List of bands I've seen live

Most of the bands I've seen live are listed in alphabetical order (updated 7/2019):

1    3 Doors Down 2    Abhorrence 3    Aborted 4    Accept 5    AC/DC x3 6    Aerosmith 7    Agalloch 8    Agnostic Front 9    Alien Weponary 10    Alice Cooper 11    Alice in Chains x2 12    All That Remains 13    Amaranthe 14    Amon Amarth x3 15    Amoral 16    Amorphis x16 17    Andy Cairns (Therapy?) 18    Anneke van Giersbergen & Danny Cavanagh 19    Anneke van Giersbergen's Vuur 20    Annihilator x2 21    Anthrax x6 22    Apocalyptica x3 23    Apulanta 24    Arch Enemy x5 25    Architects 26    Armour 27    At the Gates x3 28    Audioslave 29    Audrey Horne 30    Avatar 31    Avenged Sevenfold 32    Axegressor 33    Backyard Babies x2 34    Baest 35    Baptism 36    Baroness x2 37    Barren Earth x4 38    Battle Beast x2 39    Beastmilk 40    Before the Dawn x2 41    Behemoth x3 42    Betrayl At Bespin 43    Between The Buried and Me 44    Bibleblack 45    Bio-Cancer 46    Biffy Clyro 47    Billy Talent 48    Black Dahlia Murder 49    Black Mirrors 50    Black Mountain 51    Black Peaks 52    Black Pyramid 53    Black Royal 54    Black Sabbath 55    Black Spiders 56    Black Stone Cherry 57    Black Tusk 58    Blackstar Halo 59    Blake 60    Blood Farmers 61    Bloodbath x2 62    Bloodnstuff 63    Blues Pills 64    Body Count 65    Bolt Thrower 66    Borknagar 67    Bombus 68    Bring Me the Horizon 69    Brother Firetribe 70    Bruce Stringsteen x4 71    Brujeria 72    Bullet for My Valentine x2 73    Burst 74    Caliban 75    Callisto 76    Candlemass x2 77    Cannibal Corpse 78    Carcass x3 79    Carnalation 80    Casualities of Cool 81    Children of Bodom x2 82    Chimaira 83    Chuck Ragan x2 84    Church of Misery x3 85    Clutch x4 86    Corrosion of Conformity x3 87    Cory Branan 88    Coughdust 89    Cradle of Filth 90    Crowbar x2 91    Clult of Luna x2 92    D-A-D 93    Danko Jones 94    Danzig 95    Dark Tranquillity x5 96    Dauntless 97    De Lirium's Order 98    Death Angel 99    Death Hawks x2 100    Death With a Dagger 101    Def Leppard 102    Demonic Death Judge 103    Demonical 104    Deströyer 666 105    Devin Townsend x2 106    Devin Townsend Project x5 107    Diablo 108    Dimmu Borgir 109    Dingo 110    Disturbed x3 111    Dr. Living Dead 112    DragonForce 113    Dream Evil 114    Dying Fetus 115    Dååth 116    Eagles of Death Metal 117    Electric Wizard 118    Ellie Goulding 119    Emily Barker 120    Emperor x2 121    Ensiferum 122    Enslaved x2 123    Entombed x3 124    Epica 125    Eric Clapton 126    Evile x2 127    Europe 128    Exodus x2 129    Eyehategod 130    Fields of the Nephilim 131    Finntroll 132    Fleshpress x2 133    Foo Fighters 134    For the Imperium 135    Forbidden 136    Frank Turner 137    Fu Manchu 138    George Thorogood and the Destroyers 139    Ghost Brigade x3 140    Ghost x3 141    Glenn Hughes 142    Godsplague 143    Godsmack 144    Gojira x6 145    Grand Magus 146    Grave Pleasures 147    Graveyard x2 148    Green Day 149    HAIM 150    Halestorm 151    Hallatar 152    HAMFRED 153    HammerFall 154    Hanoi Rocks 155    Hatebreed 156    Havok 157    Hawkwind 158    Heilung 159    Hell 160    Hexhammer 161    High on Fire 162    HIM x2 163    Hooded Menace 164    Howl 165    Huey Lewis & The News 166    Hybrid Children 167    Hypocrisy x3 168    Ihsahn x3 169    Immolation 170    Immortal 171    Imperial State Electric x2 172    In Flames x3 173    In Mourning 174    Inquisitor 175    Insomnium x9 176    Iron Maiden x2 177    Jaakko & Jay 178    Jay Malinowski 179    Jess and the Ancient Ones x4 180    Jex Thoth x2 181    Jinjer 182    Jon Oliva's Pain 183    Judas Priest 184    Jumping Jack 185    Kaleidosbolt 186    Kamelot 187    Kataklysm 188    Katatonia x3 