Chris, my advice is to think about what's going to suit YOU the best not what's trendy, what's going to be fun to ride. Try out the Enduro, the status the slayer, the bullit, the range and the truax Don't buy a bike based soley on what the interweb says. Also you don't need to drop 10g's to have a nice bike.
are you looking for a 7" bike? Or more of a 5-6" AM bike that freerides well?
if 7" bikes the entourage looks awesome, giant faiths, i've only heard good stuff about trauxs', or speccy sxtrails.
if more AM and FR oriented, I'd look into the Corsair Konig, or giant Reign SX. maybe even Intense SS or Norco Empire, or Rocky Mountain Slayer SS (older versions).
EDIT: Jk i see you had a slayer royale. Why did you get rid of it? Looks sexy.
well your the one who asked what bike to get so people are just suggesting what bikes they like. *plus you only thumbed down all the comments that max did.
It's true, thats why he bought a bmx bike for now, but you better f*cking buy a mountain bike after Christmas or I will beat on you. Have you ridden the bike yet, how does it feel?