15. The Chariot- One Wing
The Story: They've never quite been the "flavor of the week" in metalcore, but The Chariot sure do it better than anybody else. The band are as likely to have a Charlie Chaplin soundbit (the epic album ender "Cheek.") as they are an a capella hymnal ("Your"), and when mashed together with the band's already sterling repertoire for metalcore chaos, One Wing is a chimera that pummeled the ears of those who dared listen to it, but those who were brave enough were treated to an album they've never heard anything like before.
Key Track: "First"
14. Every Time I Die- Ex-Lives
The Story: There's a level of consistency that fans have come to expect from Every Time I Die. Each year the band release a new album, they seem to find the perfect balance between what fans have come to love about them, while still finding new ways to expand their sound. On Ex-Lives, Kieth Buckley's stretch as the vocalist of hair-metal revival band The Damned Things (which featured members of Fall Out Boy and Anthrax) drips into the band's blend of punk, hardcore, and metal, as his clean vocals take on more of the spotlight than on the band's previous releases. Now six albums into their career, Every Time I Die continue to prove that they're doing it better than any band you saw on Warped Tour this year.
Key Track: "Revival Mode"
13. Make Do and Mend- Everything You Ever Loved
The Story: Make Do and Mend began in sweaty basements, blasting their punk anthems through broken sound systems. But this year, on their Rise Records debut, the band showed their potential for rock greatness with Everything You Ever Loved, an album that could easily fit in the discography of bands like Foo Fighters, The Gaslight Anthem, or Jimmy Eat World. There is still a great deal of grit and emotion in James Carroll's voice, and the improvement of the band's musicianship help make this album the possible spark plug to a promising career for Make Do and Mend.
Key Track: "Disassemble"
Key Track: "Disassemble"
The Story: Ever since Jason Lancaster left Mayday Parade, every release MP or Lancaster's new band Go Radio put out was compared to the two parties' most beloved effort, A Lesson in Romantics. With Close the Distance, Lancaster beats his former bandmates for the title of "Best Album since A Lesson in Romantics," by a landslide. The pop sensibilities laced throughout the piano-driven rock of Close the Distance are the perfect soundtrack for any stage of your relationship, from the promise of devotion ("I Won't Lie") to the messy break-up (lead-off monster single "Go to Hell"). Lancaster's voice has never sounded better, and Close the Distance could set Go Radio up for a huge mainstream breakthrough.
Key Track: "Go to Hell"
The Story: About a decade ago, Chris Carrabba left Further Seems Forever to pursue Dashboard Confessional full-time (and I think we'd all agree that worked out pretty well). This year, the prodigal son returned to create Penny Black, an album that many fans who only know Carrabba for his work with Dashboard won't believe was written by the dude who wrote "Hands Down". Penny Black shows Carrabba's darker lyrical themes, and the singer seems comfortable getting back to his roots, and the album soars because of it.
Key Track: "Staring Down the Sun"
The Story: Just a year removed from 2011's Comeback Album of the Year When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes, Yellowcard came back roaring with even more songs for you to scream into your steering wheel on your way down to the beach this summer. Southern Air is exactly what you'd expect from a Yellowcard album, just better. Ryan Key's vocals have never sounded better, and each musician gets their fair share of the spotlight, including Sean Mackin, who's victory in his battle over cancer was a lightningrod for the energy Southern Air is laced with.
Key Track: "Awakening"
The Story: Building on the momentum created from last year's Shed, Title Fight's new album is as energetic and loud as you'd expect, but it's the raw emotion displayed on Floral Green that set it apart as the band's definitive album. While there aren't any huge singles, the album's cohesion and consistency make it an album you'll want to listen to from front to back, without having to skip any one track.
Key Track: Have you seen the video for "Secret Society" yet? It's wild.
The Story: From the Format to Fueled by Ramen to Glee, fun. went from generally unknown to a household name by the end of 2012. Powered by monster single "We are Young," Some Nights was one of the most inescapable albums of the year, and with good reason. Nate Ruess's lyrics are as dark as they get, yet his delivery seems to offer some hope to listeners, and beyond "We are Young," there are so many great tracks, including "Some Nights," "Carry On," and "One Foot," that easily could have been big singles. fun.'s big 2012 was important for so many reasons, but one of the biggest was that it restored some hopes that there's still a place for rock music in popular radio.