189    Kent 190    Killing Joke 191    Killswitch Engage x2 192    King Diamond x4 193    Kiuas 194    Korn 195    Kotiteollisuus 196    Krakow (that Norvegian one) 197    Kreator x3 198    Kvelertak x2 199    Kylesa 200    L.A. Witch 201    Lamb of God x2 202    Legion of the Damned x2 203    Lenny Kravitz 204    Leprous x2 205    Lizzard 206    Loch Vostok 207    Lonely Kamel 208    Lordi 209    Lord Vicar 210    Lost Society x4 211    Loudness x2 212    Lucifer 213    Lynyrd Skynyrd 214    Machine Head x2 215    Maija Vilkkumaa 216    Maj Karma 217    Mark Knopfler 218    Mastodon x3 219    Megadeth x9 220    Memfis 221    Meshuggah x2 222    Metal Church 223    Metallica x7 224    Ministry 225    Misery Index 226    Mokoma 227    Monster Magnet 228    Moonsorrow 229    Morbid Angel 230    Mother Susurrus 231    Mr. Big 232    Mustasch 233    MyGrain 234    Myrkur 235    Nails 236    Napalm Death 237    Nashville Pussy 238    Ne Obliviscaris x2 239    Negative 240    Neil Young & Crazy Horse x2 241    Neko Case 242    Nervosa 243    Neurosis x2 244    Nevermore 245    Nightwish 246    Nile x2 247    Northern Kings 248    Obituary x2 249    Obscura 250    Omnium Gatherum x4 251    Opeth x6 252    Orange Goblin x2 253    Oranssi Pazuzu 254    Orphaned Land 255    Overkill x2 256    Ozzy Osbourne 257    Pain 258    Pain Confessor 259    Pain of Salvation 260    Paradise Lost x2 261    Pekko Käppi & KHHL 262    Pentagram 263    Peter Gabriel 264    Pharaoh Overlord 265    Phil Campell & The Bastard Sons 266    Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals 267    Poets of the Fall 268    Portishead 269    Possessed 270    Power Trip 271    Pressure Points 272    Primordial 273    Private Line 274    Profane Omen 275    Queens of the Stone Age 276    R.E.M 277    Rammstain 278    Razorlight 279    Reckless Love 280    Rival Sons 281    Riverside 282    Rob Zombie 283    Rocky Voltolato 284    Roger Waters 285    Rolling Stones 286    Sabaton x8 287    Saint Vitus x2 288    Satyricon x3 289    Scar Symmetry 290    Scott Kelly 291    Secret Sphere 292    Sentenced 293    Seremonia 294    Shadows Fall 295    Shinedown 296    Shining 297    Shiraz Lane 298    Shrinebuilder 299    Skeletonwitch 300    Slash 301    Slayer x6 302    Sleep 303    Slipknot x3 304    Soilwork 305    Solstafir 306    Sonata Arctica 307    Sonic Syndicate 308    Soulfly x2 309    Soundgarden 310    Sparzanza 311    Speakeasy 312    Spiritual Beggars 313    Spiritus Mortis 314    Stam1na 315    Stereophonics 316    Stone 317    Stone Sour x2 318    Stone Temple Pilots 319    Stratovarius 320    Suicidal Tendencies x2 321    Survivors Zero 322    Swallow the Sun x4 323    Symphonia 324    Testament x6 325    Textures 326    The 69 Eyes 327    The Answer 328    The Crown 329    The Faceless 330    The Flaming Sideburns 331    The Gaslight Anthem x2 332    The Generals 333    The Haunted x2 334    The Hellacopters x2 335    The Man Eating Tree 336    The Offspring 337    The Rasmus 338    The Scourger 339    The Sirens 340    The Souls 341    The Spirit (GER) 342    The Sword 343    The Vintage Caravan 344    Throes of Dawn 345    Throwdown 346    Thunderstone 347    Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus 348    Tracedawn 349    Trap Them 350    Tribulation 351    Triptykon x2 352    Trivium 353    Truckfighters 354    Turisas 355    Turmion Kätilöt 356    U2 x2 357    Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats 358    Unearth 359    Usnea 360    Vader 361    W.A.S.P. 362    Vallenfyre 363    Waltari 364    Weedeater 365    Viikate 366    Warning 367    Wintersun x2 368    Winterwolf 369    Witchcraft 370    Witchery 371    Within Temptation 372    Voivod 373    Volbeat x2 374    Wolfheart x2 375    Von 376    Von Hertzen Brothers 377    ZZ Top

