroy, Bringer Of Storms, Fury Within


10.


Judas Priest
Nostradamus
"Classic Priest hidden within their most progressive offering yet"
Standout Tracks: Pestilence and Plague, Conquest, Nostradamus

----------------

Top Albums I Purchased This Year (Any Year)

1. Ben Folds - Way To Normal
2. Skeletonwitch - Beyond The Permafrost
3. Judas Priest - Metal Works '73 - '93
4. Morbid Angel - Altars Of Madness
5. Suicidal Tendencies - Prime Cuts
6. Impaled - Death After Life
7. Origin - Echoes Of Decimation
8. Metallica - Death Magnetic
9. Sodom - Sodom
10. Obituary - Cause Of Death

Honorable Mention: Death - Leprosy

Top DVD's I Purchased (Any Year)

1. Iron Maiden - Live After Death
2. Dark Funeral - Attera Orbis Terrarum - Part 1
3. Metallica - Live Shit: Binge & Purge
4. Slayer - The Unholy Alliance

Dishonorable Mention: Necrophagist - Summer Slaughter 2007

Top 5 New Bands To Me (Any Year)

1. Skeletonwitch
2. Judas Priest
3. Suicidal Tendencies
4. Impaled
5. Obituary

---------------------

Top 15 Performances Attended

1. Skeletonwitch (1st time)
2. Ben Folds (1st time)
3. Ben Folds (2nd time)
4. Obituary
5. Judas Priest
6. Skeletonwitch (2nd time)
7. Suicidal Tendencies
8. Unleashed
9. The Flaming Lips
10. Boris
11. Origin
12. Misery Index
13. Napalm Death
14. Iced Earth
15. Phobia

Honorable Mentions: High On Fire, mc chris, Hate Eternal (both times), Troglodyte (2nd time)

Top 10 Concerts

1.
Obituary w/ Unleashed
October 1
Kansas City, MO

2.
Skeletonwitch
February 11
Manhattan, KS

3.
Ben Folds
April 5
Kansas City, MO

4.
Ben Folds
October 22
Kansas City, MO

5.
Origin w/ Misery Index, Abysmal Dawn
August 9
Lawrence, KS

6.
Suicidal Tendencies w/ Terror, Whole Wheat Bread
November 29
Kansas City, MO

7.
Blackest Of The Black 2008 w/ Danzig, Dimmu Borgir, Moonspell, Skeletonwitch
October 31
Kansas City, MO

8.
Wakarusa 2008 w/ The Flaming Lips, Blackalicious, many many more
June 6th
Lawrence, KS

9.
Boris w/ Torche, Lair Of The Minotaur
July 23
Lawrence, KS

10.
Alice Cooper
September 12
Hutchinson, KS

Honorable Mention:

Iced Earth
November 12
Kansas City, MO

Worst Performances

1. Cobra Starship
2. 36 Crazyfists
3. Carnifex
4. Drowning Pool
5. Annotations Of An Autopsy

Top 5 Newsmakers

1. Metallica releasing Death Magnetic
2. Cryptopsy turning to Deathcore
3. Iron Maiden's Somewhere Back In Time Tour
4. Judas Priest/Heaven And Hell Metal Masters Tour
5. Chinese Democracy

Obituary -- Kansas City, MO -- October 1st, 2008

The concert took place on Wednesday, Oct. 1 at The Beaumont Club in Kansas City, MO. I arrived early, so I caught all the bands, including the warm-up local bands. The first band to perform was the band At The Left Hand Of God. They were a generic death metal/metalcore band that employed use of a keyboards on certain songs, but they were certainly entertaining. Their guitarists really had talent that was being held back. Overall, they were a nice opening band. A couple of breakdowns, but not in a bad way really. Couldn't hear the keyboard very well, but I suppose that was a good thing.

Next was the local band Troglodyte. They came out on stage wearing masks (like Slipknot) and to a pre-recorded beginning. I feared the worst. However, they played straight up death metal. It was fantastic! They might want to lose the mask shtick, but the music is great. The guitarist actually broke a string on one of their songs which actually cut their set time down a bit. It was a shame, because Troglodyte is the best local band I've ever heard.

The first of the big bands up was Carnifex. I'm not sure why Carnifex is on this tour, as they play straight-up deathcore. Every song sounds the same with chugging breakdowns and...well, every song was basically one long breakdown. Of course, half of the crowd there loved it. Hardcore dancing ensued, a (pathetic) moshpit and lots of group vocals. Completely mediocre, cookie-cutter, by the books deathcore. Nothing special, Carnifex was the only downfall to the night. Of course, after they finished up, most of the crowd left. Good for the actual metal fans, it made for an extremely more intimate show with two of death metal's most important bands!

