Elbow: Cast of Thousands (released 18 August 2003)

01 Ribcage (6:27)
02 Fallen Angel (4:07)
03 Fugitive Motel (5:51)
04 Snooks (Progress Report) 4:00
05 Switching Off (5:05)
06 Not a Job (4:23)
07 I've Got Your Number (4:48)
08 Buttons and Zips (3:57)
09 Crawling with Idiot (4:41)
10 Grace Under Pressure (4:57)
11 Flying Dream 143 (1:48)

Elbow are an English rock band formed (initially under a different name) in Bury, Greater Manchester, in 1990. The band consists of Guy Garvey (lead vocals, guitar), Craig Potter (keyboard, piano, backing vocals), Mark Potter (guitar, backing vocals) and Pete Turner (bass guitar, backing vocals). They have played together since 1990, adopting the name Elbow in 1997. Drummer Alex Reeves replaced Richard Jupp in 2016 as a touring and session musician at first, before becoming a full member in 2024.

After winning a local Battle of the Bands, the band signed with Island Records and recorded their first album with producer Steve Osborne at Real World Studios. However, Island sold out to major label Universal. The band was dropped in a mass cull and the album was not released. Elbow's debut album Asleep in the Back was released in May 2001 on V2 Records. The album was written over the course of six years, and contains six rerecorded tracks from the Real World Studios sessions. Asleep in the Back was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize and earned the band a BRIT Award nomination for Best New British Band.

Elbow's musical style has been described as alternative rock, indie rock, indie pop, Britpop, art rock, progressive rock, dream pop, post-rock, and post-Britpop. Elbow have cited a number of influences on their music, including Genesis (in particular the progressive rock years featuring Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett), Talk Talk and Radiohead. Guy Garvey has said: "I grew up listening to every Genesis record. I learned to write harmonies by listening to Peter Gabriel." The song "Newborn" from Elbow's debut album was directly influenced by "Entangled" from the Genesis album A Trick of the Tail. Garvey has also said "there'd be no Elbow without Radiohead". He credits the band's sense of dynamics to the influence of Talk Talk and has said: "Volume dynamics are an essential part of classical music, but a lost art with guitar music. I think it's incredibly boring and shortsighted if a band sticks with just one sound song for song. An album should take people on a journey."

The band's second album Cast of Thousands was released in August 2003. The title of the album is a reference to their performance at the 2002 Glastonbury Festival, where they recorded the audience singing, "We still believe in love, so fuck you". The recording is featured on the song "Grace Under Pressure". Cast of Thousands received critical acclaim upon release. On Metacritic, the album has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100 based on 23 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

RIbcage

"We blew the doors didn't we?
Pissed in their champagne
And did a real thing, didn't we?
Gave ourselves a name
And peeled away the shame

I wanted to explode, to pull my ribs apart
and let the sun inside..."

Elbow: Ribcage
Words

Opeth: Damnation (released 22 April 2003

01 Windowpane (7:44)
02 In My Time of Need (5:46)
03 Death Whispered a Lullaby (5:49)
04 Closure (5:15)
05 Hope Leaves (4:27)
06 To Rid the Disease (6:18)
07 Ending Credits (3:36)
08 Weakness (4:08)

Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. The band incorporates folk, blues, classical, and jazz elements into its usually lengthy compositions, as well as strong influences from death metal, especially in their early works. Songs may include acoustic guitar passages, Mellotrons, death growls, and strong dynamic shifts.

The group have been through several personnel changes since early in their history, including the replacement of every original member. Lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt has been Opeth's driving force since the departure of founder and lead vocalist David Isberg in 1992.

Damnation is the seventh studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Opeth. It was released on 22 April 2003, five months after Deliverance, which was recorded at the same time. Damnation is the last Opeth album to date to be produced by Steven Wilson. The album was a radical departure from Opeth's typical death metal sound, and the first Opeth album to use all clean vocals, clean guitars, and prominent Mellotron, as well as being inspired by 1970s progressive rock, particularly the work of the British band Camel, which typically features no heavy riffs or extended fast tempos. Despite the change in style from Opeth's previous albums, Damnation was critically acclaimed and boosted their popularity, leading to the release of Lamentations on DVD in late 2003.

In a rave review for Sputnikmusic, Mike Stagno wrote that Damnation is a progressive rock album that departs entirely from the extreme metal elements of Opeth's previous work, and stands as one of the best albums released in recent years. Ned Raggett of Pitchfork Media also felt that it succeeds without Opeth's previous death metal style, and showcases each band member's technical abilities on what is "the most surprising and entertaining album" in Opeth's discography.

In 2014, TeamRock put Damnation at number 91 on their "Top 100 Greatest Prog Albums of All Time" list commenting: "the first Opeth album to abandon metal entirely, Damnation trumped its heavier sibling Deliverance by bringing Mikael Åkerfeldt’s masterful songwriting to the fore".

Loudwire listed Damnation as the second best album of 2003. Mike Portnoy, drummer for Dream Theater, put the album on his list of best albums of 2003.

Death Whispered a Lullaby

"Sleep, my child.
Speak to me now and the world will crumble
Open a door and the moon will fall
All of your life. all your memories
Go to your dreams, forget it all
Oh, sleep my child..."

Opeth: Death Whispered a Lullaby
Words