Phage's best albums in 2015

Best of 2015

My mission is to beat Sami this year but I failed again. Having said that here is my listing. There are some new acquaintances and many old friends. Judging the whole picture gives me the idea this year wasn’t so great after all. Sure there were highlights that will be future classics, but if we were giving stars out of five, there wouldn’t be many five star albums in my list. This is partially evident from the fact that my most played artist, according to last.fm stats, this year did not release new album. I won’t develop any formulas this year do determine the actual play times and to compensate late year release time. This list is purely based on my subjective feeling about the album. So, here are my picks for the best new albums released in 2015.

Amorphis – Under the Red Cloud

After all this is pretty obvious selection and comes as no surprise to anyone who knows me. I am pretty honest when I say that this is the best album without looking it through colored glasses. Two previous albums weren’t that good, perhaps they were too experimental or lacked interesting hooks to gain enough listening time. This was totally different listening experience from the beginning reminding me of the Skyforger in catchiness, song writing and composing. In addition, Tomi is clearly expanding his vocal repertoire and creating new layers to Amorphis’ music. I could go on for long but 600+ plays says all: AOTY, no more, no less. 

Paradise Lost – The Plague Within

Holy shit, what an album this is. This was my other option for AOTY. I simply love how Nick Holmes has evolved (or some might say reverted) as a singer. I was very excited when I heard Holmes replaced Åkerfeldt as a lead singer of Bloodbath and now we are enjoying the outcome with the best PL album ever released. This is a perfect mixture of death metal, doom and gothic rock ever released. Just listen to song Beneath the Broken Earth and you understand what I mean.  

Tau Cross – Tau Cross

Tau Cross in one of the aforementioned new bands (or a super group to be exact) that totally blew my mind. Unless I would be an Amorphis fanboy, this could be number one, it is at least the most interesting and refreshing record released this year. Natural continuum to Amebix, something you might get by mixing Killing Joke to Primordium spiced with punk elements.

The Crown – Death Is Not Dead

I’m so glad this album saw daylight. Johan Lindstrand is one of my all-time favorite metal singer and the true vocal sound of The Crown. When the foundation is solid only the sky is the limit how high one can build. I got instant Deathrace King -vibes when I first listened to this album. Lindstrand vocal output fits perfectly to this fast-paced deaththrash music they are playing. To be honest, I’m not saying this is exceptionally good album because it is not. What I’m instead saying is that I needed this album and it is here based on the pure pleasure I get listening to it.

Annihilator – Suicide Society

Annihilator saw some major line-up changes and Padden quit because of personal reasons. I regret this deeply (I really loved his performance on vocal department). So, Jeff ended up making all vocals by himself. Something is missing along Padden but something is also gained. This is pretty coherent Annihilator album for a change although the big hit such as The Trend is missing. I am really surprised how many plays this finally managed to get and hence it deserves position in top five.  

Death Hawks – Sun Future Moon

I really don’t know why I listened to this album so many times. It has few really interesting songs but also many fillers especially amongst the last three songs. Still those that are good are really good and have such a vibe in them I seldom hear. I bought Death Hawks first album and after that I forgot them (they were wrestling in highly competed retro rock category with diamond hard Witchcraft and Graveyard). I totally missed the second album and the metamorphosis from retro stoner band into psychedelic rock band. From what I’ve heard it has been such a great move. Now Death Hawks have nothing I can compare them to. They just are and they are doing fine.     

