Hmmmm. Tough, but I'll make the attempt.
Metallica - Beyond Magnetic
I expect to catch a bunch of shit just for mentioning this band, but I have to say, I've been really digging this EP over the past week. Just a Bullet Away and Rebel of Babylon should have ended up on Death Magnetic, in my opinion, and I LOVED that album (still do, in fact, although I'm with all of the people who believe that it needs to be remixed and remastered, and this EP suffers from the same loudness war issues, even as rough mixes).
Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues
Another EP that's just plain AWESOME. Every time I think this band can't get any better, they put out something new and absolutely floor me. I cannot wait for them to explore this further on their next album.
Opeth - Heritage
This one, honestly, I was a little wary of when I heard about it initially. I love Opeth, but when I heard there was going to be less emphasis on the death metal element (the glaring lack of Mikael Akerfeldt's distinctive roar), my first thought was "Bloody hell...I hope this doesn't end up being Damnation Part II." Honestly, to me, this is a prog-metal masterpiece. Unlike Damnation, which took a good few listens to finally get acclimated to it, this one sort of grabbed me by the throat (Throat of Winter, anyone?) and left me, at the end, going "Whoa....what in the blue fuck just happened?!"
Steven Wilson - Grace for Drowning
I'm a fan of damn near anything this guy does, and after the intense ride that was Insurgentes, I was looking forward to this one with a huge level of excitement and anticipation. And boy, did it deliver. If you have a good surround setup, I would HIGHLY recommend picking up the blu-ray version of this album, because it sounds bloody AMAZING.
Rush - Time Machine
Okay, so if you haven't managed to guess from reading this, I'm a bit of a prog fan. And honestly, it's a Rush live album, so there's not a massive amount here that you haven't heard on previous Rush live releases, but Moving Pictures in its entirety? TOTALLY worth the purchase.
And, since I feel it's worthy of an honorable mention....
Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events
This is the album that's been worrying me all year. Fortunately, I was worrying over nothing. I dig this album. It's not their best, by a long shot, and there's a fair amount that's been dissected and ripped apart elsewhere (like all of the nods to Images and Words, to say nothing of the divide that's still going on since the split with Portnoy), but I found it to be a great album that reminds me why I like this band in the first place. Biggest complaint: Mangini is mixed WAY too low. Other than that, great album.
