(all been around longer thatn 2004, but had albums since then)

Danko Jones
Psychic Paramount
C'Mon
Lullabye Arkestra
The Deadly Snakes
Bellrays
Blood Brothers
Hella
Burning Brides
Priestess
Constantines
Converge
Pelican
Pink Mountaintops
The Black Angels
Electrelane
Explosions in the Sky
Giddy Motors
The Gossip
Karl Hendricks Trio
Kings of Leon
The Kiss Offs
Lift to Experience
Lightning Bolt
Man Man
Marah
...

Mostly recent releases from established bands.

Galloglass, Dark Tranquility, Edguy, Rob Rock, Nevermore, Masterplan, Bruce, Gamma Ray, Amorphis

Wolfdog: you seriously rock, thanks!
dobbs: what would be your top 3 from the list?

Constantines

Hell yeah. Best straight up rock band out there right now.

Also:

Black Mountain (related to dobbs' Pink Mountaintops)
Parchman Farm

signal, you'd have to give me an example of what you like. They're all rock but they're all different.

Many of them can be sampled at emusic. Danko Jones have something like 16 tracks for free on their site and I gave away one during my blogathon.

Also, off the top of my head: Hella also have some track on their site (hellamusic.com) as do lightning bolt (laserbeast.org) and theblackangels.com and thebellrays.com and thisiscmon.com and marah-usa.com and wearemanman.com...

Some of the bands are instrumental (not sure if that's not what you're looking for)--hella, lightning bolt, explosions in the sky, psychic paramount, some sound vaguely Stones-y (kings of leon, deadly snakes) or Springsteenish (Constantines--also been compared to the Clash a lot, Marah), some are all girl bands (electrelane and the gossip), some are sorta druggy (pink mountaintops, black angels, Psychic Paramount), man man sounds kinda like tom waits but rockier, some are loud as fuck (blood brother, pelican, lightning bolt, preistess)...

If you're one of those people who thinks bands look like they sound, here are pix of a few that I listed.

Some must be seen live to be appreciated (Constantines, Danko Jones, Bellrays, Explosions in the Sky, Pink Mountaintops... all among the best live acts I've ever seen. Bellrays live are a serious force to be reckoned with--one of the few things jonmc and I agree on.)

Again, much easier if you list a few rock bands you like.

Black Diamond Heavies - seriously. check them out.

Tight Phantomz - Ditto

I'm awake now:

Constantines - 2
Hella
Marah
The Gossip
Electrelane (doing Leonard Cohen)
Converge
Shotmaker (older than you asked for but Mouse Ear Forget Me Not is my favorite Canadian rock album so I'm listing it--technically, they're hardcore)
Jesus Lizard (sure you've heard of 'em but Gladiator is probably my most listened to rock song. i think it's perfect.)
Psychic Paramount
Deadly Snakes
Lightning Bolt

A little late to the game, but given that you said "metal," I'm surprised that no one has recommended Mastodon yet. Their album Leviathan is real good. Their EP Lifesblood is fantastic.

Also, The Sword out of Austin does good, Sabbath-y stuff.

Don't forget Wolfmother!

cool, thanks dobbs, everybody.