1. Boysetsfire- Tomorrow Come Today: The group may have gone to a major label and the melodies may be more prevalent, but BOYSETSFIRE still manages to make thundering, socially-conscious hardcore. “Today” may have garnered the quartet radio airplay, but newfound popularity certainly hasn’t declawed one of punk’s loudest voices.

2. Johnny Cash- Unearthed: With Cash’s death last fall, America lost one of its institutions and the greatest voice country music has ever known. “Unearthed” served as a fitting tribute to the man in black and opened a new generation of ears to music’s first genuine rebel.

3. The Darkness- Permission to Land: With an unabashedly 80s aesthetic, The Darkness took equal parts AC/DC riffage and three-part harmonies all enveloped by the falsetto screech of vocalist Justin Hawkins. Imagine that; metal without whiney crybabies who are mad at their daddies. Beautiful.

4. The Decemberists- Her Majesty The Decemberists and Castaways and Outcasts: Somehow two of the best records of the year came from the same band. With sweet, mellow arrangements and simple melodies, the real strength of the band is singer/songwriter Colin Meloy’s ability to write quirky, eccentric and, ultimately, beautiful little ditties about almost anything – this is what Radiohead could be if the group stopped being such pretentious wankers and Thom Yorke actually sang intelligent, intelligible lyrics.

5. Drive By Truckers- Decoration Day: After their 2001 opus “Southern Rock Opera,” the members of Drive By Truckers breathed a bit of life into the ailing southern rock scene. The band returned with the highly narrative and sprawling “Decoration Day,” and the Truckers could see bigger fame if they ignore their own monolith – but somewhat warranted – hype.

6. Turbonegro- Scandinavian Leather: Imagine the Village People covering Metallica tunes and you get a hint of what this Swedish/Norwegian group is aiming for. Hailing from a region known for the blackest of Black Metal, Turbonegro went for an aesthetic sure to ruffle the dander of the members’ countrymen by embracing sexual ambiguity. The band is just as hated as it is loved and “Leather” simply reminded the world the group was still kicking.

7. Superjoint Ritual- Lethal Dose of American Hatred: Phil Anselmo is the hardest working man in rock and with Pantera in ruins, Superjoint Ritual began carrying the torch. Crass, brutal and unforgiving, “American Hatred” makes anything by the aforementioned Pantera sound as benign as hair metal or teen pop.

8. Blood Brothers- Burn Piano Island Burn: While the band’s early singles and debut sounded like little more than warmed-over screamo – before such a term was born – “Burn Piano Island Burn” is a beautiful mishmash of sounds and textures balancing perfectly on commercial rock and genius musicianship and song writing.

9. Dropkick Murphys- Blackout: They’re not indie or underground and they’re reviled by many punk purists, but attitude, drinking tunes and a mean set of bagpipes goes a long way in my book. “Blackout” is the most melodic, engaging and listenable of the band’s career while retaining the Guinness-soaked debauchery for which the group is known.

10. Supagroup- Supagroup: Loud, hard and inebriated hasn’t sounded this amazing since AC/DC’s Angus Young first strapped on a schoolboy outfit and started spouting double entendres. This New Orleans group is everything rock was meant to be but is now sorely missing in the majority of today’s rock.