Well you wanna WOOO WOOO!

2003 has been a really rough year for music, hasn't it? Assuming you have the same exact tastes as me, anyway. I don't think I discovered a single new band this year whose debut impressed me at all. Even worse, several "can't miss" albums fell flat.

The Gathering - Souvenirs. I'm was totally in love with the title track from the Black Light District teaser ep, but when the full album came out it failed to live up to the promise. Only the duet with Garm is really memorable. It's still fairly solid, but my hopes were way up for this one and weren't justified in the end.

Nick Cave - Nocturama. His worst album in years. Fuck, I'm happy for him that he found happiness and love in his life. Good for him. But his music suffers for it. I do enjoy the opening track, but after that it's horrid.

If being disappointed by Nick Cave weren't enough, even the funny, tragic, unique, traditional, campy, bizarre and depressing Tiger Lillies churned out an album that I could live without. The Sea was reported to be an extremely sad collection of songs, but the band's personality is almost entirely absent and the music that's left is empty.

Anathema released one of my favorite albums ever in Alternative 4, followed it up with the impressive Judgement and then fucked up with the bland A Fine Day To Exit. This year they had the chance for redemption with Natural Disaster. I haven't totally finished my verdict on it yet, but it's safe to say it's a far cry from what they needed to do at this point. When the most appealing song on an Anathema album sounds like Portishead, you know something's wrong.

Katatonia's previous album (Last Fair Deal Gone Down) left me a wreck. What a touching, damned, hopeless album. I mean that in the best way possible. But their follow-up this year (Viva Emptiness) isn't quite up to the same challenge. It's the most impressive thing I've heard all year but is a little lacking when compared to its predecessor. Omerta and Sleeper make it worthwhile, so I'm thankful for that.

What else? Nevermore seems to be done for creatively, plus the production on their new one is lacking. The new Tiamat is just as worthless as their last few albums, if not more so. The new Moonspell is dull. Virgin Black followed up their extremely promising debut with Elegant...And Dying, which I believe was co-produced by Sominex. The new Amorphis is so forgettable I'm half-surprised that it's out every time I hear someone mention it (even though I've listened to it half a dozen times). The new Solefald is...hey, remember when they released their first two albums and it was interesting and different and passionate and memorable? Yeah, it's not like that anymore. Overkill was done years ago, as was Type O Negative (and you know it, Skull!).

On the positive side, there's some good stuff on the new Tindersticks. The new Ulver ep is a return to their strengths (sort of). Die Apokalyptischen Reiter shows some promise. The new Unleashed is a lot better than I expected. Android Lust's The Dividing has its moments. Equirhodont did the impossible by coming out with a (more or less) traditional metal album that I enjoy. Turbonegro had a couple of good tunes on their new one. I also found some ok stuff from years past that I'm just now discovering (such as Mad Sin's Survival Of The Sickest and various madcap insanity by The Danielson Famile).

Still, overall I have not been impressed too much this year. The new Katatonia is my pick for album of the year so far. It's a decent album, but I'm a little concerned when an album I have labeled as a disappointment is still better than everything else.

I'd like to send a shout out to my boo on da Easse Sie. DJ Meli P's birthday is this weekend. We now have a couple of extra additions to the family. No, I didn't knock her and her sister up. They're much cleaner and quieter than kids.

StormClad Radio has not been updated because I'm feeling particularly apathetic. I have a couple new spoofs, but those aren't posted yet either. I betcha get over it. Betcha.