Metal Reviews

So in the concerts that you all have gone to, what band do you think had the best stage presence and the most energy? And I don't mean fancy junk like lights and smoke machines and pyrotechnics, I'm talking about the band members themselves going insane and jumping around.

The Mars Volta, they are actually insane.

Cannibal Corpse. Awesome live.

I'd have crap stage presence, if I'm playing guitar, I'll headbang sometimes. How the hell do yuo throw it around like a nutter or whatever? Madness.

Good topic this.

There's some pretty shit bands that have amazing stage presence. Slipknot for example. Doesn't help the music but makes them a different proposition live.

The prize for most balls out insane performer I've ever seen live goes to Casey Chaos from Amen, the man is a nut job.

As far as good bands (IMO) go, Tool have a big stage prescence due to how they behave on stage / stage setup. The near total absence of movement aside from maynard's dodgy marionette act gives them a very different feel to other acts. Devin Townsend (or SYL) have great prescence not to mention delightful synchronised headbanging maneouvers. Plus Devin is the funniest frontman I've ever seen.

Agree with Al, Devin is batshit insane. I remember at the Arch enemy gig last year, when someone threw a beer onstage "To the inbred who threw that - we're going be on the tour bus in a few minutes banging girls and doing blow! You probably work in a bank!"

"We are Strapping Young Lad...and you are NOT!"

"Go to the merchandise stall and buy two t-shirts, one for you and one for your pathetic girlfriend!"

"This is snappy the shark and he says buy a t-shirt!"

Casey Chaos is also fucking energetic (shame he's a complete cunt).

Now for some original input:

-Maiden, obviously (at least Bruce, Nicko and Jan).
-Nevermore - Warrell can work a crowd, plus he's a sarcastic bastard. and he does crazy dancing.
-Dio - this is a weird one, but the difference between seeing Dio with Doug Aldritch compared to Craig Goldy is astronomical. Goldy might as well lying in a hammock onstage.
-Edguy - the go a little too over the top with the wackiness, but if you're in the right mood...
-Turisas - a bit gimmicky, but distorted violin solos ist Krieg!

Bad stage presence:
Queensryche - one dancer and four statues
Michael Schenker - the rest of his band all do well, especially the absolutely mental Rev Jones on bass, but watching Schenk himself you'd think he'd been struck with paralysis everywhere but his fingers.

When I saw SYL, devin kicked the gig off by screaming: STICK THIS UP YOUR CUNT. My favourite quote would have to be: 'there's 10 men for every man here today. hooray for the sausage party'

Forgot maiden, that goes without saying. And metallica are still the shit live when they play the old stuff, especially when they decide to play master of puppets, the whole thing, in order...that was good.

Megadeth-Saw them with the classic line-up on the Cryptic Writings tour, and Oh my, were they amazing. Dave had all sorts of funny stories to tell, and Marty Friedman's solo was godly.

Cannibal Corpse-two hours of awesome. Corpsegrinder doesn't like Chris Barnes at all, he thrashed him every chance he got. Good times.

Morbid Angel-Can't really jump around and shit since they all play instruments, but if you think Trey is good on album, wait till you see him live. It's damn near unbelievable.

Goatwhore-"Who are these cunts doing harcore queer dancing during my set!? This is a metal show, so leave you faggots!"

Danzig-the guy is a lot cooler with his crowds than you might think.

Opeth-They had Gene Hoglan on drums the night I saw them, which was godly. Mike is a pretty funny dude as well.

White Zombie-fireworks, a giant satan head, and Rob challenging a religious douche who was protesting the show to a fight. What more could you want?

Def Leppard-lasers, in the round, and Rick Allen showing why he is indeed the thunder god. Joe interacts with the crowd really well.

Bad;
Sepultura-Maybe it was an off night or something, but they looked like zombies up there. No energy, but they did play a good set.

Pantera-merely for Phil quoting the in between song banter from 101 Proof verbatim. Also, the set followed the live album track for track.

Six Feet Under-as bad live as they are on album.

Sevendust-they opened for Megadeth for some god-awful reason, and Lajon sounds nothing like he does on the albums. Can we say Pro-Tools boys and girls?

ZZ Top-these guys are just way too old for this. They stood there like statues, almost as if their hips would break if they moved an inch. Good set though.

Edguy
Turisas
Maiden
Hammerfall
Bodom (seem em twice and the first time they had fucking excellent presence but second time a bit poor)
Sabastian Bach

are they bands that come to mind

hell, Blind Guardian is über-pwnage live.

Opeth, Behemoth, Therion, Kreator, Judas Priest, Arch Enemy, Nevermore, Megadeth, Metallica, and I'm sure 1349 because I'm seeing them live in Sep.

Ones that have been mentioned before: SYL/Devin (he's not batshit insane with The Devin Townsend Band, but he's still amazing), Opeth, Behemoth

New ones: DragonForce (holy shit are they insane live), Hate Eternal, Finntroll, Kataklysm

Bands I've seen with good stage presence
Priest
Maiden
Slayer
Mastodon
Pearl Jam
Lamb of God
Arch Enemy
Queensryche
Foo Fighters
Tool
Muse


....and those with bad presence
Black Sabbath (in 2004, shocking huh?)
In Flames
Deftones
Killswitch Engage
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Soilwork
The Haunted

Behemoth, Amon Amarth. Not that I've seen them live (though they both came here, I know, I'm an idiot), it's just judging by the ton of DVDs I've seen. Behemoth is just insane, and Amon Amarth are, well, a bunch of huge vikings, how's that for stage presence?

Finntroll

Good:

Hypocrisy
Morbid Angel
Krisiun
Edguy
Suffocation
Cattle Decapitation
Kataklysm
Necrophagist
Destruction
Speed.Kill.Hate
Behemoth

Dark Tranquillity - Stanne is great live as well as the rest of the band
Kataklysm - Maurizio Iacono is a beast
Hypocrisy - Peter Tagtgren, 'nough said
Symphony X- The first time I ever heard them was live and it was incredibly awesome
Cattle Decapitation - The music really isn't my thing but the singer is crazy

I forgot Dark Tranquillity! Very good live.

Symphony X - Surprisingly the most fun band to see live I have been to and I have seen them 3 times.

Manowar - Awesome live shows with tons of energy and band/crowd interaction. Seen them at least 5 times

Virgin Steele - Really fun live band. Defeiss gets real into the diferent voices even when he is just speaking.

Nevermore - Dane is fucking nuts. He never slows down

Iced Earth - Only saw them one time with Matt Barlow, but Barlow is awesome live

Sonata Arctica. Tony is hilarious. "And since we have a blown up condom onstage, we'll play a ballad. not." and they do victoria's secret. he also had the audience divided into three groups, one doing 'tick', one 'tock' and the last 'cucoo' . "and that is something very swiss, ja?"