#2: Stone Sour - Audio Secrecy

Audio Secrecy
Mission Statement
Digital
Say You'll Haunt Me
Dying
Let's Be Honest
Unfinished
Hesitate
Nylon 6/6
Miracles
Pieces
The Bitter End
Imperfect
Threadbare

Corey Taylor - vocals, guitar, piano
James Root - guitar, keyboards
Josh Rand - guitar
Shawn Economaki - bass
Roy Mayorga - drums, percussion, piano on 'Say You'll Haunt Me' and 'Nylon 6/6'
Steve Blacke - strings, string arrangements
Produced by Nick Raskulinecz

Corey Taylor's band just keeps on getting better, and 'Audio Secrecy' counts among my favourite records ever made. Kicking off from the title track intro into the awesome 'Mission Statement', Stone Sour put you through the paces for a solid 55 minutes of modern metal.
Granted, there isn't anything on here that's a big departure from the material on their first two albums, but in 'Audio Secrecy' they've absolutely perfected their craft. In 2009 I'd have never thought Stone Sour would rank so high up in a list I've made like this, as much as I'd loved their previous work. In fact, the same goes for the album that gets ranked #1...