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Br00tal-lists

METALSUCKS’ FAVORITE TOURS OF 2009

Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 2:30pm by

In no particular order, here are a bunch of tours that made our collective nipples hard in 2009:

Meshuggah + Cynic +The Faceless: The original incarnation of the prog metal boner / wet dream tour, but the 2010 incarnation (BTBAM, Townsend, Cynic, Scale the Summit) is gonna give it a run for its money.

Opeth + Enslaved: There really isn’t much to say about this… a perfect pairing! Opeth were at the top of their game and Enslaved were coming off the success of Vertebrae.

Mastodon + Kylesa + Intronaut: This tour only came to small venues 1/5th or 1/10th the size of the venues Mastodon would fill on their next tour, and felt all the more special because Mastodon played their new opus Crack the Skye start to finish. Though they’d do this again on their headlining tour with Dethklok, seeing it in such an intimate setting can’t be beat.

Mastodon + Dethklok + Converge + High on Fire: See above. But surprisingly to many, Dethklok was thoroughly entertaining… it wasn’t just the Mastodon show that everyone was expecting.

Down + Melvins + Weedeater: A stoner’s wet dream! An interesting match that looks odd on paper but totally worked in person.

Gojira headlining tour in May (with the Chariot): Months and months of listening to The Way of All Flesh – after years of seeing Gojira solely in support slots – culminated in this totally awesome, totally mind-blowing tour. Like an orgasm, only better.

Gojira’s Metallica off-date headline shows in September: See above, except multiply it by 10. Seriously, it was THAT great.

Alice in Chains: Jerry and co. still know how to do it live, and frontman William DuVall really seems comfortable now after years of touring with the band. That AIC had new material to support and play live made it even better.

Soilwork + Swallow the Sun + Darkane: Soilwork’s first American dates with Peter Wichers back on the axe didn’t disappoint, nor did fellow Swedes Darkane or Finnish melo-doomsters Swallow the Sun.

The Scion Rock Fest in Atlanta: Everything about this festival was well done, from the choice of bands to the laid-back atmosphere to the free ticket price. Let’s hope for another one in 2010.

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  • http://jordanmunson.wordpress.com Jordan Munson

    Still bummed I didn’t get to see Meshuggah/Cynic/The Faceless.

  • joshkid

    yes I was at that Gojira headlining show (Metallica off-date), FUCKIN MIND BLOWING!!!!
    The Faceless/Dying Fetus was THE shit too.
    And of course the one and only METALLICA with LoG @ The Garden was an INSANE show!!! (fuck the mindless haters)

    • joshkid

      and MASTODON!!! ’nuff said

  • jason

    There were a lot of good tours, but I just don’t see how any could compare with the Scion Fest.
    Pig Destroyer, Torche and Baroness in ATL was unreal last weekend too.

  • Tanner

    Im gonna slap my vote to Mastodon, Dethklok, High on Fire, and Converge. Every band gave 110% percent. And one of the rare tours where i knew material and enjoyed every band. Suffocation w/ Decrepit Birth and Psycroptic was an amazing tour as well.

  • Gunnar

    Meshuggah/Cynic/The Faceless. Hands down.

  • bryan

    You forgot the Lamb of God/ Children of bodom/ As i Lay Dying/ municipal waste/God Forbid tour.

    • Malacoda

      No – it wasn’t good.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Edward-Wilfred/100000007099811 Edward Wilfred

    I’m bummed I didn’t get to see ANY of these. And opeth is only playing like two US dates nest year. :-(

  • Bicro

    Faceless/Dying Fetus slayed.

    • Ryd1ZZ

      I agree, I just saw that one last weekend.

      Also, BDM and Skeletonwitch!?

    • Alex_P

      Yup. The Faceless really have a good sense of on-stage drama.

  • Alkahest

    In Flames + BTBAM + 3 Inches of blood + The Faceless

    Only metal show I could go to, but still…

    • Discipleofthewatch

      I went to that one also.

  • Master Chah

    I’m so bummed I missed The Faceless/Dying Fetus and Dethklok/Mastodon. Maybe next time.

