Fear Before the March Of Flames/Sigur Rós/Infantiphagia/Versus The Mirror

The Always Open Mouth - A release pushed onto me with the help of the Radio rebellion tour. I saw a commercial for the song "Taking Cassandra To The End Of The World Party" and i felt oddly attracted to it. I bought it without thinking and instantly liked its awkward drug-rock/hardcore sound. I later found out my friend's mother's boyfriend's son is their bassist. I saw them live, sadly they had a short set (not even a half hour), but the band is really good in my opinion. Really i can't pick the best tracks out of the album because each one has it's own special sound that makes it good. But i recomend listening to My Deer Hunter because anthony green of circa survive performs backing vocals on the track. For fans of: Circa Survive, Dance Gavin Dance, The Sound Of Animals Fighting. Overall Rating: 9.8/10
Takk... - The first release i bought from experimental ambient shoegaze post-rock band Sigur Rós. The album is a cornerstone for post-rock/shoegaze culture. The band is coming to america and already has half of their shows sold out. This band is beatiful and enhanced. The best tracks are "Hoppípolla" and "Sæglópur". They have beautiful glockenspiels and trumpets and have hard-hitting melodic choruses. For fans of: Set Fire to Flames, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Shins, Jason Mraz, John Mayer, Death Cab For Cutie. Overall Rating: 8.6/10
3-song promo demo - This band has been around for a couple of years now, and with many problems, have finally released a demo. Their singers history of bands include: Disgorge, Liturgy, and Cinerary. other members were in ruthless beatings; a project formed by now dead Wayne Knupp (who's fame came from being the singer of US brutal DM band Devourment). This band has come along way for being a small experimental brutal death band from montpelier vermont. Im upset that they rerecorded "Hollow Point Eulogy"; it didnt come out anywhere near as good as the original. Overall Rating: 7/10Versus The Mirror EP - All i expected, plus more from Versus The Mirror. Even though it was only 5 tracks, it was the best 5 tracks of screamo revival music i had ever heard. It is melodic, angry, ballsy, heartfelt, kickass, and emotional. For fans of: Youinseries, circa survive, fear before the march of flames. Overall Rating: 9.3/10

Blindside/Trouble/As Cities Burn/As I Lay Dying

About a Burning Fire - Not the best of all releases to me. But the only release of blindside's that i actually like. Unlike "The Great Depression", it actually has a flare to it, and isn't so boring that it can put me to sleep when i'm in the middle of jogging. The other upside to this release is that it has Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) as a guest on one of the songs. This album has alot of key tracks that keep you hooked to the album. Tracks 1-6 and 12 keep you stuck to the radio when hearing it. "About A Burning Fire" makes you like the album overall, with Christian coming in and screaming "I thought about fire in the sky, i thought about fire. I thought about love burning in your eyes". The song is hard-hitting ballsy christian rock. Recomended to fans of: Demon Hunter, Oh Sleeper, and Project 86. Overall Rating: 7/10
Manic Frustration - A classic album by the first christian metal band Trouble. This band was very experimental with what they wanted to play early on, ranging from doom, heavy metal, and psychadellic rock. This to me was clearly the best of all their releases. With key tracks like "Come Touch The Sky", "'Scuse Me", and "Hello Strawberry Skies"; the band influenced the next generation of music. A forgotten classic album. Recomended to fans of: Black Sabbath, Stryper, Deep Purple, and Jimi Hendrix. Overall Rating: 8.5/10
Son, I Loved You At Your Darkest - A key band in the screamo revival. Sadly the singer of this release had to leave the band, and i had a chance to see them live right before he left and missed out. The album and the first track are quoted from shakespeare. This album has a trademark sound that no one would ever be able to ever copy. The vocals, guitars, and drums are nothing anyone can decyfer. Recomended to fans of: Dance Gavin Dance, Stutterfly, and Oh Sleeper. Overall Rating: 8.8/10
Shadows Are Security - The album that got me into christian metal. This is an album my kids will revere as a classic metalcore cd when they are growing up. With guests from 36 crazyfists, Zao, and No Innocent Victim; this release was made to the best quality. The artwork by AILD is always amazing, especially this album. The best of the best in metalcore. My favorite tracks are the opening and closing tracks and tracks 2, 4, and 8. Recomended to fans of: Demon Hunter. Overall Rating: 9.3/10

