Except for the songs that made my Top 20 songs of 2003 and the representative tracks from my Top 20 Albums of 2003, these are the rest of the best aggressive rock/melodic hardcore tracks of 2003. To be eligible, a song needed to be included on an album released in the United States between December 1, 2002 and November 30, 2003.

1. Cursive “Some Red Handed Sleight Of Hand” The Ugly Organ (Saddle Creek)
2. AFI “Dancing Through Sunday” Sing the Sorrow (Dreamworks)
3. Billy Talent “This Is How It Goes” Billy Talent (Atlantic)4. Vaux “Ride Out Bitch” There Must Be Some Way
to Stop Them (Volcom)
5. Brand New “Sic Transit Gloria…Glory Fades” Deja Entendu (Razor & Tie)
6. Thrice “All That’s Left” The Artist In the Ambulance (Island)
7. The Distillers “Drain the Blood” Coral Fang (Sire/London)
8. Gossip “Jason’s Basement” Movement (Kill Rock Stars)
9. Anti-Flag “Operation Iraqi Liberation (O.I.L.)” Terror State (Fat Wreck Chords)
10. Billy Talent “Try Honesty” Billy Talent (Atlantic)11. The Mars Volta “Eriatarka” De-Loused in the Comatorium (Gold Standard/Universal)
12. Coheed & Cambria “Three Evils (Embodied In Love and Shadow)” In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 (Equal Vision)
13. Blink 182 “Stockholm Syndrome” [Untitled] (Geffen)
14. S.T.U.N. “Boredom” Evolution of Energy (Geffen)
15. Anti-Flag “Sold As Freedom” Terror State
(Fat Wreck Chords)
16. Tora Tora Torrance “Yr All On Our Dance Card” A Cynic’s Nightmare (Militia)
17. Vaux “Set It To Blow” There Must Be Some Way
to Stop Them (Volcom)
18. Christiansen “In Smut We Yearn” Stylish Nihilists (Revelation)
19. The Mars Volta “Inertiatic ESP” De-Loused in the Comatorium (Gold Standard/Universal)
20. Party of Helicopters “The Toucher” Please Believe It (Velocette)
21. A Perfect Circle “Weak & Powerless” Thirteenth Step (Virgin)
22. Thursday “Signals Over the Air” War All the Time (Island)
23. Vaux “On Love & Cars” There Must Be Some Way to Stop Them (Volcom)