My goodness, I do seem to have quite a number of live albums. I checked ahead, and it looks like the next eleven albums are going to be live recordings.
In no way is this my entire live album collection, however. There are also the live albums that I’ve not yet ripped (Metallica comes to mind), and the ones whose titles do not begin with the word “live”.
Regardless, I do love a good live album. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Lycia - Live

The concert series starts with a rather unusual entry among live albums. The audience is nearly mute throughout this entire album - I only recall hearing them at the very beginning. Thus, the only thing to indicate that this is a live recording is the presence of “concert reverb” throughout.
Still, this is a good album - it shows Lycia at their best, and makes me wish that I’d been able to go to one of their chows back in the day. Alas, the opportunity is lost.

Faith No More - Live at Brixton Academy

This is a particularly fun live album. If you know Faith No More, than you know that they like to play around with music. Nowhere is this more clear than when they’re performing live. Their performance constantly feels like it’s on the verge of erupting into a spontaneous jam session. The band will occasionally go off on a brief musical tangent, and acouple times, Mike Patton would toss pop lyrics right into the middle of a song (during We Care a Lot, he briefly broke into The Right Stuff by New Kids on the Block).
Black Sabbath fans may be interested to know that the War Pigs recording included on the first “Nativity in Black” tribute compilation came from this album.

Twisted Sister - Live at Wacken: The Reunion

As the title, implies, this concert recording marked the end of the Twisted Sister breakup. They’d broken up after they rel;eased “Love is for Suckers,” but their record label had been releasing a pile of live alums in the meantime.
The concert is excellent - it really shows why Twisted Sister gained the level of popularity that they had in their prime. They give off a high level of energy at all times, and Dee Snider is constantly talking to the audience, trying to keep them noisy and involved.
As a bit of a side note, this is my favorite kind of live album. Rather than simply being a compilation of live recordings from several different shows, this is one single live performance, presented from beginning to end. That’s not to say that the other kind is bad, but I really prefer hearing the flow of a full concert.

Queen - Live at Wembley ‘86

Epic. Simply Epic.
At this point, it should come as no surprose that I’m very fond of this album. It’s Queen, for chrissakes, and it would appear that the true epic power of Queen can only be fully appreciated in a concert setting.
Apparently this concert was a beast. Queen played all of their own best songs, as well as a handful of “golden oldies.” It was a relentless onslaught of great music, and I’m sure that those who were fortunate enough to have attended the show still look back on it fondly. I certainly would.
One particularly amusing (if slightly morbid) moment came when Freddie Mercury, addressing rumors that Queen was planning to break up, “Forget those rumors; we’re gonna stay together till we f***ing well die, I’m sure of it.”
Clearly, he was right.

Corvus Corax - Live auf dem Waescherschloss

This was a particularly interesting live album. First, there’s the fact that I have no idea what’s being said between songs - to say that my German vocabulary is rather small is like saying that water is rather moist.
Second, there’s the audience. It was odd (and awesome) to hear an audience reacting to medieval peasant music in the same way that one expecte to hear an audience reacting to rock n’ roll. Then again, this was the “rock n’ roll” of the middle ages: fast-paced, popular, and demonized by the church.

Flaw - Endangered Species

I discovered this melodic alt-metal band in the heyday of MTVX. “Endangered Species” is their second album, the first being one that we won’t get to for quite a while.
Honestly, I’m surprised that Flaw never really went anywhere. I think they “hit” just a few years too early. Today, they’d fit right in with the better alt-metal bands like Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace.
Timing is everything, I suppose.

Nevermore - Enemies of Reality

Is it just me, or have I discussed Nevermore quite a bit lately? As far as the band itself goes, I really don’t think I can say any more - there are only so many ways to say “awesome power thrash that needs to be part of your collection right now.”
“Enemies of Reality” was actually released twice. The original release was decried by fans for the rather poor job done in mixing. Compared to previous Nevermore albums, the songs lacked character - the drums were flat, the bass was barely there… it just failed to live up. The album was remixed, remastered, and re-released in 2005, sounding considerably better.
Are you listening, Metallica? There’s still time…
My Wife thinks that the video for Enemies of Reality is gross, so of course, I have to post it.

Morbid Angel - Entangled in Chaos

Although it’s not immediately obvious, “Entangled in Chaos” is actually a live album. There’s really none of the “concert venue reverb” that one normally hears on a live album. whether this is due to studio touch-ups, I do not know. I can tell you that, if it wasn’t for cheering fans audible at the end of a couple tracks, I’d never have realized that this was a live album.
“Entangled in Chaos” is what I call a “best of” live album. Each track is presented as an individual live recording, with little to no linkage between the tracks. This is a fairly common sort of live album, and not necessarily bad - It allows the band to present what they feel is best about their live performance. However, I’d much rather listen to a “full concert” live album.

Dark Tranquillity - Enter Suicidal Angels

This 4 track EP is mostly what one expects from Dark Tranquillity. Mostly.
The Fourth Track, Archetype, is definitely the standout here. Far from being a “normal” Dark Tranqillity song, this is a very electronic techno song, which is very interesting with Mikael Stanne’s rather extreme vocal style.

R.E.M. - Eponymous

I only have one song from this album: It’s The End of the World as We Know It. I’m not all that much of an R.E.M. fan, although I do enjoy most of their “greatest hits.”

Samael - Era One

As I recall, we’ve only encountered Samael once so far. A while back, I listened to “Blood Ritual,” their first album. “Era One” provides an interesting counterpoint. These albums sound like they were made by two completely different bands. “Blood Ritual” is very much a black/doom metal album, while “Era One” is considerably more electronic and melodic.
This album is definitely Samael’s largest departure from their metal roots, being more electronic than anything before or since. The next album, “Solar Soul,” would be a heavier, less electronic release.

Poisonblack - Escapexstacy

“Escapexstacy” is the first album from this Finnish group. I first heard Poisonblack on Century Media’s “Metal for the Masses V” compilation. What caught my attention was the combination of heavy, yet melodic riffs with vocals that are melodic and passionate without necessarily soaring. I immediately set about acquiring more Poisonblack, and was not disappointed.
Wikipedia describes Poisonblack as goth metal. I can see how this description is correct, but I don’t think it’s sufficient. Maybe I’ll be able to come up with a more apt description by the next Poisonblack album.

Lycia - Estrella

It’s time to slow things down a bit. Warmer than “Cold” (no pun intended), “Estrella” is a fairly “spacey” album. It’s not quite ethereal - “The Burning Circle and then Dust” was more ethereal - but there is a certain otherworldly quality to these songs.
I’m particularly fond of Diablo. The ethereal guitar playing perfectly complements Tara Vanflower’s vocals.

Samael - Eternal

Continuing our exploration of the evolution of Samael, this album was right in the middle of their evolution. The black/doom metal sound is still very much there, but it’s been tempered by the addition of more electronic elements. Between the more forceful drums and the clipped guitar chords, this could almost qualify as an industrial album. Almost.

Cathedral - The Ethereal Mirror

This is, hands down, my absolute favorite Cathedral album. When my friend first played this album at me all those years ago, he certainly knew what he was doing - I became a Cathedral fan on the spot.
Groove heavy doom metal…bloody genius! How the hell did they come up with that?
“Can you feel the groove?”