It’s time to reveal what the I AM TUNED UP staff has pegged as the best music of 2012, and first up is contributing writer Kyle Smith. Enjoy, and maybe open your mind to some new recommendations…

10. Carnivale Electricos – Galactic
A enjoyable concept album from the six-piece funk outfit out of New Orleans, trying to capture the sounds and emotion of Carnival in the Big Easy. This album made it on to this list for me mainly due to Stanton Moore’s crazy good funk drumming.

9. Toil – Flatfoot 56
Flatfoot’s latest album presents a matured sound in an album that’s simply fun to listen through. The group mixes folk instruments with a thrashy punk vibe, while they’re not the first to do this, they do it well.

8. Night Visions – Imagine Dragons
I was a little bit slow to jump on the Imagine Dragons train – I had not heard of them until late fall of this year. At first, I thought they were going to sound a bit too indie for my tastes, but they grew on me because of just how well they pull off what they are trying to do with their music.

7. Rhythm ’N’ Moves – Capital Lights
It’s been four years since Capital Lights last album, This is an Outrage! and Rhythm ’N’ Moves does not disappoint fans who have been waiting for a follow up album. This album is a collection of catchy dance-infused punk tracks that make it really difficult to not smile while listening.

6. Wait for the Siren – Project 86
After undergoing some serious changes within the band, Project 86 came out with an album to mirror these changes. Quite different than previous albums, Wait for the Siren provides a more melodic twist to P86’s sound and works in creative ways to present one of their best albums in a long time.

5. The End is Where We Begin – Thousand Foot Krutch
This album is TFK’s first independently released album, and this change allowed for some more nuanced creativity that probably would not have been tried with a label-funded album. With this in mind, The End is Where We Begin offers some of the matured, groovy nu-metal from their last album, Welcome to the Masquerade, juxtaposed next to a couple of “throw-back” tracks from their earlier style of late 90s early 2000s rapcore, along with some unique musical innovations. Overall, a fun album with some tasty nuances.

4. Mean What You Say – Sent by Ravens
Sent by Ravens is an interesting mashing together of old school hard rock and groovy grunge, straddling the line between many various genres. Mean What You Say is their sophomore album, and is a solid progression from their first. It’s simply a very solid album, well put together, well executed, and fun to listen to.

3. Days Go By – The Offspring
Oh the Offspring. If I ever had to pick a guilty pleasure punk band, the Offspring would be it. Their snarky flavor of thrash punk just never seems to get old for me, and I’m glad to see that they are still writing new stuff. This album offers just enough of the Offspring’s old flair mixed with musically mature innovation trying some new things to create a fun and creative album that begs to be listened to again and again.

2. Helvetios – Eluveitie
Eluveitie is leading the pack in the folk metal scene, and they are doing an excellent job at it. When listening to Helvetios you feel as though you are stepping into a different time in a different world, and you are instantly sucked into the story told through the music. Beautiful soaring melodies of folk strings, pipes, and flutes played over driving metal instrumentation creates a unique and rich listening experience.

1. Murdered Love – P.O.D.
P.O.D. hit the nail right on the head with their latest album. Veterans of the hard rock scene, P.O.D. knows what they’re doing and they do it well. Murdered Love displays the diversity of the band’s talents as well as their passion and attitude which they have retain through their long years in the music industry. A solid, hard-hitting, thought-provoking album that contains the drive of a garage band while displaying the refinement expected of a group who has been doing this as long as P.O.D. has been.