Best Albums Of The Decade(2000-2009): #100-99

Today I am going to start my list of what I believe to be the 100 best albums of the past decade. There were a lot of brillant pieces of work that have been released in the past 10 years and the list was extremely hard to make. My plan is to unveil the list with 2 albums per day with brief write-ups included. I love any comments and I hope you enjoy the list! Without further ado here is number 100 and 99.

100.Cannibal Corpse-Kill(2006)

One of the pioneering acts of death metal made one of their finest albums ever well into their 2nd decade. Tracks like "Murder Worship" and "Make Them Suffer" are easily on the level of their earlier classics and show what death metal is all about. Kill is brutal, no bullshit death metal at its peak level and is the defining 2000's era Cannibal Corpse record.

Standout Tracks 1. Murder Worship 2.Make Them Suffer 3.Death Walking Terror

99.Korn-Take A Look In The Mirror(2003)

Korn's defining era was the 1990's. They pioneered the sound that would later inspire a plethora of copycats and spawn the dreaded term "nu-metal". Korn was coming of 2002's Untouchables which was decent but a huge letdown after their amazing 90's material. 2003's Take A Look In The Mirror brought back their old-school sound and made a great record. Take A Look In The Mirror is the last Korn record to feature the original lineup and it shows. It is the last Korn record that I would consider to be fantastic, there are a lot of Korn classics on this record. Take A Look In The Mirror is the best non-90's Korn album by leaps and bounds.

Standout Tracks 1.Did My Time 2.Deep Inside 3.Right Now

Concert Review: Rockstar Mayhem Fest Mansfield,MA July 27,2010

Got to the Comcast Center a little bit later than I expected but wasn't much of a problem got into the venue pretty quick and didn't miss a band(even though I didn't really care about the first 3 bands).

In This Moment was up first. I really don't like this band and live they were pretty unimpressive. Maria Brink does have a pretty good singing voice but her screaming is pretty weak. I am not really to into their music. I will say that they did do a pretty cool thing during their last song Maria went out into the crowd and stood at the soundboard and had the crowd circle pit around her. Side Note Maria Brink is really,really hot.

Stemm was the Jager Band at the last Mayhem Fest as well. My thoughts are still the same. They are a pretty decent band they have good energy and they got shit going. Good for them.

Norma Jean was up next so I wondered off to the Rockstar Tent so I got some Rockstar and picked up a 3 Inches Of Blood Shirt while they were on. I did see most of their set despite doing other things and they were pretty shitty.

It was finally time for one of the bands that caused me to come to this year's Mayhem Massachusetts's own Shadows Fall. It was my 1st time seeing Shadows Fall and they put on a good show. The setlist was good and the band played really well. One small complaint is that Brian Fair was a little off on vocals but he is a good frontman who knows how to work a crowd and it is hilarious to watch him circle headbang because of his dreads. I am surprised he hasn't fallen and completely fucked himself up on stage because of them. Anyways Shadows Fall was good and I will most likely see them again.

Went and met 3 Inches Of Blood near the end of Shadows Fall's set. Really cool guys. After getting autographs and talking to them for a few minutes Winds Of Plague was about to start. I know Winds Of Plague is frowned upon by most of the metal community but these guys got their shit together. I personally loved their last record The Great Stone War and in my opinion it is the best deathcore record ever. Winds of Plague has greatly matured in the past year. They have greatly stepped up their live show. The last time I saw them they are a bit of a letdown but this time they were great.

Chimaria was fantastic. Great stage presence and their songs just are so much heavier and better live. The main example is song like Secrets Of The Dead which I personally don't like at all on disc was sick live. The Dehumanizing Process was also a nice surprise addition and best of all we were the first date to get it on the whole tour.

Atreyu played next. I was meeting Winds Of Plague during their set but the Revolver Booth was pretty close to the Silver Star Stage so I could see and hear them from the line to meet them. I used to love Atreyu when I was in middle school but I soon grew out of them. They weren't too good live. It was kind of fun for nostalgia purposes they played a lot of older material that I knew but still they weren't good at all.

Hatebreed as usual was fucking insane live. Jamey Jasta is a such an insane frontman and puts 110% into their performance. The setlist was fantastic Smash Your Enemies and Hands Of A Dying Man were great additions to the set. Fantastic performance and one of the best bands of the day.

3 Inches Of Blood closed out the side stages and all I can say is holy shit. I had seen them live once before with In Flames last October but they were even better today. Even though the crowd was not that large due to Five Finger Death Punch playing on the main stage the people that where there were going apeshit. Insane performance and I am so happy that Deadly Sinners is back in the setlist.

Lamb Of God was 2 songs into their set when I made to the Main Stage but I wasn't really too sad. Lamb Of God crushed as usual. One of the best live bands in the whole metal genre. That being said even though they were still fantastic they were not as good as the last time I saw them.

Avenged Sevenfold was playing the Massachusetts date only on Mayhem. Once again this band that is frequently shit talked and I guess they do deserve some of it(They do have kind of a gay image and stupid stage names)but I do enjoy most of their music. I hadn't seen them in 4 years so I really did not know what to expect from them. Avenged Sevenfold was great. A lot of energy and it was such a pleasure seeing Mike Portnoy behind the kit. He had some crazy fills that are not in the original songs on the older material. A pleasant surprise for sure.

