1. Swallow the Sun - New Moon
2. Katatonia - Night is the New Day
3. Eternal Tears of Sorrow - Children of the Dark Waters
4. Obiymy Doschu - Elehia
5. Dethklok - Dethalbum II
6. Blackguard - Profugus Mortis
7. Exivious - Exivious
8. Paramore - brand new eyes
9. Ensiferum - From Afar
10. Eminem - Relapse
I must eat my own words. I was very disappointed with the new Porcupine Tree. It was nothing more than a rehashing of FOABP and Insurgentes.
I think that with the addition of Wintersun's Kai Hahto into Swallow the Sun, they have that extra jolt needed to push them right up to the top. New Moon is hands down my favorite record of the year, followed closely by the Katatonia record. EToS goes without saying, as do Dethklok, Blackguard, and Ensiferum.
Obiymy Doschu is a band I've only recently found, they're a Ukranian progressive/acoustic/folk outfit that really blew my mind. They're giving away their album for free on their website
http://rain.in.ua/en.html if anyone wants to check them out, it can't hurt.
Exivious, for anyone unaware, is the side project of Tymon and Robin from Cynic, Michel from Sengaia, and Stef from Textures. It's a mixture of metal riffing with freeform jazz and improvisation, and very well made, I highly recommend this album.
Paramore is a guilty pleasure of mine, I've known about them since they were just a wee local band before their first album came out, so they'll always have a special place in my heart.
And finally, Eminem is back and kicking ass as usual. The album wasn't quite as good as MMLP (then again, what is?) but it definitely beat Encore and I'm eagerly awaiting Relapse II.
