A couple of years back I started arranging my music on Itunes in chronological order. Any album release is placed in a playlist for that year, regardless of artist or genre. It has certain advantages but can have the not-altogether-bad effect of really messing with your head.  For example, this year I find myself faced with following the Foo Fighters' stadium rock-by-numbers with the black metal stylings of Winterfylleth.  Which can be quite jarring on your walk to work in the morning.

I could, of course, skip tracks that didn't naturally follow one another but where would be the fun in that?  I find that it forces me to listen to some of the stuff I didn't like quite as much and not just listen  to the safe stuff.

So I thought, given the variety of albums I've managed to digest over the last year, that I'd try to pick some favourites.

5) Comeback Kid - Die Knowing

I didn't really know these guys before this year.  On the strength of good reviews I decided to give it a go and it's proved to be one of the more enjoyable albums I bought.  Think a more straightforward Ever Time I Die, or Cancer Bats without the groove, they are ostensibly a hardcore band with shades of metal.  The vocals are rough, almost screamed, but not so much that you can't hear the lyrics.  Strong songs and a variety of tempos throughout, this is an odd thing; a catchy hardcore album.

4) Hark - Crystalline

I was probably one of about 15 people (including the band) who were disappointed when Welsh riff machine Taint called it a day a few years back.  They produced the kind of down-tuned sludgy grooves that Mastodon used to before they discovered acid, and they were really good at it.  So when I found out completely by accident that Taint frontman Jim Isaac had a new band, I was probably one of about 7 people (including the band) to be excited by it.  And their album picked up where Taint left off; the grooves are huge, the riffs are monumental and the slow parts sound like Black Sabbath in an earthquake.  Long may this continue.

3) Mongol Horde - Mongol Horde

I'm not a fan of Frank Turner.  I liked him better when he was in Million Dead. I know talent when I hear it and I could tell he was a great lyricist and an intelligent man with something to say but his solo stuff, popular as it is, just feels contrived to me.  And a lot of the fans seem to be hipster douchebags who spend a lot of time in coffee shops (totally unfair criticism, I know. Objection upheld.) When the prolific Turner released Mongol Horde this year, strong reviews and some online samples prompted a sceptical purchase that I didn't regret.  Full of punk fury but presented through the prism of a sussed world view, Mongol Horde melds posthardcore riffs to passionate and fantastical yarn spinning. Songs like 'Hey Judas' and 'Tapeworm Uprising' are utterly mental but prove that there's a finger on the pulse at the same time.

2) Lower Than Atlantis - Lower Than Atlantis

This one had to grow on me.  I rally admire that; when I first heard this record, I was quite disappointed by it, but now I can't seem to get the songs out of my head.  Having really enjoyed their previous album, I was gutted to hear what sounded suspiciously like selling out.  It was all very straightforward, the guitars weren't prominent in the mix and at least one of the songs ('Emily') sounded like boy band fodder.  However... I found myself thoroughly earwormed by at least half of the album and I've given it a deserved second chance.  So they've moved away from the Foos-like buzzsaw guitars they used to use and they've made a straight up pop record.  But they haven't done it in a shit way (like Twin Atlantic did).  They lyrics, veering between nerdy confessional and tongue-in-cheek arrogance are sublime meaning the offending 'Emily' single, is a lot cleverer than any boy band machine could churn out.  For proof of quality, try listening to 'English Kids In America' and then not humming it afterwards.  These guys deserve everything that comes to them; they've been brave and earned it.

1) Marmozets - The Weird and Wonderful Marmozets

An early morning, bleary-eyed flick through Kerrang! tv introduced me to this band via a music video.  The song, 'Why Do You Hate Me?' stood out for two reasons: firstly, the angular jarring riffs were something one wouldn't normally expect to see sandwiched between Good Charlotte and Fall Out Boy and woke me up more than my cuppa did; and secondly, that voice.  The Bingley quintet, fronted by Becca Macintyre sounded unlike anything I'd heard in a while and the album turned out to be just as thrilling as that video.  The music, featuring shades of Biffy Clyro, Hundred Reasons and even flashes of The Dillinger Escape Plan's softer moments served as a heavy, innovative base for a soaring voice filled with passion and topped with a fine vibrato. It's catchy, it's powerful and it's so different to anything else I've heard this year. Singles 'Captivate You' and 'Move, Shake, Hide' show the variety in their music and the album is well paced throughout, with ballads like 'Cry' and stormers like 'Particle' keeping you guessing before stunning closer 'Back To You' really allows Macintyre to shine. They're weird, they're wonderful; these guys have talent to burn and deserve big things.