1. Devin Townsend Project -
Deconstruction: Easily one Devin's best albums (in the top 3 alongside Addicted and Ziltoid), in short it's a fucking trip. Absurdly dense, psychotic as hell, and an amazing listen from start to finish. The only real weak spot to me are the really awkward vocal melodies at the beginning of The Mighty Masturbator.
2. Floex -
Zorya: Man, this album came out of nowhere. Seth had been raving about it for ages, and I finally listened to it a month ago or so and have been obsessed with it since. The combination of acoustic instruments and gorgeously textural electronic work is beautiful, whimsical, and hypnotic.
3. Eisley -
The Valley: Eisley's third album did not disappoint in any way, shape or form. Maintaining Eisley's tradition of fantastic songwriting coupled with gorgeous melodies, The Valley shows a much more mature side of the band in the lyrics, which deal with the broken relationships the band had been recovering from.
4. Fair to Midland -
Arrows and Anchors: Man, this band probably writes the most consistently awesome choruses of any band out there today. Virtually every song on the album is both unique and catchy as hell, and Darroh's voice is one of the highlights of the band, from his soaring high voice to his absurdly epic growls.
5. Grayceon -
All We Destroy: While their previous albums have been very good, Grayceon has truly come into their own with All We Destroy. While they maintain the intricate finger picked metal riffs, dense drumming, and damned heavy cello playing that's always been their trademark, they've really stepped their game up in the composition department. The highlight of the album is definitely 'We Can', an incredible 17 minute epic with a middle section that is one of my favorite sections of music from this year.
6. Above & Beyond -
Group Therapy: For me the highlight discovery of 2011 was trance music, which has pretty much consumed my life for the last 9 months or so. Out of all the artists in the genre I've discovered, Above & Beyond is easily amongst the best, and moreover is a group that I feel a lot of non-EDM fans would still enjoy, as it avoids the cliche'd repetitive 'UNCE UNCE UNCE UNCE' sound that seems to turn a lot of people off from trance/EDM (dunno why, I fucking love it). Anyways, Group Therapy is a great album album all in all. It's lush, melodic, happy, and hypnotic, and I'd recommend that everyone give it a try, even if they're not normally a fan of "techno"*.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I7ZVfdn_0w7. Necro Deathmort -
Music of Bleak Origin: Another album that came out of nowhere, I had never heard of the group until I saw this album at #1 on Steven Wilson's AOTY list, where he described them as "Nine Inch Nails produced by Sunn O)))" - a description that had me immediately check them out. Music of Bleak Origin is an amazing fusion of drone metal and industrial elements. Acoustic drums provide rhythm to a dense tapestry of dirty electronics and distorted guitars in what is probably the darkest release on this list.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bo4YFzXkL08. Steven Wilson -
Grace for Drowning: While not as good as Insurgentes by any means, Grace For Drowning expands on Steven Wilson's solo outings by covering a huge range of styles, from the King Crimson Red-era progginess on songs like Sectarian to the dark industrial trip of Index. It's heavy, it's beautiful, and while it probably would have been better as a single disc, it's still a fantastic listen.
9. So Hideous, My Love... -
To Clasp a Fallen Wish with Broken Fingers: Oh my, where to begin. Basically, take Explosions in the Sky, remove every once of happiness and hope from their music, mix in a healthy portion of hardcore, black metal, and general desperate anger along with some screaming and you have So Hideous, My Love. While post-rock has always had a general morose, melancholic feeling to it, this band has taken the genre and twisted it into a tempest of anger that's both unique and incredible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z5hjK5bluU10. The Human Abstract -
Digital Veil: I was at first rather disappointed when The Human Abstract released the first single, however after some more listens their new sound (and singer) really clicked with me, and after hearing the album proper I was sold. While they maintain the mathy, neo-classical metalcore that had on Nocturne, THA has updated their sound with a more death-y singer and quite a bit more metal. It's a great sound, coupled with the band's solid and at at times intricate composition you've got a damned good prog metalcore album, and one that stands above the other releases from this year (Protest the Hero, I'm looking at you).
*I swear to god, the next person who says "ew I don't like techno" when I tell them I like trance is going to die a horrible, horrible death.