Metal Storm Awards 2015 - Results Are Up!
The voting is closed, the votes are counted, the results are up.
Friends, Romans, countrymen: pencils down. You came, you saw, you voted, and now the die is cast - behold them, the conquerors of the [ed: wait, what? We're still doing the Star Wars theme? Hang on.] Gands, Devaronians, Calamarians: turn off your datapads. Another edition of the Metal Storm Awards has come and gone, like only so many nomadic Alwari. Observe the results; have your prophecies been fulfilled?
While 2014's Awards shook up the competition with some fresh and unexpected victors, in the case of 2015, like any good Death Star, you could sense the results from lightyears away - as if millions of voices suddenly cried out and immediately voted only for the bands they recognized. In many of these categories, the winner was the only nominee to break a hundred votes, and then often by a margin more expansive than the Rakatan Infinite Empire. The only category with a reasonably close competition was Power, in which Blind Guardian and Symphony X traded places more times than Darth Vader has had to replace his right hand; otherwise, nobody managed to bring balance to the votes. Enslaved, Paradise Lost, Ghost, Ensiferum, Lamb Of God - just about every field got swept. It might be about time to present Amorphis with a Lifetime Achievement Award and excuse them from future competitions.
Nightwish ran through the Symphonic category like a fleet of World Devastators, snatching victory from the jaws of... well, completely foreseeable victory, as they pulled away with more than ten times as many votes as the runner-up. Interestingly, Nightwish also comfortably secured the dubious distinction of Biggest Letdown, crushing other reputable acts like Iron Maiden, Slayer, and The Avengers II: Age of Ultron (whose nomination we're pretty sure was Joss Whedon's first-ever on this or any metal site). While two of our users seem to have declared ar'krai against that film, another took it upon themselves to defend Robert Downey, Jr.'s honor by nominating him for Best Power Metal Album.
Biggest Surprise went to Swallow The Sun and their three-disc, multi-genre epic Songs From The North I, II & III (and not to Michael Kiske on account of "how much he looks like a potato now"). Metal Storm itself received four separate nominations for Biggest Drama. It means a lot to us, guys, but we have to hand it to Immortal - not since the Max Rebo Band nearly became sarlacc food has a band died such an undignified death, only to be resurrected after some faffing about technicalities. The Blizzard Beasts even topped Wintersun (nominated again; might be Time II give up on that one, folks). On a lighter note, we at Metal Storm Towers heeded your requests, and this year we reintroduced the Best Album Artwork category, which generated a lot of attention.
Win or lose, we maintain our philosophy that the Metal Storm Awards are about the music, and not about who gets our lovely, prestigious trophies. If you're feeling disenfranchised about the results (which were more thoroughly predictable than The Force Awakens), just remember that the nominees are all still down there, still available to be uncovered by potential fans.
But enough talk; go check out the results!
Friends, Romans, countrymen: pencils down. You came, you saw, you voted, and now the die is cast - behold them, the conquerors of the [ed: wait, what? We're still doing the Star Wars theme? Hang on.] Gands, Devaronians, Calamarians: turn off your datapads. Another edition of the Metal Storm Awards has come and gone, like only so many nomadic Alwari. Observe the results; have your prophecies been fulfilled?
While 2014's Awards shook up the competition with some fresh and unexpected victors, in the case of 2015, like any good Death Star, you could sense the results from lightyears away - as if millions of voices suddenly cried out and immediately voted only for the bands they recognized. In many of these categories, the winner was the only nominee to break a hundred votes, and then often by a margin more expansive than the Rakatan Infinite Empire. The only category with a reasonably close competition was Power, in which Blind Guardian and Symphony X traded places more times than Darth Vader has had to replace his right hand; otherwise, nobody managed to bring balance to the votes. Enslaved, Paradise Lost, Ghost, Ensiferum, Lamb Of God - just about every field got swept. It might be about time to present Amorphis with a Lifetime Achievement Award and excuse them from future competitions.
Nightwish ran through the Symphonic category like a fleet of World Devastators, snatching victory from the jaws of... well, completely foreseeable victory, as they pulled away with more than ten times as many votes as the runner-up. Interestingly, Nightwish also comfortably secured the dubious distinction of Biggest Letdown, crushing other reputable acts like Iron Maiden, Slayer, and The Avengers II: Age of Ultron (whose nomination we're pretty sure was Joss Whedon's first-ever on this or any metal site). While two of our users seem to have declared ar'krai against that film, another took it upon themselves to defend Robert Downey, Jr.'s honor by nominating him for Best Power Metal Album.
Biggest Surprise went to Swallow The Sun and their three-disc, multi-genre epic Songs From The North I, II & III (and not to Michael Kiske on account of "how much he looks like a potato now"). Metal Storm itself received four separate nominations for Biggest Drama. It means a lot to us, guys, but we have to hand it to Immortal - not since the Max Rebo Band nearly became sarlacc food has a band died such an undignified death, only to be resurrected after some faffing about technicalities. The Blizzard Beasts even topped Wintersun (nominated again; might be Time II give up on that one, folks). On a lighter note, we at Metal Storm Towers heeded your requests, and this year we reintroduced the Best Album Artwork category, which generated a lot of attention.
