Of Malice and the Magnum Heart

The title of this 2004 classic is an apt one; Of Malice and the Magnum Heart brought melody and emotion to the metalcore genre like few albums before and since, particularly on the devastating “The Year Summer Ended in June,” which commemorates the deaths of Jordan Wodehouse and Daniel Langlois of the Misery Signals precursor band Compromise, killed by a drunk driver in Heflin, Alabama.

Complex time signatures, complementary dual guitar parts, and experimental interludes (e.g. the instrumental “Worlds and Dreams”) make for a thinking and feeling man’s metal album.