Rob Zombie was one of the greatest performances I had ever witnessed. Absolutely jaw-dropping amazing. Zombie is a born showmen and in a live environment he is pretty much unbeatable. The craziest thing about the set was probably John 5's solo his playing was insane. I don't know if Zombie did this on all dates but John 5 smashed his guitar after School's Out and it was awesome. I will make an effort to see him next time he comes to MA he was amazing.

Pretty much ditto for Korn. Insane live really not much else I can say.Such a fantastic show pretty much every band slayed. It was pretty much a dream come true seeing Korn and Rob Zombie two of the artists that got me into metal at the same time. Can't wait till Mayhem 2011. I would like to thank my friends that I attended this with. You guys are all fucking awesome and added to the already fantastic experience.

Scores
In This Moment 3/10
Stemm 6.5/10
Norma Jean 3/10
Shadows Fall 7.5/10
Winds Of Plague 8.5/10
Chimaria 8.5/10
Atreyu 4/10
Hatebreed 9.5/10
3 Inches Of Blood 9/10
Lamb Of God 9.5/10
Avenged Sevenfold 8.5/10
Rob Zombie 10/10
Korn 10/10

Set Lists

Shadows Fall
King Of Nothing
War
Thoughts Without Words
Still I Rise
The Power Of I and I
Bark At The Moon(Ozzy Osbourne Cover)
The Light That Blinds

Winds Of Plague
Earth(Intro)
Chest and Horns
Decimate The Weak
Angels Of Debauchery
The Impaler
One Body Too Many
Reloaded

Chimaira
Black Heart
Pleasure In Pain
Power Trip
Secrets Of The Dead
Resurrection
The Dehumanizing Process
Pure Hatered

Atreyu
Bleeding Mascara
Becoming The Bull
?
Right Side Of The Bed
You Give Love A Bad Name(Bon Jovi Cover)
?
Ex's and Oh's
Lip Gloss and Black

Hatebreed(Order might be off on a couple of songs in the middle but all the songs are correct)
Everyone Bleeds Now
In Ashes They Shall Reap
Hands Of A Dying Man
As Diehard As They Come
Smash Your Enemies
Live For This
Tear It Down
Perseverance
Last Breath
To The Threshold
Defeatist
This Is Now
I Will Be Heard

3 Inches Of Blood
Battles and Brotherhood
Silent Killer
Trial Of Champions
Call Of The Hammer
Wykydtron
Deadly Sinners
The Goatrider's Horde

Lamb Of God
The Passing(intro)
In Your Words
Set To Fail
Walk With Me In Hell
Now You've Got Something To Die For
Laid To Rest
Redneck
Black Label

Avenged Sevenfold
Nightmare
Critical Acclaim
Welcome To The Family
Beast and The Harlot
Buried Alive
Unholy Confessions
Almost Easy

Rob Zombie
What Lurks On Channel X?
Superbeast
Scum Of The Earth
Living Dead Girl
More Human Than Human
Sick Bubblegum
House Of 1000 Corpses
Joey Jordison Drum Solo
Never Gonna Stop(The Red,Red Kroovy)
Mars Needs Women
Thunder Kiss 65
John 5 Solo
School's Out(Alice Cooper Cover)
Dragula

Korn
Right Now
Here To Stay
Did My Time
Oildale(Leave Me Alone)
Falling Away From Me
Somebody Someone
Let The Guilt Go
Freak On A Leash
Blind
Shoots and Ladders/One(Metallica Cover)
Clown
Got The Life

Album Review: Korn-Korn III: Remember Who You Are

Korn was one of the band's that was highly influential into getting me into metal. The infectious grooves and originality of their earlier work was excellent and started the wave of the mostly shit genre of nu-metal. After 1999's Issues Korn started to slip a little with 2002's Untouchables and 2003's Take A Look In The Mirror. After these records is when all broke loose. 2005's See You On The Other Side was pretty awful but the following record 2008's Untitled was an absolute abnomination and would go down as easily the worst Korn record ever and for me at least one of the worst albums I had ever heard in my entire life.

Thankfully with Remember Who You Are Korn does just that. They went back to the sound of their earlier records. It is a good thing they went back to their musical roots on this record because it is clear this is where they belong on the sound spectrum. Unlike most bands who hype up their new record to be something Korn does follow through with their promise of going back to heavier,simpler style that brought to where they are today. Tracks like "The Past" are heavy and bassy and sound like a rare,missing track from Life Is Peachy. As usual Jonathan Davis brings his highly intense and unique vocals back to the forefront and the lyrics are much better than on the past 2 records. That being said not everything works on this records. They a couple of songs that are very average on this record. For example "Pop A Pill" is one of these tracks. It starts off heavy but then about half way through it become really slow. Normally I am fan of contrasting parts in a song as long as they blend together in Korn's case they really don't blend together and it just sounds really terrible.

I will say that this is a good stepping stone for Korn. They are playing what is working again for them and the results for the most part click. The only problems that really stick out are the lack of excellent songs. Don't get me wrong They are plenty of good ones but this record doesn't have a "Blind" or a "Got The Life" or a "Make Me Bad. Korn has crafted a solid album and it good to see them back on the right path in their career.

3.5/5 Stars

Standout Tracks

1.The Past

2.Lead The Parade

3.Never Around