Meant to go to far more gigs this year than I did, laziness and being preoccupied with stuff mainly.
Best ones though:
Electric Wizard at the Forum in March - great to re-acquaint myself with them again and the projections were awesome
Primordial at the Islington Academy - one of the most intense live bands around, just totally amazing
Black Sabbath [well 3/4 of them], Soundgarden and Megadeth at Download on the Sunday. Sabbath were great, best time I've seen them with Ozzy. Soundgarden I was just amazed to witness as I didn't think they'd reform, and Megadeth are always good live even though I'm only a minor fan.
Sleep - Leeds Stylus.
This edged it over the Ally Pally for me due to the projections they had, even though Cisneros marched off stage in a tantrum over sound issues.
Acid King/Saint Vitus - Manchester Academy.
Pentagram - Manchester Academy.
Hank Williams III - Manchester Academy.
Played an hour of country and hellbilly, then 45 minutes of doom, then 45 minutes of his cattle callin' project, which is basically crazy thrash metal with random samples from cattle auctioneers looped over it. Definitely the hardest working musician I've seen in a long time. The evening was exhausting, but really fulfilling and it was great to see how many punk fans left during the doom set.