Welcome to the forums!
I like a lot of rock and hard rock but I don't usually like the typical stuff. Some of my favorites are:
Project 86, Blindside, Red, Falling Up, The Myriad, Switchfoot's new single "Mess of Me," Mute Math (you'll never find better musicianship), Brian Welch (former Korn guitarist), After Edmund, A Rotterdam November, Manic Drive (check out the song "Music").
Worth checking out are The Classic Crime, Pillar, Anberlin, Decyfer Down, Eowyn, Ever, Fireflight, Flyleaf, Skillet, We As Human, Thousand Foot Krutch, P.O.D..
There are a ton of Christian bands out there in the whole general rock genre.
Check out the playlists on these radio stations/programs:
http://www.christianrock.net/ (check out the hard rock link on that site as well)
http://xtrlive.com/artist.php
http://www.hopeinanguish.com/site/
Most artists have myspace pages and are available on iTunes (of course that varies from country to country for some reason).
My favorite songs at the moment are:
Switchfoot--"Mess of Me"
Anberlin--"Feel Good Drag"
Pillar--"Whatever It Takes"
Mute Math--"Backfire" and "Armistice"
After Edmund--"Clouds," "Tears" and "Thank God"
Manic Drive--"Music"
A Rotterdam November--Enough (The End)