Where does the time go... it seems like it was yesterday that we were celebrating MEGADETH's Endgame as the #1 album of 2009! So it's time to count down the finest slabs of metal from the last year, as chosen by the devout scribes here at BW&BK;/BraveWords.com. As with previous years, each writer was asked to pick his top 20 albums of the year (no live records, compilations or covers etc...). We perform a little behind-the-scenes metal math and voila, we have our list! We'll be counting down the Top 30 all month - yup, one a day until we get to New Year's - yes, we're aware that December has 31 daze but we thought we'd let you hang until January 1st!

So enough with the chatter ... let's commence the countdown! We begin with #30...

#30 - STONE SOUR: Audio Secrecy (Roadrunner)

Fueled by hit single 'Say You’ll Haunt Me', new Stone Sour album, Audio Secrecy, entered Billboard's Top 200 at #6, making it the second consecutive top ten debut for the three-time Grammy nominated quintet. The band also claimed the top spot on the iTunes Rock Album Chart, shooting straight to #1 with a special edition of the record, which included three bonus tracks. Internationally, the album garnered the highest debuts of the band’s career including top 5 charts in Germany, Japan and Austria, as well as top 10 in the UK and Australia.

BraveWords.com partners Loudtrax.com caught up with Josh Rand about Audio Secrecy. "I think it’s more melodic than the other records," remarked the guitarist. "I mean Come What(ever) May lyrically is pretty dark. When he made that statement, it was at the beginning of the writing process . The album evolved a little bit since then. I don’t think it’s as dark as Come What(ever) May, but I would agree that it’s more melodic than the previous two albums."

Brave Picks Top 30 Of 2010

#30 - STONE SOUR - Audio Secrecy (Roadrunner)