My top 15 CD's for 2003 (long)

Here is my top 15 for this year.  All discs have a 2003 date on them.

#1 King Diamond - The Puppet Master --  I had a feeling after spinning this
one 5 or 6 times that it might wind up in my top spot.  After seeing the
King in concert a few weeks back it pretty much solidified it for me that
The Puppet Master would take the top spot.  I think this is the King's best
in over a decade, and it was not really expected by me to be anything
special.  Well for me it is special.  Catchy tunes, great story, and some
changes for KD.  The addition of the female singer really adds something to
this release.  Top Songs : Emerencia, The Ritual, Blood To Walk, Magic, and
Darkness.  Who am I kidding - it's all great. TPM is very theatrical and
well done all the way thru.  Fear not about the very high and over the top
falsetto's -- they are nowhere to be found here.

#2 DGM - Hidden Place -- Thanks go out to Progged Radio on the internet for
getting me interested in this one.  They spun several tunes from DGM that I
happened to catch over a couple week period, and I enjoyed them so much I
bought the disc.  These guys do remind me of Symphony X in sound and style,
but they are not quite as musical overall.  The singer (Titta Tani) is
excellent, and the overall songwriting and musicianship is very good.   Top
Songs : A Day Without The Sun, Save Me, Hidden Places, Storm #351, Heaven.
Hell there are no weak tracks on this disc, and I could basically write
almost every song down as a favorite.

#3 Brainstorm - Soul Temptation -- This one jumped up several notches late
in the game.  It's currently my top played disc.  These guys had a killer
disc last time out in Metus Mortis, but this time they took it up another
notch.  The first three songs are just plain great to my ears - Highs
Without Lows, Doorway To Survive, and The Leading.  Later on we get a very
cool trilogy called - The Trinity Of Lust.  Andy B. Franck handles the
vocals for this band and does a very nice job - like usual.  He's also the
singer for Symphorce.  All in all a great power, melodic metal offering.
Comes with a DVD of a short live performance, but beware - it doesn't work
in all players.  The price for digipack is like 8 bucks for both the cd and
the dvd at the end.

#4 Rage - Soundchaser -- These guys have been on fire the past two years.
Unity last year was great, and Soundchaser is right up there with it.  This
is a three man band who when combined sound like an 7 piece.  Top
musicianship on this effort.  Rage for me is just fun metal music.  They
just rip, and are as catchy as well.  Frontman and founder Peavy Wagner's
vocals took some getting used to me at first, but it wasn't long and I
learned to enjoy them.  He sounds old school to me, and it's actually
pleasing.  Guitarist Victor Smolski is a madman with the axe, and Mike
Terrana is a top line drummer in the genre.  If you are looking for
something fun, fast, and furious - this is your band.  Top Tunes : Great Old
Ones, Soundchaser, Secrets In A Weird World, Defenders Of The Ancient Life,
and the last two tunes which are related in theme (Wake The Nightmares, and
Death is On it's Way).

#5 Evergrey - Recreation Day -- It took me a while to warm up to this, but
after several spins it hit me that Evergrey had done it again, and created
another top flight disc.  I prefer In Search Of Truth to this, but there are
some excellent tunes on here, and I do think the band showed they could grow
even further in terms of maturity.  Nice effort.  Tom Englund gets better
and better each time out in the vocal department as well.

#6 Kamelot - Epica -- A fine release for Kamelot, but it didn't grab my
attention like the past two discs.  I've never been able to pinpoint why
Kamelot fell off the top of my favorites exactly.  I guess I just found some
other stuff that toom my attention away from them.  Still, this a good
concept disc, and I think most that dig Khan or Kamelot would think this is
right up their alley.  I guess for me it might be a lot too similar to the
past couple efforts, but in general that hasn't been a complaint among the
Kamelot masses.  Part II will be here next year, but actually I would have
preferred they shift gears and do something in between instead.

#7 Lanfear - The Art Effect -- I think this is disc #3 for these guys, maybe
#4, but it's #1 for me.  I'm glad I founf these guys -- this is top line
power metal with some prog elements.  I think these guys might soon become a
big time force on the scene.  They have some things that could put them
above a number of somewhat similar bands.  The singer is unique sounding,
but very good.  I like his effort on this disc a lot.  Top Tunes : Deeper,
Traces Of Infinity, The Artifact, and Fortune Lies Within.

#8 Dead Soul Tribe - A Murder Of Crows -- 2nd album from this Devon
Graves/Buddy Lackey led band.  These guys are somewhat Tool like, but maybe
a bit proggier.  I wouldn't say these guys are all that proggy at all -
maybe I'd say moody, sullen, and dark.   Top Tunes : Feed Pt 1: Stone By
Stone, The Messeger, In A Garden Made Of Stones, and Some Things You Can't
Return.

#9 Masterplan - S/T -- New band featuring vocalist Jorn Lande - formerly of
Ark, and Roland Grapow on guitars.  I know some were dissapointed that Jorn
chose to do this over Ark, but that aside I think this is a very good debut
disc that features several top tunes.  This a pretty varried release, some
power metal, some melodic, and some softer stuff.  Good catchy tunes
overall.  Top Tunes : Enlighten Me, Crystal Night, Soulburn, and Bleeding
Eyes.