Key Track: "Some Nights"
The Story: About a year ago, Dirty Work torpedoed the success All Time Low had fought so hard for years to achieve, and had the band a step away from irrelevance. However, returning to what got them there in the first place, the band got rid of the co-writes (save for "Outlines," which was co-written by Patrick Stump), and went back to Hopeless Records with Don't Panic in tow. What the band had put together on the album was a much-needed source of redmeption, with tracks like "The Reckless and the Brave," "Somewhere in Neverland," and "Paint You Wings" showing off the band's infectious melodies, soaring choruses, and pop-rock gold that only they know how to deliver.
Key Track: "If These Sheets Were States"
The Story: The fact that bands create side projects with one another is inevitable. But no one ever said they'd be as good as this. Featuring Tim Landers of Transit and Brad Wiseman of now-defunct This Time Next Year, Misser is the result of two men wanting to do things a little differently than they usually do, and the sonic shift couldn't sound any sweeter. Essentially a concept album about juggling a relationship with a busy touring schedule, the emotions are raw, the guitars are wonderfully arranged, and the melodies and back-and-forth between Landers and Wiseman are exactly what dual vocals should sound like on a rock album.
Key Track: "Time Capsules"
The Story: Despite the internet providing a forum for music to be discovered in an instant, some bands and albums still come from out of nowhere to surprise everyone. Case in point, The Menzingers's On the Impossible Past. Featuring a series of snapshots of what it's like to grow up in America, the album is full of hardship, struggle, cigarrettes, and muscle cars, but the heart and grit of The Menzingers help to set On the Impossible Past apart as one of the definitive albums of 2012.
Key Track: "Good Things"
The Story: Anberlin never seem to disappoint do they? While New Surrender and Dark is the Way, Light is a Place weren't quite up to par with Cities, they still had a couple great tracks each. However, Vital is the return to form some may have been waiting for. Driving tracks like "Self-Starter" and "Someone Anyone" pick up the energy while heartfelt numbers "Modern Age" and "Other Side" feature the band's newfound electronic creativity, and it all melds together perfectly to an album that enters the argument of which Anberlin release is the best.
Key Track: "Little Tyrants"
The Story: Dear record labels: leave Circa Survive alone; they're fine without you. Self-funded, self-produced, and self-released, Violent Waves may not be the best album from the band, but it may just be their most important. 7-minute opener "Birth of the Economic Hit Man" and the Geoff Rickly feature on "The Lottery" show the band's willingness to take a few creative risks, and they all pay big dividends for the band. What's most interesting about the album, however, is the way Anthony Green's vocals take a backseat at times, allowing his bandmates to show off that while Circa Survive have the best vocalist in the scene, they just might have the best band in the scene, too.
Key Track: "Birth of the Economic Hit Man"
2. The Early November- In Currents
The Story: When The Early November announced their hiatus, fans immediately began clamoring for their return. One listen through In Currents, and one question comes to mind: what took them so long to come back? From start to finish, In Currents enthralls the listener in the ebbs and flows a near-masterpiece of modern rock, with Ace Enders's vocals driving each song to great heights. It was tough to watch terrible bands rise while The Early November was away, but when you can come back with an album as good as In Currents, it just may have been worth the wait.
Key Track: "In Currents"
The Story: From the first time the world was introduced to "45," there was a silent understanding that Handwritten was going to be something special. Five months since it's release, I'm still floored by it. In simple terms, there wasn't a better album put out in 2012 than The Gaslight Anthem's fourth full-length. But that doesn't say much about just how much better it is than not only any album this year, but any album in recent memory. Handwritten is the culmination of The Gaslight Anthem's climb from New Jersey basement shows to a globally-recognized rock act, and with tracks that soar like "Handwritten," "Biloxi Parish," "Mulholland Drive," and the aforementioned "45," there are very few albums that can stack up with this powerhouse. Many fans thought that the band would never recapture the magic of The '59 Sound, but with Handwritten, the band have shattered any and all expectations, and have cemented themselves as one of the best bands of this generation, if not the very best.
Key Tracks: Every single song.
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