Few rap albums are this smart, this detailed, and this concerned with its culture. It's the kind of record that could easily collapse under its own weight, but is repeatedly hoisted up by the impenetrable musical foundations.

Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired is just completely enthralling.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is exactly as advertised: it's a journey through West's deepest thoughts, showcasing all the facets to his persona (from his bravado to his insecurities) over a pristine collection of all his signature sounds.

One Wing is equal parts raw, deranged, beautiful, and immense--it's a very primal and exhausting release; something you can feel pouring out of your speakers.

This is something that has no expiration date.

It's bold, intelligent, and demanding--taking all your emotions and senses and beating them to a pulp while going to a place sonically that’s essentially been untouched by its peers.

With From Parts Unknown, Every Time I Die have hit the Ultimate Splash on its competition, absolutely cementing its legacy as one of the greatest heavy bands of our generation.

The combination of his idiosyncratic creative mind with his highly personal and conflicted lyrics has resulted in something spectacular.

It's officially a biennial tradition that The Wonder Years release a new record that happens to be their best record to date.

Carrie & Lowell leaves everything on the table, and as a result it's the most open, transparent and heartfelt record Stevens has made in his career. Sometimes, that's all you need in order to make a masterpiece.

Just like the three-eyed beast that graces the cover, Wolverines is a mean and lean punk rock record that sets the bar once again.

True to its name, this record is one of the finest debut pop-punk records of the last five years and easily among the top tier for the genre this year.

This is Clark's most daring, uncompromising, infectious, and adventurous release yet, as St. Vicent features a musician challenging the very idea of what it means to be an artist in 2014.

Run The Jewels 2 is the logical follow up to Run The Jewels; it's bigger, bolder, and feels like a punch to the gut that you'll be feeling for weeks.

Waking Season is the most dynamic and affecting record of this year and probably last year (too lazy to look).

From front to back, Holy Vacants is a visceral, fist-pumping cornucopia of rage, terror, disappointment and instability.

The band has sprinted forward and earned an Olympic title of the "P" word. I Was Trying to Describe You To Someone is going to turn heads and only gain more respect and fans in the process.

Although The Greatest Story Never Told almost never saw the light of day, Saigon is an artist that needs to be on every hip-hop head's radar if he isn't already.

Memorial is arguably Russian Circles' best work to date. It's certainly debatable, but this is undeniably an staggeringly strong output for a band on their fifth release.

Absent Sounds is one of those records where favorite songs change by the hour. And it’s also a record that understands your perceived meaning is the most important one.

So sit back and grab a bag of popcorn, because Vacation is chock-full of aural acrobatics rolled up into its withered plaid sleeves. You just have to be daring enough to push that button.

Overall, Tame Impala have created a steady sophomore album.

Foundations of Burden is the sound of an already excellent band reaching their potential, and in the process setting a new standard for the genre.

White Noise stands to be one of the most promising and impressive debut album of the year, but more than just deserving that title, it stands to be one of the best albums of the year.

As daring as it is confident and poignant in its execution, this album captures both the Converge we know and love and a Converge we're not quite accustomed to--leaving us with an album arguably as striking and challenging as anything the band has done before.

Art Angels is us listening to personal triumph. Grimes has found her voice literally through the music.

No Devolucion is inventive, remarkable, and the first true masterpiece of 2011.

Rooms Of The House is an album that refuses to be pigeonholed or boxed in by someone's standards of "what post-hardcore should be." Instead, La Dispute span multiple genres, tempos, and inspirations over the course of LP3, resulting in an album that's equally exhausting as it is enchanting.