Adjusted for newer opinions and on a ten-point scale:
Anathema - Weather Systems - 8.5/10. Well-composed, generally sounds very good... but it's kinda background-ish for me.
Ian Anderson - Thick as a Brick II - 6/10. Did Jethro Tull or Ian Anderson ever do a bad album? The answer, of course, is yes, as anyone who remembers 2/3+ of Under Wraps knows, but this isn't bad. It's just... not great. It doesn't live up to the hype.
Circus Maximus - Nine - 9/10. This is going to vary person-to-person, but I think this is amazingly well-performed and well-arranged album, and while its volume is probably higher than it needs to be, it doesn't ruin the sound! Also, the band doesn't bank all-in on long numbers, something that a lot of prog metal bands do.
Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pandora's Piñata - 8.5/10. There aren't a lot of effective ways to really describe this album, but I've just been liking it more and more the more I listen to it. I'd call it a commendable effort even if it weren't any good for being avant-garde yet imminently listenable. As it stands, it's a powerhouse. But to be fair, you might not need this if you own a DSO album already and aren't a big fan in the first place.
Glass Kites - Glass Kites - 7/10. Basically, mini-Weather Systems. My comments apply about the same there. Still worthy of your support, though.
In Mourning - The Weight of Oceans - 7.5/10. A bit repetitive, but it is basically a melodeath-doom hybrid (far as I can understand). A lot more listenable than I was expecting, but this is decidedly not an every-day album.
Killing Joke - MMXII - 4/10. Noise without reason. Ugly as hell, except for "In Cythera," which is probably one of my top tracks of the year.
Lyriel - Leverage - 5.5/10. My comments remain the same: "Nightwish with slightly better songwriting (and less cheesy keyboards) in some places, but a lot of filler. Also the title track is a blatant cash grab."
Marillion - Sounds That Can't Be Made - 8/10. Immaculate performance as usual, but I feel like most of the arrangements are just a bit lacking. Then again, the band has been gradually chaining themselves down to a middling sub-Radiohead schtick for a while, and while they're still good at that, it's not terribly interesting. "Power," though, is pretty catchy and would make a much nicer single if the market cared.
Megaherz - Gotterdammerung - 7/10. Pretty good for what it is, but what it is is a bit out of date. Has only a few tunes that are truly forgettable, but also only a few that are actually massively memorable. Also, two pointless remixes.
OSI - Fire Make Thunder - 7/10. My opinion on this fluctuates basically all the time. I cannot pin down an opinion. It's pretty enjoyable most of the time, though, and it's hard to not give at least somewhat high marks as a result.
The Rolling Stones - GRRR! - N/A/10 (8/10 on the new tunes). There is literally no reason for me to go into detail on this, because it's a Rolling Stones compilation. Only a Beatles or Pink Floyd compilation is more useless. However, the two new songs are fairly nice, reminding me a lot more of older Stones material than anything since Voodoo Lounge.
Rush - Clockwork Angels - 8/10. There's no avoiding it -- this sounds bad. But at least it's not like the previous album, which gets thin as the volume rises; this is just BRICKWALLED. The general style of arrangement, though, I still enjoy -- basically just another means to the same end, mind you.
Storm Corrosion - s/t - 9/10. Has a very Pink Floyd feel to it, but otherwise also very similar to Weather Systems; big on atmosphere, though perhaps not always readily memorable because a lot of it, again, feels like very well-done background music.
Tesseract - Perspective - 6.5/10. Acoustic djent; cool in concept, decent in sound. Not sure I entirely like "Eden 2.0," though, but I'll listen to it. Maybe this is what the band will do for a while longer. It'd give me a big reason to listen to them, but it might wear out after a while.
Van Halen - A Different Kind of Truth - 5.5/10. It'd be hard for me to fault the musical talent, but talent alone does not a good record make -- just listen to Wind and Wuthering. Few if any of the tunes are really memorable, but at least it's not Balance or Van Halen III.
ZZ Top - La Futura - 7.5/10. About as close as we'll get to a classic ZZ Top album in this day and age, so that's nice. In my opinion. though, especially with Gibbons leaning a bit more Tom Waitsy with his growl, the band is now firmly in the territory where they do the more bluesy tunes better than the less-bluesy rockers.
To put in notes about:
Orange Goblin - A Eulogy for the Damned
probably some other **** I forgot too
But overall, thus far I'd call this year satisfying. We haven't had a St. Anger or a Metal Machine Music or a Lungs this year that I can identify to this point. Maybe in certain other circles I don't listen to a whole lot, but it'd be hard to expect me to find those, then, wouldn't it?