1) Deftones.WhitePony - My all time favorite album; in regard to my life, perfect mood, perfect mix of electronics/soft/hard stuff
2) Glassjaw.Worship&Tribute - Messy musicianship, stellarly dynamic. The opposite of metal. (not that metal is bad \m/,) The albums psychotic mood is just great and the vocal performances speak for themselves.
3) Thrice.TheArtistInTheAmbulance - instantly liked their guitarists, and this CD is awesome. I can only hope their next one will see them branching out into different types of music and maybe writing a song over 3 minutes long?
4) TheMarsVolta.DeLousedInTheComatorium - I didn't like ATDI, and I didn't like these guys at first. But I realized how amazing this CD is and now it never ceases to give me cold chills on cue. These guys are endearing. Our generation's Led Zeppelin incarnate.
5) MuDvAyne.LD50 - Yeah yeah, so they're steakheads with masks; this album has great thematics and some really beautiful music at some points. The lyrics I interpret are better than the actual ones; case in point for NOT reading lyric sheets.
6) Tool.Lateralus - this is the only CD that I like of theirs, but for damn good reasons. The musicianship is only second to the mood that it invokes. Brilliant.
7.) TheMarsVolta.FrancesTheMute - hehe, I've listened to it twice through and these guys are so convincing that I can't NOT write it down here.
8.) QueensoftheStoneAge.SongsForTheDeaf - Not much artistic/emotional value, but its SO damn fun to listen to.
side notes:
uh...I don't have any other two actual albums I would put up here
Mudvayne has taken a big dump on LD50 with everything else they've done,including dropping the outfits; why were the outfits good? No one disses kiss for facepaint.
You might think some of my choices are shallow, but, alas, I am the worlds most critical listener, and these CD's still give me cold chills when I listen to them.