Happy Days/Corpse/As I Lay Dying/Destroy The Runner

Melancholic Memories- Probably the most depressing release i've ever heard. This is DSBM at its best (depressive suicidal black metal). I found this band when i was in a horrible slump and it actually kept me from killing myself. It made me know this guy has a sadder life than i did. I rebounded after listning to this release a handfull of times and now i have a steady job and a beautiful girlfriend. I will still listen to this release because the music in general is quite good. The best track is the opening one entitled "Drowning In Razorblades". Recommended to fans of: Trist, Deep-Pression, and Secretly in Pain. Overall Rating: 8/10 (because certain times his vocals whine in and you can't hear the background music)
From The Grave- One of the moreso underground bands in the christian community. This is the only release on the market, the other ones are all extremely rare demos. This band tampers with the limits of death metal and range back and forth taking elements from brutal death, black, and thrash and adding them to the mix. A pure gem for real death metalheads. Recommended to fans of: Morbid Sacrifice and Crimson Thorn. Overall Rating: 7/10
Frail Words Collapse- The band that got me into christian metal. This was their 2nd album, and the 2nd one i got (i got shadows are security first). I was deep into metalcore/hardcore and i was looking into heavier material and demon hunter and as i lay dying came across a conversation i had with a fellow churchgoer aaron. That enticed me enough to get the cds one day, and i fell in love. This album is hard-hitting, blistering, melodic, angry, and beautiful. Defenitely one of my favorite metalcore releases. Recommended for fans of: Winter Solstice, For The Fallen Dreams, Misery Signals, A Stained Glass Romance. Overall Rating: 9/10
Saints- The lesser of 2 amazing releases. This was an amazing release, no matter what. Recently i have been occupied with their newer album though. This album was melodic death/metalcore similar to Darkest Hour. Recently they dropped all their screams for "I, Lucifer". This album is catchy, has great riffs and breakdowns, and great melody. I was upset when they lost their vocalist because i would of liked to see another melo-death release out of this band, but now i don't mind because i listen to the other release 100x more than this one. Recommended to fans of Darkest Hour and Cry Of The Afflicted. Overall Rating: 9/10

Valkyrie/Irreversible/Bush/Journey

Valkyrie- It's hard for me to find old metal that i respect and like. I hate black sabbath, deep purple, and a slew of old metal bands. Valkyrie and Trouble are among the 2 old school doom metal/old heavy metal bands i actually like. This album is a classic, although the band isn't old at all, their music sounds like it came out in the beginning of metal. Great vocals and instrumentals. Album is recommended to fans of: Trouble, Black Sabbath, and any other classic heavy/doom metal band. Overall Rating: 9.6/10
Age- This is the album that got me into the hole sludge genre. This EP is 5 tracks of atmospheric beautiful sludge. Includes an ex-member from christian tech-death metal band Becoming The Archetype. This is their best release to date and is worth the listen if you're able to find it. Underground websites vend the cd and most of the time you see them being sold on sites that have heavy amounts of funeral doom and doom metal instead of sludge. Recommended to fans of: Bossk, Rosetta, Baroness, Pelican, Burn Down Rome. Overall Rating: 9/10
Sixteen Stone- I have to give props to this cd, given the fact it was the 1st one i ever got. i was 5 years old, i believe (if not, 4) and my mom brought it into her office and i looked at it and liked the interior artwork that looked like a crazy monster (even though its just one of those black dreadlock-haired dogs jumping in the air). key tracks i've grown up on are "Everything Zen", "Machine Head", and "Glycerine". They lost their popularity after the 90's sadly and this was the only album i liked by them. The singers now married to i think "Posh Spice" of the spice girls, i don't know if he still is because the last thing i heard about her was she was married to david beckham, but i don't pay attention to the news for entertainment. Recommended to fans of: Everclear and Semisonic (along with any other 90's alt-rock band). Overall Rating: 7.8/10
Escape- Probably the best release by Journey to date. Almost every track on the album was a hit. I was surprised when i found out they formed in 1973, but now that i think about it, their songs like "any way you want it" were awfully relative to classic 70's rock. The band was at their pinnacle in the 80's and this album drove them to popularity. People lost interest, but recently they made a new album which is pretty good. Their drummer was in black sabbath too. People say jimi hendrix was the best guitarist, psh. Neil Schon is the most underrated guitarist. He is probably along with the best guitarist like stevie ray vaughn and robin trower, but he never gets any recognition. This album has all my favorite songs and any person whos somewhat of a fan of journey, or just likes the song "Don't Stop Believin'" then get this album. Overall Rating: 8.5/10