Originally Posted by Anteater

My ten are rather tentative, as most of what I've been looking forward to has yet to hit, but here's mine so far-

1. Sonic Station - Sonic Station
- Swedish AOR/Westcoast superproject from a promising young guitarist. Having four different vocalists and some unbelievably catchy songwriting goes a long way over 11 songs, and nothing in the genre has beaten this sucker out for me so far in 2012.

2. Suspyre - Suspyre
- There's been a lot of progressive metal standouts so far, but Suspyre beats them all out so far in sheer ingenuity. Bossa nova meets avant-garde metal? Holy ****!

3. Ne Obliviscaris - Portal Of I
- The Aussie band everyone's been talking about lately, and for good reason: they make quirky black metal sound fresh in an era where everyone thinks they've got the answers.

4. Echo Us - Tomorrow Will Tell The Story
- A band who take what Enigma did back in the early 90's to exciting, strange new territories. Nobody's been talking about this 2012 sophomore release much this year, but its a minor masterpiece in thoughtful, electronically-oriented World music.

5. The Explorers Club - Grand Hotel
- These guys aren't much older than me, but they already capture the 60's and 70's better than most bands from those decades who are still around do. It beats the hell out of Best Coast at least!

6. Lone - Galaxy Garden
- Early 90's rave/techno given new life. If you miss the musicality of all those early Sega Genesis and Nintendo soundtracks, this goes a long way toward satiating that thirst.

7. It Bites - Map Of The Past
- My favorite progressive rock/pop crossover group continue to amaze. Not quite the infectious monster that The Tall Ships was back in 2008, but stands out nicely amidst everything else in 2012.

8. Melody Gardot - The Absence
- Brazillian jazz-pop done right by someone who was born to make it. My go-to record for late nights these days.

9. Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion
- One of the most interesting folk records to arrive on scene since Comus's First Utterance back in '71, and the first time we've really seen Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson and Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt do something together that tries to be something other than what they're already known for.

10. Poets Of The Fall - Temple Of Thought
- Finland's top alternative rock band have been doing some evolving since Max Payne made them known to the world, and this record makes their last couple sound like high school outtakes in comparison, lol!