TesseracT – Polaris

I have a soft spot for this kind of music. TesseracT plays kind of technical progressive metal that could be the result of mixing Tool and Katatonia and adding some modern taste. I find this album quite relaxing and enjoyable to listen to. Featured track could be the “Survival” if you want to quickly pick up an idea what I mean.

Slayer – Repentless

Old dog delivers once again. Repentless is solid Slayer album even without Jeff. You find nothing new from this but in this chaotic world, it is just good to know there are some things that hold their ground no matter what. 

Soulfly – Archangel

As a fanboy, inclusion of this album comes to no surprise to anybody knowing my listening habits. 10^th Soulfly album won’t let you down. Death metal elements are strongly present and max sounds angry (which is highly respectable concerning how many aging artists has turn into mellow pussycats). I know some fans miss those tribal elements from the earlier albums, but luckily this is no longer a bouncing-up metal, but death metal one can feel for at times of need.

Enslaved – In Times

This is a difficult album and somehow I managed to avoid it almost totally according to scrobbles. That however doesn’t diminish its greatness at all. Enslaved keep evolving from album to album and only their imagination seem to be the limit. I really thing a live gig in Finland would be more than appropriate in 2016.     

Venom – From the Very Depths

Old school heavy metal from old school heavy metallers just the way I like it. As their earlier album, this enjoyed lots of Spotify time during my commuting trips.

High On Hire – Luminiferous

Another record I bought and then it ended up gaining dust. I believe this is a result of too much hurry and too little of time to listen to. Diminished time unavoidable leads to focusing to a smaller amount of albums. This year the new Amorphis album stole a huge piece of the total time pie. Luminiferous is a solid HoF-album.

Lik – Mass Funeral Evocation

This is Swedish death metal as is should be done. Once again nothing now but they managed to sound quite refreshing.  Lik is totally new acquaintance to me and should not be mixed to LIK which is a black metal band. Their next album will determine if they will be new pinnacle of Swedish metal scene or will they be just another metal band from Sweden.    

Foo Fighters – St. Cecilia EP

Foo Fighters released free EP for us to enjoy and boy did I. Nothing to add, FF sounds just is should sound. Favorite track is Iron Rooster but others are great too. Saint Cecilia is the Best EP of the year definitively.

  

Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell

Nothing that late Nick Drake has already done, but I chose this for the lyrics. Musically this is indie acoustic music that almost made me feel a bit “hipsterish”. Luckily I survived, but nevertheless this album deserver a notion.

Chris Cornell – Higher Truth

I like Chris Cornell’s voice more on his solo albums than when he is in Soundgarden. His voice seems to come out so effortlessly. Such a nice late evening record everyone should have.

 

Sami's best albums 2015

Introduction

I'll start again with a graph. It tries to make the effect of the album release date smaller than it would be if I would rate the albums only by the played minutes or my current rating of them.

In the graph:

X axis = tracks played from the album X average playing time of the tracks in the album (roughly speaking minutes played).

Y axis = the difference from the "very good album" subjective score given by the author. Weighed towards the current opinion (positive values -> better album).

non-linear regression line fitted to data.

I used this data to help picking up my best albums, but I also left some room for a gut feeling when making the actual list. 

Places 9. - 12.

The Sword - High Country

Its all about riffs and heavier the better. You don't need to be high to listen this, since listening it takes you high. Try to keep your foot not tapping the floor and you'll notice it.

Marilyn Manson - The Pale Emperor

A great surprise from a band that I thought will never again do anything worth mentioning.

Armageddon - Captivity & Devourment

This was one of the surprises that could not have been forecasted in the beginning of the year. Well, of course there are some familiar musicians in the band and their influence is easily heard in the bands music, but if it is this good it doesn't matter a bit.

The Vintage Caravan - Arrival

From the Grand Nation of Iceland! For some reason all the other hard rock/retro rock/easier listening bands avoided my list, so I suppose that this band should represent them here. I'm sure that there were some interesting bands in these genres out there also this year, but none of them was played in my lists enough time to enter the top 30 album plays.