The world's first death metal band to sing about pagan/viking mythology, Unleashed, was up next. I was extremely close for their set and one thing stood out immediately: the sound was fantastic. Every death metal band I had seen up to that point has music mixes that took a while to get accustomed to but for Unleashed, every instrument came through very clearly and the vocals were all understandable. Unleashed is a party band, there's no way around that. They replayed several sections of songs to have the crowd sing along. And you can't help but go crazy for their amazing technical solos. At the end of their song “Hammer Batallion” they changed the lyrics “Hammer Batallion, Unleashed!” to “Hammer Batallion, Kansas!” it was goofy, it was metal, and it was fun. They gave us an encore as well, which they didn't do on earlier dates. I guess they really liked us!

But, really, how can the son compete when the father is in town? One of the pioneering death metal bands with arguably the best vocalist in the business. The addition of death metal guitarist legen Ralph Santolla only made things that much better. I was right up against the stage, smack dab in the middle. John Tardy, the vocalist, was inches away from me and Ralph Santolla nearly hit me on the head during his solos. The excellent sound was still intact from Unleashed, and it made for one of the most memorable music performances ever for me. The band joked around with each other on stage, letting other members say stuff into the mics, goof around with each other's instruments, and whatnot. They were full of energy throughout the entire night, but the real treat came a few songs in. I had explained to my friend that they had a Celtic Frost cover on their new EP. Obituary played it. They played Dethroned Emperor by Celtic Frost and really made it their own song. It was the highlight of the night for me. Not even classics like Chopped In Half or Find The Arise could top it. Pure bliss. After a blistering encore of the death metal classic “Slowly We Rot”, I shook every member's hand and called it a night. Best death metal performances I've ever seen by far.

Obituary: 10/10
Unleashed: 10/10
Carnifex: 3/10
Troglodyte: 8/10
At The Left Hand Of God: 7.5/10

Obituary (out of order, partial)

Find The Arise
Chopped In Half
Turned Inside Out
Redneck Stomp
Evil Ways
Drop Dead
a new one off their new EP, I think it was "Left to Die"
Dethroned Emperor (Celtic Frost cover)
Guitar/Drum solos
A song where John Tardy helped out the drummer on the drums in the beginning.
Slowly We Rot

Unleashed


1. Intro
2. To Asgard We Fly
3. Never Ending Hate
4. Your Children Will Burn
5. This Is Our World Now
6. Black Horizon
7. Midvinterblot
8. Death Metal Victory
9. Into Glory Ride
10. Hammer Battalion

We got another after Hammer Battalion, I think it was from the first CD. I wanna sayyyy...Before The Creation Of Time? Not sure, though.

Carnifex (partial/out of order)

Lie to My Face

who gives a shit, they sucked

Trogoldyte (partial/out of order)

Don't Go Into The Woods...(cut short, guitarist broke a string )
some other stuff, don't remember, but they were fantastic

Pictures:

At The Left Hand Of God

#1
#2
#3
#4

Troglodyte

#1
#2
#3

Carnifex

#1
#2
#3

Unleashed

#1
#2
#3
#4
Happy Viking AKA #5
#6

Obituary

#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
Best tattoos ever AKA #7
#8
#9
#10

Best Class Ever

Today is my first day of class and in my Music Listening class, we're required to go to 4 concerts and one more for extra credit. Credit is given based on a report of them.

Expect more in-depth than usual reports for:

Alice Cooper (Sept. 12)
Impaled (Sept. 15)
Obituary (Oct. 1)
Ben Folds (Oct. 22)
Danzig (Oct. 31) (although this one will probably be more about Skeletonwitch)

I may switch out Danzig for Metallica.

Upcoming concerts in or around Kansas City!

I hope to see lots of people at these!

Contamination Tour with Origin, Misery Index and Abysmal Dawn
08/09/08
$10 - $12
Jackpot
Lawrence, KS
18+

Skeletonwitch
08/28/08
$8
The Riot Room
Kansas City, MO
21+

Motorhead with Misfits, Airbourne, Valient Thor and Year Long Disaster
09/07/08
$30 - $50
Voodoo Lounge at Harrah's
Kansas City, MO
21+

Alice Cooper at The Kansas State Fair
09/12/08
$25
Kansas State Fair
Hutchinson, KS
All Ages

War On Everything Tour feat. Impaled, Phobia, Kill The Client, Illogicist and Maruta (tix on sale at the door)
$12 - $15
Jackpot
Lawrence, KS
18+

Children of Bodom with The Black Dahlia Murder and Between The Buried And Me
09/27/08
$20
Beaumont Club
Kansas City, MO
All Ages

Obituary with Unleashed and Carnifex
10/01/08
$20
Beaumont Club
Kansas City, MO
All Ages

Opeth with High On Fire and Baroness
10/14/08
$20
Beaumont Club
Kansas City, MO
All Ages

Blackest Of The Black Tour feat. Danzig with Dimmu Borgir, Moonspell, Winds of Plague and Skeletonwitch
10/31/08
$27.50
Uptown Theater
Kansas City, MO
All Ages