2003
2. Razed In Black - Damaged
3. Namnambulu - Distances
4. Virgin Black - Elegant... And Dying
5. Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me
6. Fischerspooner - #1
7. Epsilon Minus - Mark II
8. Gridlock - Formless
9. Zeraphine - Traumaworld
10. Droom - 128 1/2 Days
The best year for darktronica music in recent memory. Any of 2003's top five could have won Best Album of the Year for 2004 or 2005, and another five to ten albums came out that would have been Top 10 material in a normal year but simply couldn't squeeze past the competition onto the 2003 list. If only every year could be this hard to judge!
To give a sense of what else I was listening to in 2003, my non-darktronica favorites for the year were Opeth's Damnation, Aesop Rock's Bazooka Tooth, Mary Star Of The Sea from Billy Corgan's short-lived side project Zwan, Boy In Da Corner from Dizzee Rascal, and Absolution by Muse.
