(Honorable Mention) Norma Jean - Bless the Martyr & Kiss the Child   Solid State Records

    Oh metalcore, how I love thee.  The best way to describe Norma Jean is like...fuck, I don't know!  Frantic as a cat with tape on its feet, hyper as an HDAD kid on meth, heavy as your eyelids after an all-night drinking binge, and more Christian than Creed.  Waitaminnit.  WHAT?!?!  Yep, you read that right.  These North Carolinians are God fearing men, and that's totally cool with me.  It doesn't come through in their lyrics, which is really the only time it bugs me.  Besides, with song titles like "Organized Beyond Recognition" and "I Used to Hate Cell Phones, Now I Hate Car Accidents," how can you go wrong?  Bless the Martyr... also contains some of the creepiest cover art I've ever scene, with old tintype photographs of kids looking all happy and stuff.  Superimposed on that are lyrics from the songs, barely legible.  (Okay, it doesn't sound creepy, but it is.)  "Creating Something Out of Nothing" has absolutely the HEAVIEST breakdown I've ever heard, and I usually hurt my neck if I listen to the song too much.  The downside to this album begins with "Pretty Soon, I Don't Know What, But Something Is Going to Happen," a 15+ minute opus that tests the listener's patience a little too much.  One of Norma Jean's strong points is keeping a riff going just long enough until you're about sick of it, then moving on.  Not so on "Pretty Soon..."  They wear you out pretty quickly, and I found myself punching in disgust the track forward button on my CD player.  It's almost like they wore themselves out with that song, too, because the rest of the album seems rushed, almost as if they said, "Okay, we're done.  Let's get the heck outta here."  Still, well worth the money.

5. Mr. Lif - I, Phantom   Def Jux Records

    Lissen up!  This is *not*, repeat NOT, the poor excuse for hip-hop you hear on the radio and see on MTV!  This is straight-up underground goodness, old-school in flavah, like Deltron 3030, Aesop Rock, Sage Francis, and Company Flow.  Yes, boys 'n' girls, Mr. Lif is all about the rhymes, all about making clever stories with his raps instead of the bling-bling, bitches-n-hoes bullshit that dominates the scene.  The beats aren't too fancy (though "A Glimpse At The Struggle" has a super-phatty sample), but the mic skills rip, and that is just the way I like it.  The song "Earthcrusher" absolutely DESTROYS.  Good stuff all around, and thank you, Lif, for reviving my hope in the hip-hop scene.  There's good stuff left out there after all!

4. Five Pointe O - Untitled   Roadrunner Records   

Quite possibly the finest piece of work done in the 'nu-metal' genre, Untitled is a sonic maelstrom of melodic and aggressive music put together in damn near flawless fashion.  If it weren't for the overly drawn-out closing track "Aspire/Inspire," this album may have ranked higher.  Dan Struble's voice--certainly the standout part of the record--is all over the place, from a throaty death metal growl to very surprising clean vox.  Thankfully, Five Pointe O didn't stick with the tired and crappy style made tired and crappy by Staind, Linkin Park, Trapt, ad nauseum by doing the scream, sing, scream formula, but instead made aggressive songs aggressive ("Double X Minus" "Freedom?") and the melodic songs melodic ("Sympathetic Climate Control" "The Infinity").  Nicely done guys.  Sadly, Daniel and guitarist Sharon Grzelinski left the band, so Five Pointe O's future is in doubt.  Dammit.

