CD's you shouldve checked out this year(and still should)

I'm still kind of letting BTBAM's newest cd sink in, as it's really something very inaccessible and complex(regardless, you should buy it when it comes out, it's really really good.), but while I'm waiting for that to come to me here are a few releases you should have got on this year, mostly focusing on metalcore releases this time around, but I'll definitely be doing more

DARKEST HOUR - THE ETERNAL RETURN
Melodic death metal

I've heard a few people dismiss this cd as "more of the same" from Darkest Hour, and I'm tempted to agree, but it poses the question of how the fuck that could ever be a bad thing? Another full length of Darkest Hour yet again pushing the boundaries of what a melody can be, of them setting the standard for what melodic death metal and metalcore should be in the year 2009, the perfect symbiosis of catchiness and technicality. One of the few CDs I've been anticipating in 2009 that didn't let me down at all. YOU SHOULD/STILL SHOULD GET THIS.

COALESCE - OX
Metalcore

One of the forefathers of the genre returned to the game this year, with the absolutely crushing OX. More complex, more heavy, more pretty much everything Coalesce used to be, and a few new welcome dashes of originality, most notably a subtle blues influence, even including a 4 bar blues intro to a song. Almost 10 years after their last effort "0:12 Revolution In Just Listening", they prove themselves to be still completely competent and relevant, if not more so than they already were. Hell, this was at 28 on the Billboards Heatseekers, a fucking Coalesce record!

NOVA PROSPECT - USURPER
Melodic death metal

While lesser known then the other bands I've covered in this feature thus far, Ohio's "The Nova Prospect" is surely just as deserving of such praise. Nova Prospect don't reinvent the wheel on this LP, but they really do have a good go at it, heavily Black Dahlia influenced melodeath, at many times has me thinking that they do Black Dahlia better than the actual band does nowadays. Highly competent guitar work(although nothing mindblowing), tremolo picked leads heavy on the mid and treble, tuned down to C, ya know. The difference being that these guys can truly write a sturdy song worthy of your listen. I don't mean to push the BDM comparison, but the best description I can give of this is if they recorded an album between Unhallowed and Miasma.

The Crimson Armada - Guardians
(Heavily melodic and technical) Deathcore

The Crimson Armada are a band I discovered completely on a whim this year, one hot summer day sitting with nothing to do while I waited for the new Darkest Hour to download, I decide to get this CD. Great fucking choice on my behalf, as Guardians is in my opinion, one of the most resolute efforts within this genre I've heard in a very long time. Incredibly good songwriting, and nigh virtuosic guitar playing, combined with just the kind of vocals I like(hard to describe, but they're pretty high and throaty), make for a CD I've played far too many times than I care to admit for a band like this. Must have for fans of the genre.

Architects - Hollow Crown
Metalcore

A release that's been pretty fucking hyped this year, and really for great reason. Although Britain's Architects have stripped down their approach a little bit technically on Hollow Crown, it serves only to make their music all the more powerful, and their occasional forays into technicality all the more appreciated. Albeit a bit repetitive, the band is going into a good direction with this cd, they just need to refine it a bit. Very, very heavy(think A Life Once Lost, or possibly Acacia Strain on a less pissed day), but with breaks for clean vocals, which really fit the atmosphere quite well. Overall, great CD, get it.

CAVE IN - PLANETS OF OLD
Metalcore
I'm seriously really glad I decided to go through my old CD's from the year for this post, because I had regrettably forgotten about this absolute gem of an EP from a classic band. Once again, a new effort from one of the originators of this genre, is maybe for those with a bit more of an open mind. Cave In have melded their experimental approach of later CD's with more of the hardcore grit of Until Your Heart Stops than seen before on these more spacey efforts. Contained herein is gritty metalcore, ala Jane Doe, with a new catchy punk aesthetic on some tracks, and the massive ethereal atmospherics that have come to be associated with Cave In. Only 4 tracks, but more than worth your money and 20ish mins. GET THIS