Win or lose, we maintain our philosophy that the Metal Storm Awards are about the music, and not about who gets our lovely, prestigious trophies. If you're feeling disenfranchised about the results (which were more thoroughly predictable than The Force Awakens), just remember that the nominees are all still down there, still available to be uncovered by potential fans.
But enough talk; go check out the results!
| metalstorm.net |
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| tea[m]ster Au Pays Natal Contributor Posts: 5256  |
Written by [user id=4365] on 01.03.2016 at 23:16 Well wtf, I honestly thought no one in their right minds would know who Judd Madden is. Impressive, most impressive. 
---- rekt
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted Written by tea[m]ster on 01.03.2016 at 23:23 Yeah... never heard of him / her. I cheated really =P
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| Karlabos Meat and Potatos Posts: 5658  |
Written by [user id=4365] on 01.03.2016 at 23:16 I am conflicted
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
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| Doge of Venice Posts: 438  |
Written by Druss on 01.03.2016 at 01:42 Well, if it blew it blew infinitely less than the new Iron Maiden. Still surprised it managed to beat Book of Souls, though.
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| Overrwatcher Posts: 309  |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 01.03.2016 at 07:44 I love the -core genres as well, but you can't deny that most of the bands are either completely faceless or have one gimmick to set them apart. 2015 was a great year for deathcore. Thy Art Is Murder, Black Tongue, AngelMaker, Make Them Suffer, and Aversions Crown all put out great albums this year. Even Iwrestledabearonce, a band that I was one of the first to hop on the hate train for, surprised me immensely. But those are some of the few bands that make it not a gimmick but a legitimate part of their sound. For every one of those bands, you have an Oceano, Born of Osiris (as much as it pains me to put them here, The Discovery was their last notable album), or Winds of Plague who make completely forgettable chugfest releases, and anything unique about them is obviously shoehorned in. Metalcore this year was weak. August Burns Red's album was generic as fuck. It was solid, but from a band who previously released Rescue and Restore, I was expecting far more. And that was considered the "metalcore album of the year" by many. And I don't really explore post-hardcore so I'm not going to attempt to sound like I know what I'm talking about.
---- Overr's List Of Worthwhile Deathcore Albums Written by Dr. Strawberry on 12.06.2016 at 19:43
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted Written by [user id=142921] on 02.03.2016 at 01:53 That's no moon... 
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| Overrwatcher Posts: 309 |
What I voted for album art of the year:  Can't deny that it's daring as hell, while getting their message across. The art isn't as gorgeous as others (seriously, you guys have posted some real good covers), but really it's like the album itself: style over substance, but they nail the style down so well that it makes up for the lack of substance. But art is very subjective. I'm still wondering who the hell would vote for Moonspell, but if they like it, power to them I say.
---- Overr's List Of Worthwhile Deathcore Albums Written by Dr. Strawberry on 12.06.2016 at 19:43
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| Maco Pvt Funderground Posts: 3593  |
My vote for best cover: 
---- Crackhead Megadeth reigns supreme.
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| The Melting Snow Posts: 621  |
I voted for 15 bands. 12 of the 15 ended up winning in their categories. I understand music.
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| BloodTears ANA-thema Elite Posts: 11835  |
I'm also surprised Leprous won in prog. I thought SW would win easily. Also, bummed Intronaut didn't win ;/ Overall, only three of my votes matched the winners, as per usual lol
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| Koen Smits Posts: 1331  |
Written by [user id=20536] on 01.03.2016 at 00:44 2016? 
---- RIP: Frank Vandenbroucke (6 nov 1974 - 12 oct 2009) Written by Bad English on 05.04.2014 at 15:05 but spoil thius film is like spoil porn and say porn ends whit cum shot ...
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| Koen Smits Posts: 1331 |
That Mgla album is so overrated. It's not bad at all, but to win Black metal? Naaah! Hyped from the beginning. No surprises in the results: most popular bands won their category. Napalm Death not winning grindcore with their best album in years, but Cattle Decapitation has a big fanbase at MS to.
---- RIP: Frank Vandenbroucke (6 nov 1974 - 12 oct 2009) Written by Bad English on 05.04.2014 at 15:05 but spoil thius film is like spoil porn and say porn ends whit cum shot ...