Places 4. - 8.

The Crown - Death Is Not Dead

"Don't be so hasty young master Meriadoc" could be the comment by one famous character in LOTR. The Crown is so fast that when the album ends you remember to take a second breath after it started. So breathtaking but in the good way.

High on Fire - Luminiferous

This album has less minutes played  in my graph than it should be. The reason is simple, it is not found on streaming services (well it was at the beginning but then disappeared). I thought to listen them so many times when cycling to work or in the work, but since I had the album only at home (bought!) there was no way to listen them. Yes I know that I could rip the album to flacs or mp3 (actually done both), but still they were always somewhere not easily reachable. However, when I actully managed to listen them, I liked it enough to be put into my list. I guess its all the riffs and this absolute heaviness that makes it so catchy, except that the headphones tend not be staying on the head since you can not stop moshing your head. Prepare to be crushed!

Tau Cross - Tau Cross

The line-up of the band was interesting enough to take it for test and it passed the bar with flying colours.

Paradise Lost - The Plague Within

The is some mixed reviews out there about this album. Maybe someone liked the pop era Paradise Lost, but I don't. This was painfully obvious on their gig this year when all the songs sounding like crap were from these times. So, this album is good and PL should continue making this kind of music.

Apocalyptica - Shadowmaker

I don't know if this is the best Apocalyptica album, but it was the one that revealed their greatness to me. A truly awesome band. They also had a best gig of the year.

Podium performances

Bronze

Faith No More - Sol Invictus

Another album waited for over a decade. Fortunately the album hits the mark and is a genuine Faith No More album, and this is enough praise for any work of art.

Silver

Amorphis - Under the Red Cloud

Amorphis has not made a bad album since Eclipse, but this one hits the jackpot. There is all kinds of surprises and hooks in the songs. Lot's of folk influences, beautiful female vocals etc. Will earn lots of plays from me also in the future.

Gold

Barren Earth - On Lonely Towers

My BEST ALBUM OF THE YEAR! It was a tight competion between this and Amorphis, but in the end I let the playing minutes to decide the winner. By changing their vocalist Barren Earth seemed to find all their hidden potential. I liked both the old Barren and their vocalist, but somehow this current album is better than the previous ones in all aspects. The album is so versatile, progressive, heavy, happy, you name it.

In the end its time to list some names left out from this list and also a few words why this has happened.

Swallow the Sun - Songs from the North I, II & III

- The album came out so late and having three full albums I simply did not dare to review this or put it into my list except as a joker. Feels like a proper StS album(s), and saying so could mean that it should be in the top three.

Enslaved - In Times

- It almost should be in my list and quite likely would have been if released a bit later. The album just was run down by so much other music during the year.

Slayer - Repentless

- I just can't say anything meaningfull of this album, so I'll let it out. Haven't made my mind yet.

Kylesa - Exhausting Fire

- Kylesa is recognisable, but this  album does not have the same hit potential than the previous ones.

Melechesh - Enki

- Interesting. In the beginning it was too much folk for me, but then it all just started working. I will follow them also in the future. 

Soulfly - Archangel

- A complication maker in my list. I did not know where to put it so I left it without a placement, but not without mentioning. Maybe too many Soulfly albums there already that I could not properly distinguish from each other. Although when you start to listen one, they are all so good, a frustrating problem.

Pentagram - Curious Volume

- Good old heavy doom metal. Four decades of it.

The Prodigy - The Day Is My Enemy

- One of my old favourites. Not their best album either, so not in the list.

Graveyard - Innocence & Decadence

- Their worst album so far. I still would rather listen them as not, but they can do better.

Venom - From the Very Depths

- Another set of older gentlemen (or not). They still got it.

P.S. This list of best albums is like a trip back to year 2012. So many same names there: Barren Earth, Paradise Lost, The Sword, Soulfly, Graveyard, High on Fire, Swallow the Sun. Either my musical taste has not evolved, I'm getting old and listening the same old shit all over again or these bands just happen to be the best that is out there. Anyway, Happy New Year! Now it is time to check all those remaining bands from this year that are still in my should listen list.