Coheed & Cambria - The Second Stage Turbine Blade (2002)

Coheed & Cambria have been able to blend prog rock and post-hardcore music seamlessly together to create some intricately layered and dense sounds; along with Tool and The Mars Volta (the only other bands I can think of that do that, post-millennium), they have created a music that's both rhythmically complex yet totally listenable- I've always thought that Coheed is what Rush would sound like if they were born way later and were raised on Fugazi and NoMeansNo.

Anyway, here's their debut record from '02; where it lacks in technical prowess it makes up for in raw emotionality.

Coheed & Cambria - The Second Stage Turbine Blade (2002; Equal Vision Records)

Bear vs. Shark - Right Now, You're in the Best of Hands... (2003)

My friend Conor turned me onto these guys a few years ago; I always thought they were like a poor man's Les Savy Fav- a driving rhythm section, distorted and screechy guitars and vocals alternating between shouts, barely intelligible screaming and melodic singing.

One of those bands that puts out two really good records, shows a shitload of promise and then goes and breaks up.

Go figure...

Bear vs. Shark - Right Now, You're in the Best of Hands. And If Something Isn't Quite Right, Your Doctor Will Know in a Hurry (2003; Equal Vision Records)

Shelter - Perfection Of Desire (1990)

Shelter is a hardcore punk band from New York City that rose out of the ashes of several other influential bands of that era- on this album we have lead singer Ray Cappo (from Youth Of Today) and Tom Capone, who would later go on to help start Quicksand. 

Shelter is unique in that they were the originators of the genre Krishnacore, which fused hardcore (and often a brand of melodic hardcore) punk to Krishna consciousness. One of my favorite bands of the early '90s.

Shelter - Perfection Of Desire (1990; Revelation Records)