  • Big

    Seen that Soilwork tour! Bjorn may not be able to sing as good as the cd, but fuck me can dirk play the drums and peter and sylvain shred. fuck yes!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brendan-Snow/514886363 Brendan Snow

    Saw Opeth/Enslaved in Boston on the second day of the tour, fucking amazing.

  • brian roach

    ISIS/Pelican/Tombs!!!!

  • http://www.roxwel.com Pick-Axe Bobby

    You guys very much forgot about BURST TOURING THE U.S.!

  • myke

    that soilwork show here nyc was great setlist and awesome show. darkanake killed it live. i was hangin w/ those dudes all night drinking…lol swallow the sun was great cant wait to see them in april( thats should be a great tour too)

  • Double D

    Can anyone who saw the Mastodon/Dethklok,etc. tour please tell me how they played? I’d actually like to get opinions from people at a few of the different dates. I’m asking because every time I have seen them (Mastodon), they aren’t consistent in how well they play/good the show is. I’ve seen them 3 times and they have:
    1st time: sucked
    2: been “okay”
    3. been good, but not quite great

    • loganarchy

      they played great, but I preferred them on the Kylesa tour, maybe just because it was more intimate

  • FrostMechanic

    I didn’t see any of these tours. The biggest shows I saw this year were Cynic/Dragonforce/Daath, Conquer & Curse (with Daath), and Agalloch/Subarachnoid Space/Velnias/Indian.

  • Ziltoid

    As great as Meshuggah/Cynic was, excluding Atheist from this tour list is a sin. They were one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen.

  • loganarchy

    1/5 or 1/10? In atlanta, the venue on the Kylesa tour held 1100; on the Dethklok tour 2600.

    Wait, did some of the other venues on the Dethklok tour have assigned seating areas?

    • stu1

      Yeah, I’m a little confused by that. The venues weren’t THAT much different. That Mastodon/Kylesa tour wasn’t in small clubs; it was large clubs to small theatres. They played the same room on both tours in some cities.

  • Malacoda

    What about Mayhem Fest? I thought it was a super solid lineup – obviously excluding shit like BFMV etc.

  • WowWee!

    I liked Testaments tour earlier this year with Unearth.

  • Sean Williams

    LOVED the Gojira headlining tour (minus the Chariot…. ugh. awful, awful band. Car Bomb were pretty cool dudes though) and both Mastodon tours were awesome especially the Myspace Secret Show which was awesome. Some tours I really think shoulda been mentioned were the Baroness tour with Earthless who were both incredible, the Isis tour, and the Russian Circles/Red Sparowes tour which was a unbelievable night, could you have a better pairing? On a side note, would have given my right testicle to go to Scion, that show looked beyond amazing. Anyone who went should just die.

  • Scrambles

    Obituary/Goatwhore/Krisiun/The Berzerker/Warbringer was without a doubt my favorite show this year.

  • http://myspace.com/bizarrodrake Marc

    Saw the Mastodon/Kylesa/Intronaut show in Lawrence, KS. and it was fucking awesome!

  • Skeletonwitchcraft

    Amon Amarth, Goatwhore, Skeletonwtich, Lazarus A.D.

    that was the best tour this year

  • Josh A

    Scion Rock Fest. For once I can say “I was there,” hopefully in time I’ll be saying “I was at the first one, man.”

  • http://unusualpath.wordpress.com phale

    i saw gorjira with the chariot. definitely deserves top spot. i had to choose between that and mastodons first tour, which was hard but i think i made the right choice. chariot were a spectacle, carbomb were interesting but not inspiring. but nobody cares– gojira, man! hyperbolic!

    my #2 is kreator/exodus. one of the many shows supported by warbringer. i have possibly seen them perform more times than any other band.

    #3 is slayer/megadeth: canadian carnage. this one might have rated higher if i hadnt had a knee injury that kept me out of the pit.

    #4 faceless/dying fetus. just a couple weeks ago. i wish i had shown up in time for the supporting acts on this one.

    i saw the soilwork tour, and it was good but not top rated. darkane were awesome though. not sure if its always the case, but at the show i saw, the vocalist looked exactly like gerard butler in 300, and screamed like him too. it was pretty intense.

  • http://twitter.com/trailofsmoke trailofsmoke

    From what I understand, not only will there be another Scion Rock Fest, but YOB will be there! Hopefully, so will I.