This coming Tuesday, the city of New Orleans will be subsumed under the boozy cloud of Mardi Gras. Those still recovering from the Saints’ feel-good Super Bowl win have just two more days to prepare themselves for a second helping of revelry and mayhem. Judging from the profusion of Saints-themed merchandise on their website, the members of Big Easy-based stoner metal supergroup Down are most likely part of this beleaguered, hangover-nursing group.

I became aware of the prevailing trends in Down swag while researching their forthcoming effort, a live CD/DVD (due 3/23) called Diary of a Mad Band (not to be confused with the Jodeci release of the same name). An incendiary live outfit, Down combines the sludgy heaviness endemic to their below-sea-level hometown with the limber, improvisatory tendencies gleaned from their southern rock influences. The 100 hours of live footage included are sure to be rife with amplified goodness, and at least 300 shots of drummer Jimmy Bower looking exactly like Animal on the Muppets.

Despite Down’s yeoman efforts, the live album is a curious commodity in today’s heavy music circles, more of a record label investiture than a labor of love. The well-known difficulties and risks involved in producing such recordings are well known, and bands tend to hew closely to a live-DVD format that features them recreating recorded material as closely as possible.

The profusion of these by-the-book cash-grabs is worrying, but counterbalanced by the small number of live releases in recent years that capture the urgency and creativity of a heavy band firing on all cylinders. Though by no means comprehensive, or in any particular order, the list below attempts to give credit to three bands whose live discs have done themselves and their fans justice.

Dark Tranquillity – Where Death is Most Alive (Century Media Records, 2009)

U.S. tour promoters have never really known what to do with Dark Tranquillity, whose keyboard-tinged, science fiction take on melodic death metal is admittedly hard to complement. As veterans of the once-vibrant Gothenburg, Sweden metal scene, the band deserves credit for sticking to a successful formula, while eluding the nu metal tendencies and clean singing that have afflicted their former brethren. An upcoming stateside run with metalcore superheroes Killswitch Engage will likely raise their profile, but Dark Tranquillity is at their best when they’re playing to a receptive, familiar audience. Where Death is Most Alive captures a lengthy, career-spanning set for the benefit of die-hard Milanese fans, who sing along with the words and melodies with commendably full throat.