#10 Circle II Circle - Watching In Silence -- Debut disc from this Zack
Stephens led outfit that is going thru some serious problems right now.  It
seems all members are out except Zack.  Oh well, it's his show I guess.
Half of this disc is killer, and the other half is just okay.  Zack is an
excellent singer, and is one of the best in metal today, so this is worth
the price of admission.  Fans of Savatage would really dig this disc.
Oliva, Caffery, and Stephens right all the material found here.  Top Tunes :
Out Of Reach, Sea Of White,  Into The Wind, Watching In Silence, and Face To
Face.

#11 Opeth - Damantion -- I hated this one at first, but after a little
patience I began to really get into it.  It's a very mello release from
Opeth, and features no death vox at all.  I don't know exactly how to
describe this disc other than to say it's maybe got a 70's vibe, prog rock,
kind of thing going on.  It's similar to stuff you'd hear from Porcupine
Tree, and Katatonia.  I play this disc when friends and relatives come by to
see my house and stuff.  They comment on how nice it sounds and whatnot, and
I just kind of chuckle because I know Opeth's other work would scare the
shit out of them and send them running for their vehicles.  Killer Tunes :
Windowpane, Death Whispered A Lullaby, Closure, To Rid The Disease, In My
Time Of Need.

#12 Balance Of Power - Heathen Machine -- Nice effort from a band that
seemed to be a a critical crossroads.  Long time frontman Lance King split
with the band, and many questioned if this band could recover.  Well, they
recovered by finding a guy by the name of John K.  John K. is obviously a
lover of Geoff Tate, and who can blame him I guess.  It rubs me a little
wrong because sometimes he can sing just like Geoff used to sing, but I'd
rather the guy be himself.  Anyway, that's my only negative.  The music
sounds like the BoP I used to know, it's just that the singer is different.
I'm okay with the change, and I think the band will be fine as well.

#13 Ion Vein - Reigning Memories -- Here is another one that has grown on me
the past couple weeks.  These guys hail from Chicago, and I actually got to
see them live a month ago or so.  I wish I would have known the songs as
well then as I do now.  I think this band is a little too good not to be on
a decent label like Inside Out, or Amf or somenthing.  I'd say these guys
are inspired by the Ryche some too.  Russ Klimczak has a style not too far
removed from Tate as well.  Chris Lotesto, and John Malufka play some pretty
mean dual leads as well.   Top Songs for me are Another Life, Spiral Maze,
The Power Of You, and Faith and Majesty.  The trilogy - Adrian's Ladder is
also a highlight.  A quality disc, prodced by a quality producer - Neil
Kernon.

#14 Adagio - Underworld -- Kinda like Symphony X in some way with the neo
classical thing.  The singer here also doubles for a band called PC 69,
which is a favorite of mine.  The two bands couldn;t be any different
though.  One is progressive and quite musical, and the other is just good
old heavy rock and roll - fun style.

#15 tie- Section A - The Seventh Sign -- debut disc from a band that should
have a solid future.  The songs are pretty straight forward metal - kind of
reminds me of Circle II Circle some.  Solid stuff here.

tie Redemption S/T  - very proggy debut disc. Some reall good stuff here,
and some so-so stuff.  The future could be bright for this outfit.  The
tunes on this disc were sung by former Steel Prophet singer Rick Mythiason,
but he has since been replaced by Magnitude 9 singer Corey Brown.  The
change should be a wash.  I probably prefer Corey Brown.

Well that's my top 15 (16 actually).

The following discs didn't make the cut, or didn't get listened to enough
yet.

Agent Steel - Order Of The Illuminati, Katatonia - Viva Emptiness, Secret
Sphere - Scent Of Human Desire, Alkemyst - A Meeting In The Mist, At Vance -
The Evil In You, Chrome Shift - Ripples In Time, Labyrinth - S/T, Silent
Edge - The Eyes Of The Shadow, Children Of Bodem - Hatecrew Deathroll, Dimmu
Borgir's new one, Narnia -The Great Fall, Shakra - Rising, Suncaged - S/T
and more but I'm tired now.

Dissapointments of the year for me

#1 Nevermore - Enemies Of Reality.  This is an unfortunate release from a
great band.  This stuff just is below their usual level, and the production
sucks ass.  It ruins any chance this had of being good.  I still don't think
the songs are up to past standards.  Hearing the new tunes live didn't help
me a bit to enjoy them more.

#2 Iron Maiden - Dance Of Death -- this disc is not bad at all, but I have
finally tired of them.  I'm just interested in other things these days.

#3 Queensryche - Tribe -- I passed on buying this one.  I had the mp3's
early on and it was clear after numerous spins that I wasn't shelling out my
hard earned bucks for this stuff.  I'll give them a bit of credit for at
least surpassing Q2k, but that wasn't a difficult task at all.

#4 Last Tribe - The Uncrowned -- I owe this one some more spins, but it's
been a major bore the few times I've played it.  I really liked their last
one, but this one doesn't seem to be up to that level.

#5 Eidolon - Apostles Of Defiance -- I loved their last one, but this one is
quite a bore.  It all sounds the same.  The reviews have been mixed - and I
probably owe it a few more spins - but so far - not so good.