10. Bleed From Within - Uprising
Starting off this list is the third album from Glaswegian metal band Bleed From Within. The band have previously released two records, Humanity and Empire, neither of which quite set the world alight. However, the same cannot be said of 2013's Uprising, a fitting title for a band that have finally reached the potential that they showed fleeting glimpses of over the last few years. After the foreboding clean intro III, the album explodes into the second track Oblivion which is a meaty, hard as nails piece of perfectly executed groove metal, a song which would probably not sound out of place on a Lamb of God album. Vocalist Scott Kennedy shows his ferociously powerful range of both high-pitched and guttural screaming, pitting both styles effectively against one another to stop the vocal performance from becoming stale as the album progresses. As Uprising continues, it proceeds to show an even wider range of influences. It Lives in Me opens with a distinctly southern American sounding melodic riff before transitioning into a guitar riff and bass drum syncopation that is not dissimilar to the kind of thing that made While She Sleep's debut This is the Six so popular in 2012. Uprising also has a distinct metalcore feel throughout, represented in the repeated breakdowns that were such a celebrated (and now unfortunately, derided) trademark of that sub-genre. Importantly, what Bleed From Within have done with Uprising is combine technicality and groove into one of the best albums of year, and have established themselves as one of the few bands to hail from the U.K. who can stand up and say that they belong in the same camp as many American bands such as Lamb of God and The Black Dahlia Murder.