Originally Posted by Trollheart

Okay well in terms of bands who are generally unknown on the scene and are current, here are some links to reviews I wrote of a few last year.

Archetype Asylum by Exodus to Infinity

I Just Wanna Break Even by The Flying Caravan

You might also like The World We Used To Know by Shattered Skies

True North by Borknagar

(both prog metal)

or

Last Epic by A.C.T

These guys only had the one album but still very much worth a listen
The Hour is Upon Us by The Hour of the Shipwreck

Do you know The City Sleeps by Touchstone?

Also very good, excellent in fact is
From the Small Hours of Weakness by Verbal Delirium

I love this one to death
A Tower of Silence by Anubis

and this
A Story Two Days Wide by Iluvatar