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| Lethrokai Posts: 507  |
Written by Diverge on 01.03.2016 at 16:47 I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about prog and prog metal (I mean, I've run a prog-focused page on FB for the last two years, written countless prog reviews and helped shine light on numerous up-and-coming bands) and I still voted for Leprous because, in all honesty, I preferred Leprous (shocker!). I feel like, as solidly as Quiet World was handled, The Congregation was more original, focused and better written. That's not to say I disliked Quiet World (quite the opposite in fact, I voted for it as "Best Debut") but that I merely preferred another. And hey, that's just my opinion, but apparently I'm meant to feel ashamed for this preference because I clearly don't know what I'm talking about. Besides, getting upset over results like this really isn't worth it. If I gave a crap for every time my preferred picks weren't selected in polls or AOTY lists, I'd have died by now of a stroke from high blood pressure.
---- Sometimes you just need to roll the dice and look away.
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Written by The Melting Snow on 02.03.2016 at 10:06 You forgot to put [/sarcasm] after "I understand music."
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18309  |
Written by Overrwatcher on 02.03.2016 at 02:17 Ah, I gotcha. I guess we have different perceptions because I tend to focus on -core bands with influences from crust (Like Anopheli), sludge (Cowards), post-hardcore (crowns & thieves, and last year's Fjørt) and even some crazy tech/grind hybrids stuff like Frontierer. On the other hand I don't know a lot of the more deathcore and metalcore acts... Athough Thy Art Is Murder and Black Tongue were pretty damn good even if I didn't vote for either one of them. 
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| woodsmoke666 Posts: 71 |
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| Alakazam spendin' cheese Posts: 1218  |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 01.03.2016 at 16:43 I immediately thought of Mega Alakazam when I saw that.
---- I may not have the largest collection but I certainly have the absolute best 
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161  |
I came to collect people's favourite artworks of the year. Keep them coming. I have an ever-growing folder with tonnes of them and I'd like it to keep that way.
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| Maco Pvt Funderground Posts: 3593 |
Written by woodsmoke666 on 02.03.2016 at 23:37 The staff doesn't give a damn about the ratings, they pick what's better according to them.
---- Crackhead Megadeth reigns supreme.
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| M C Vice ex-polydactyl Posts: 3368  |
Written by woodsmoke666 on 02.03.2016 at 23:37 The high ratings could be from the albums being amongst the best from the member's opinions, but not consistently THE best. They might be album 2 or 3 for most people, so while they score highly in ratings, they miss out on the awards votes because they're not the number 1 for those people.
---- "Another day, another Doug." "I'll fight you on one condition. That you lower your nipples." " 'Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!"
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| Kamil Account deleted |
Kamil
Account deleted Written by FYA on 01.03.2016 at 18:26 Wtf? There is simply no real alternative for mighty Fear Factory in industiral / cyber category  Btw. I remember, that "Industrialist" even wasn' t on an official list last time
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Staff Posts: 8707  |
Written by [user id=29268] on 03.03.2016 at 08:37 You should have noticed Death Grips' "The Powers That B" in the write-ins.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| woodsmoke666 Posts: 71 |
Quote:Written by Maco on 03.03.2016 at 02:25 Then why bother giving ms users the option of voting at all if they just dictate the nominees? Common sense would have each category made up of top rated plus a few staff picks of some gems we may have overlooked. 
---- tokoloshe
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| Uldreth Posts: 1150 |
Written by woodsmoke666 on 03.03.2016 at 23:15 Because the voting scheme and the MS awards scheme are disjunct entities. Frankly it would be pointless to make the top voted stuff nominees, since those suck dick most of the time anyways. This whole awards bs isn't about which album is the best anyways (but often does hit that mark quite well), but to give publicity to great underground stuff. Despite the fact that such albums do get nominated occasionally, since staffers also like them at times, why the hell would you want polls comprised of solely the newest Iron Maiden/Nightwish/Insomnium/Amon Amarth etc. albums. You already know those anyways, and most of the time they are just lacking on every front, yet people upvote them always.
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| Karlabos Meat and Potatos Posts: 5658 |
Plus, what would be the point of nominating the most voted, since you can always check the most voted albums on the top chart anyway...
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
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| woodsmoke666 Posts: 71 |
Quote:Written by Uldreth on 03.03.2016 at 23:28 Your statement makes no sense, so the staff exclude some of the best rated albums voted by the the rest of the ms community because they think it sucks dick. They then include underground stuff most haven't heard and will not vote for so they are not going to win anyway? If you read my comment properly I acknowledge the underground stuff should be included too for us to investigate. What I don't agree with is staff excluding top rated bands just because they don't rate them. Let's agree to disagree
---- tokoloshe
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| CoolNameGuy91 Posts: 24  |
Written by Alakazam on 02.03.2016 at 23:45 You're a quality human being
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18309 |
Written by Ilham on 03.03.2016 at 00:23 What do you do with them? D: You sick fuck.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| mz Posts: 4774  |
One of my favorite covers of the year: 
---- Giving my ears a rest from music.
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Can't say I see any gimmicks in the bands that were nominated this year (or the previous for that matter). Since the last couple of years that hardcore has increasingly become one of my favorite categories as it's one of the more varied andoriginal ones of the lot.
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