3. The Postman Syndrome - Terraforming   Now or Never Records

    When I first popped Terraforming into my CD player, I thought, "Aw, Christ, this is freakin' EMO!"  However, about two minutes into "Amputees Make Bad Swimmers (Chapter I)," things changed for the metal!  Though there are no credits for who did what on the album, it seems as though there are three vocalists: two who do both clean and aggressive vox, and one who does just aggressive stuff.  This album is dynamic, heavy, melodic and really, REALLY artsy.  Instead of traditional track names, the disc is divided up into chapters, and sometimes more than one song is encompassed by a chapter title.  It makes things confusing when you're trying to rip the CD to your computer, but like-titled songs flow together, so it there's a definite sense of continuity.  "Schizorabbit and the Face Parade (Chapter IV)" is one of the heaviest songs in known recorded history.  If you can't feel the, the....'goddamn!' then you are *not* a living being.  If you're a fan of heavy music, "Schizorabbit..." will make rock out with your cock out, and if you're not a fan of heavy music, you'll be sonically assaulted on a level rarely seen.  Strangely, one of my favorite songs is "Interpretive Decorating (Chapter X)," even though its three notes/chord song structure isn't that complicated.  (I guess it's kind of like cooking in that if you keep it simple, it just works better.)  Terraforming is one of those albums where emotional rock (a.k.a. "emo") can coexist with pounding metal and it still sounds like a whole.  Bands like Thursday, Codeseven and Finch pull this off to a lesser degree, but not with the ferocity, veracity and artistry that The Postman Syndrome do.

2. Underoath - The Changing of Times   Solid State Records

    Two Solid State bands in the Top 5!  Whee-doggies!  This is totally coincidental, I assure you, since I've bought stuff from a wide variety of sources.  But The Changing of Times is, in my opinion, a landmark album.  This was actually my introduction to the band, though they have two other EP-esque discs out.  ("What the hell is EP-esque?"  Chill, m'man, the explanation follows.)  Both Act of Depression and Cries of the Past run past 40 minutes, but contained fewer than seven songs each.  The songs were long, wandering and deep, but seemed to run out of steam around the five-minute mark or so.  I think these two recordings also saw Underoath trying to find an identity (dammit, that's a clichéd phrase), with Act of Depression being very dark and heavy on the religious material and Cries of the Past sounding almost like a Cradle of Filth clone.  The Changing of Times, however, finds Underoath much leaner, a little meaner and way, way more mature.  All 10 songs clock in at an efficient 35'50".  I recall one reviewer saying that Underoath's problem on this album was that they didn't hold riffs for very long, instead changing things up too quickly before the listener can get to going, but I think this works much better for them.  The songs progress nicely without feeling rushed, and there are enough breakdown segments to bust out some 'banging when appropriate (check out "Short of Daybreak" to see what I mean).  And by the way, Aaron Gillespie is one of the *best* drummers around, and screw you if you don't think so because time will prove me to be right.  His drumlines are heavy, intricate, solid and metronomically precise.  It's safe to say that I'm looking forward to any and all future releases from Underoath.

1. dredg - el cielo   Interscope Records

    Man...I don't even know where to start with this album.  Artistically off the scale, emotionally charged, intellectually stimulating...el cielo has it all.  There's even a crunchy breakdown during "Of the Room!"  (You WILL sing "Of the Room" at the top of your lungs in your car.  Trust me.)  I actually heard about these guys in a poll on Lambgoat, and decided to use my oh-so-handy p2p software to check out some of their songs.  I liked what I heard, and then I saw the video for "Same Ol' Road."  Aw, SHIT!!!!  A choral hook that you can't get out of your head, guitar lines that stick to you like glue, and just unbelievable sense of what it takes to make a good rock song.  This isn't some kind of heavy stuff either, which is strange given my predilection for metal, so the fact that dredg made the list, let alone *topped* the list deserves some well-earned praise.  The two coolest things about dredg are 1) their willingness to have their albums themed (Leitmotif deals with a man's journey to find peace and happiness, el cielo is about sleep paralysis) and 2) the vignette style of song titles.  On Leitmotif, a recurring theme was their "Movements," on el cielo, the recurring themes are "brushstrokes."  Brilliant, guys.  From start to finish, el cielo just moved me like no other record has in the past year or two.  There are no weak points, no songs to skip over (except in anticipation of the better songs, and there is a difference dammit), and nothing lacking in the presentation of the album.  It's top-notch from "brushstroke: drbtfoabaaposba" to "The Canyon Behind Her" (one of the BEST album closers of all time), and that's why it rates as the top overlooked album of 2002.  I'm totally kicking my ass for not seeing them during the Snocore tour with Glassjaw, but they are coming back to Seattle in a month or two, so verily, I shall make up for it.  Buy this album in multiple copies so you can give them to your friends.  'Tis an investment that you won't regret.  Fucking AWESOME.