Any early contenders for metal album of the year?

Katatonia-Viva Emptiness
Amon Amarth-Versus The World (which may have actually come out last year, but it's new to me and still fairly recent-plus, I love the extra disc of early demos,e.p.,etc. I love their sound. The new record is slower than their old stuff and the production is less epic, but it's great all the same.)

So far, I only bought two 2003 releases: Summoning Lost Tales (a bit boring) and Katatonia Viva Emptiness (good but nothing amazing). So no favourites yet, but I am eagerly awaiting:

Megiddo The Holocaust Messiah
Graveland And We Shall Rise Again
Cryptopsy None So Live
and possibly new albums later this year by:
Countess, Summoning, Immortal, Decayed, Sigh, Sabbat.

And this might as well be a good time to ask for opinions on the new Darkthrone album (because I'm fearing the worst).

new Lamb of God

Not that I'm an expert but that Cryptopsy live album sounded really good when I listened to it in a store. I'm planning to pick it up at some point.

From what I've heard so far of it, "Noise Action Noise" by Sludgefeast could be the best metal album for a good while. Or it could turn out to be rubbish apart from the single. Who knows?

The Gathering - Souvenirs
Katatonia - Viva Emptiness
Voivod - Voivod

How does the Gathering sound these days? I was really into them around the Nighttime Birds days. I got the album that was more experimental rock oriented but can't remember anything about it except that it was yellow. Too bad they couldn't have hit it big in the U.S. instead of Evanescence.

They've gone far more downtempo since then, it's all slow, reverb-drenched goth-y rock/triphop now. Broken Glass could be an Interpol song, for example. Very pretty stuff, but a bit meandering and unengaging in places. I know they're still carrying the "metal" stigma from their early days, but there's nothing remotely metal about this one.

i don't even know if i've bought a new metal album this year. winterblut's "grund" and the svartpest cd might be about it. so i'll say kevin drumm's "land of lurches."

Damn, there's a new Graveland coming out already? And I who finally got around to buying the ones I was lacking!
I haven't really bought much 2003 stuff yet, so this is partly based on stuff I've only heard some songs from:

The Spawn Of Posession - Cabinet (not the most original death metal album in the world, but quite cool brutal death stuff)
Circle Of Dead Children's new album also sounds good, though I've only heard two songs so far (but the last one was great, and this sounds better!)
The Chasm - Conjuration of the spectral empire (another I have only heard a few songs from, but those sounds keeno, plus their trackrecord is quite good, IMO. Fun thrashy stuff)

HOPEFULLY the new Mutiilation, but admittedly the last one wasn't exactly the greatest album of all time (though I like it much better than most, it seems)

Looking forward to most of what Siegbran's mentioned, plus the new Enslaved. Maybe the new Green Carnation, a friend of mine just got a promo and says first impressions are positive.

New Voivod is incredibly disappointing. I've loved pretty much all the eras of the band, but this new one is tedious at best.

Siegbran: lots of people I know love the new Darkthrone, including some guys who weren't thrilled with the last few albums. Personally I haven't heard the whole thing, but haven't been particularly excited; I definitely don't feel any need to buy it. I think you'd do well in at least trying to sample it.

It's funny, ten years ago there were a million generic and boring bands, and a few fairly experimental, yet very exciting bands.
Now that seems to have turned compleltely around, millions of really boring "experimental" bands, and a few really killer quite generic bands, haha.

I hear Today Is The Day has another album a-coming too. Yay!

who's putting out the new mutiilation? and why won't someone give up this "kult" crap and reissue their earlier albums in reasonable editions ($130 for "black imperial blood" on ebay - that's so incredibly kvlt and evil...actually, it is evil).

The new Mutiilation has just been released by Ordealis records, the title is "Majestas Leprosus"

Agreed about the reissues, I'd love to have copies of those ol' albums, but there's no way I'm paying those ridiculous prices. I guess they'll be reissued once no one at Drakkar nor Arkhon himself have any copies left to sell on Ebay *g*

A new Winterblut! Is it any good? Der 6. Danach was excellent (apart from the clean vocals, that is), but of course by now completely impossible to find due to the whole Darker Than Black situation.

the winterblut is, uh, interesting. i have to confess, i don't really know anything about their earlier work, but this is odd to say the least. aquarius compared it to both 80s SST records bands (think black flag's "in my head" for simple, skeletal and discordant riffs vaguely influenced by black sabbath) and voivod, which is probably as close as i can get. it's dissonant and strange, and the vocals are awful.

That's quite a surprise, why have Mütiilation left Drakkar? And Vampires of Black Imperial Blood was already rereleased on Drakkar Vinland two years ago, wasn't it? And anyway, < elitist > YOU SHOULD'VE BOUGHT THOSE BLACK LEGIONS ALBUMS WHEN THEY CAME OUT YOU FUCKERS THEY WERE DEAD CHEAP!!11!1! < /elitist >. Anyway, there's lots of rumours about some 2LP bootleg containing all the Mütiilation demos, but I haven't got any info on that.

And regarding the new Graveland, if the Blood Of Heroes 7" is any indication, it should be great as usual. The only problem is that I can already guess what it will sound like...

Yeah, shoulda but didn't, heh. Oh well!
I'm not sure what the real reason for the split with Drakkar is, but there's, as always, lots of sewingclub gossip everywhere; someone at Drakkar felt he was a backstabbing alcoholized bastard etc... Supposedly only went back to Mutiilation because his punk band didn't take off, or somesuch crap.
Ehh, there's a big thread about it here: http://www.nazgulseyrieprod.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=418
What is true and what isn't I don't know... As long as I can get the album, I'm happy (I mean, uhh, grim, hateful and melancholy! Raawr!)
Hopefully I'll get a copy of the new album with my Barbarian Wrath order... dunno if he sold out of it or not before I got my order placed, and I haven't thought of asking Opyros.

Diamatregon's "Blasphemy For Satan"