Runner up:
Animals as Leaders Wave of Babies (single) – I had to sneak this on here. I love Animals so much. Tosin Abasi is one of my heros. He also hit on my girlfriend (she’s pretty much hot shit). I gave this single to my girlfriend over skype over the summer and she really liked it. Sometimes when we’re chilling out together, I just put Animals as Leaders on in the background and we sit and listen or talk or nap whilst the whole thing plays. We went to see him play with Circa Survive, which was an interesting ass show, but we missed Animals, because I left too late. BUT, I got to talk to Tosin and that was awesome. He told me about another project he was working on and I’m stoked for that and new Animals.
6. 
Veil of Maya [id] – Complicated rhythms make me giddy. Like a damn school girl. I’m simply not as skilled as some of my friends in that I can’t just list a couple times and start tapping in rhythm. It’s a constant challenge. Everytime I listen. I still have trouble tapping the first two tracks! Anyways, that is part of the appeal for this album for me. That and the continuuity. Veil of Maya always brings some catchy shit to the table, this was not a let down. No epic breakdown like in Crawl Back but still hardcore.
7. The Dillinger Escape Plan Option Paralysis – This is the first DEP album that I really listened to thoroughly. Before that it was pretty much just “Milk Lizard”. Which is a good song, but I digress. This album has its flaws, but overall I really appreciate the way Puciato explored his vocal capabilities, very similar to the way I appreciated Corey Taylor of Slipknot‘s exploration on Volume III. Also, Billy Rymer blew me away and is the perfect fit for that band. I hope that their future albums follow up on this and add even more.
8. Aspera (Above Symmetry) Ripples - Yeah, I guess they are now known as Above Symmetry. News to me. Some indie band threatened them with legal action so they changed their name. Still, name change and all, they rock. With some Dream Theater tendencies and a little Angra add some Scar Symmetry? and you have Aspera. It’s what I’m listening to as I write this actually. To me it’s good clean, new progressive metal. A breath of fresh air. I look forward to what this band has to offer in the future.
9. Within the Ruins Invade - I hadn’t listened to Creatures as intently as my cohort Ben had. He was all about it. But when I heard they had a new album, I was excited. Then I heard the single Invade and I was stoked. It sounded great! Then the album came out in full and I was a little disappointed. The rest of the songs didn’t quite live up to Invade; well, other than Ataxia. Granted I had listened to Invade a lot. Eventually the rest of the songs warmed up to me and I was satisfied. It was a nice album, a little more hardcore and less inventive and progressive than Creatures, but good none the less.
10. Tesseract Concealing Fate [EP] – This band is also new to me, even though they shouldn’t be. This EP is nice, because, it is another take on things. They have elements of Meshuggah mixed with Cloudkicker.. Airier sounds without loosing their hardcore sound. And some pretty good vocals. This album needs a little more time to grow on me for sure, but I like where it’s taking me.
About the author
Loud Rock Director - Punk dude with Metal and Hardcore undertones. Constantly stage diving and high fiving!