2012...so far

Well if this is indeed the year the curtain draws on our civilization at least we'll have a kickass soundtrack for it. I don't know if all musicians are as paranoid as I am or if we're just lucky, but whatever the case there have already been some awesome new releases this year. So far I've been pretty pleased with the new records from Royal Thunder, Trioscapes, Mewithoutyou, Storm Corrosion, Astra, Baroness, Sigur Ros, Torche, High on Fire, The Mars Volta, and the little I"ve heard of the new Mono. And now I'm hearing that we're also getting new stuff from Converge, Between the Buried and Me, and Neurosis before the year ends? The battle for my best of 2012 list is about to get really serious. Any thoughts on releases that have come out so far this year? I know there have been other good ones that I haven't even gotten the chance to listen to yet, for instance the new Every Time I Die, even though I haven't been able to bring myself to care about anything that band has done over their past couple albums. Time to weigh in.

Corey