Written by Hex_Omega on 01.02.2014 at 12:13

Written by bblitz on 01.02.2014 at 12:08

In the progressive metal genre there is no nomination for new Dream Theater???

I am not surprised about that. I am more surprised with the absence of new Ayreon. But I would still vote for new Haken.

This. The new Ayreon is beautifully proggy, whereas the DT album was rather... lacking, to say the least. Personally, I went for Leprous, but I wouldn't mind if Haken won either.

Written by Uldreth on 01.02.2014 at 12:15

Written by Guest on 01.02.2014 at 09:51

Amaranthe - this is a team that should not be taken seriously espesially as a full metal band

Question for MS staff - What is the goal of nomination for this band?
a). purposeful blow on the cheek for fans of real heavy metal music
b). some foul provocation
c). ill-conceived joke

I just do not know how to understand it

What's your problem with Amaranthe?

They aren't metal.
They are pop stars wanna be band for junior high school kids with elements of metal music and they shouldn't be in one box with bands, like The Amenta

Can someone explain the reasoning behind having a Doom AND an Extreme Doom category and a Black Metal and a Melodic Black Metal category

Doom - tradidional doom or epic doom, clean vocals
extreme doom - death metal growls

Thanks loads for nominating our release - Kauan "Pirut"! Very excited to see how things go.

Written by Guest on 01.02.2014 at 13:15


They aren't metal.
They are pop stars wanna be band for junior high school kids with elements of metal music and they shouldn't be in one box with bands, like The Amenta

They are metal. They use metal chords and structures, and distorted guitars.

By this notion we could also disqualify any power metal or female-fronted symphonic metal band. Of course you would not get behind that notion, since your band list features those extensively, but please realize europower metal and female-fronted symphonic metal is about as poppy and metal as Amaranthe.

Written by Sean 79 on 01.02.2014 at 13:17

Can someone explain the reasoning behind having a Doom AND an Extreme Doom category and a Black Metal and a Melodic Black Metal category

Doom and Extreme Doom are very different.

Black and Melodic Black are not that different, but Blackgaze is put there with meloblack, and that is quite different from regular black metal, so there is a place for them.

I would probably also make a separate category for tech death.

Written by Uldreth on 01.02.2014 at 13:23

Written by Guest on 01.02.2014 at 13:15


They aren't metal.
They are pop stars wanna be band for junior high school kids with elements of metal music and they shouldn't be in one box with bands, like The Amenta

(...)
please realize europower metal and female-fronted symphonic metal is about as poppy and metal as Amaranthe.

I will never agree with this.
Listen for example any Mystic Prophecy album and...

...withdraw from your arguments as soon as you can

It was damn hard to choose doom, sorry Pim and Marcel I did not vote for OT
Lets say Avatarium , also HM was Twillight of the Gods
new album Wolfheart - Winterborn

I think those 3 are super more better then others, so I make shore all gets one vote

Written by Guest on 01.02.2014 at 12:53

Written by bblitz on 01.02.2014 at 12:08

In the progressive metal genre there is no nomination for new Dream Theater???

I am not surprised DT was not nominated, but I am for Fates warning having no nomination.

You can do a write-in vote for DT if you loved the album.

Oh,definetly,new Fates Warning is awesome although I prefer older albums
like Awaken the Guardian and Perfect Symmetry...

New Metal Church is good...

Written by Uldreth on 01.02.2014 at 13:28

Doom and Extreme Doom are very different.

Black and Melodic Black are not that different, but Blackgaze is put there with meloblack, and that is quite different from regular black metal, so there is a place for them.

I would probably also make a separate category for tech death.

I've always thought that about tech death, which really has very little in common with old school death for example. To me it has more in common with progressive metal so I'd definitely be in favour of segregating it.

Written by Skyum on 01.02.2014 at 03:23
Where the hell is Abyssal? I'm really surprised that they're not nominated. That was my favourite album from 2013.

Trust me, I'm just as surprised they didn't make the cut as you are... And I'm involved in the nominations. This gives you a little glimpse into the fact that within staff/elites/contributors we have massive debates and few of us end up completely happy. xD Democracy and stuff...

Written by mz on 01.02.2014 at 08:27
I wished we had slugdge and abyssal in death metal category. My vote will go to Ulcerate, though.

Slugdge in death? I don't think so... The name album is a dead give away. xD

Written by Guest on 01.02.2014 at 14:17



I will never agree with this.
Listen for example any Mystic Prophecy album and...

...withdraw from your arguments as soon as you can

Disagree all you wish .

At least Amaranthe has some bite in harsh vocals and some more aggressive chuggity riffs, europower metal is completely lacking any sort of "bite", harshness or aggression in the music, and the endless solo wanking makes it a chore to listen to that does not engage me in any way.

I like female-fronted symphonic metal, at least some dutch bands (Within Temptation, After Forever, Delain, etc.) but those are mainly carried by their vocalists, and I listen to them with the same mindset I listen to pop music.
Amaranthe is absolutely metal if we accept these as metal.

Written by Guest on 01.02.2014 at 15:08


I've always thought that about tech death, which really has very little in common with old school death for example. To me it has more in common with progressive metal so I'd definitely be in favour of segregating it.

Aye, I'd say the leap between OSDM and tech-death is much bigger than between BM and meloBM/blackgaze, and even their fanbase seems to be much more divided.
Plus, then there would also be more numerical balance in the awards, DM seems to be quite underrepresented compared to BM and doom.

Ayreon and Skeletonwitch didnt nominated?!!!

Written by Guest on 01.02.2014 at 00:58

Why is Bolzer is on the Death Metal list and not on Clandestine Cut? Its an EP after all.

EP's can definitely be nominated, Cloak Of Altering's NONE is up in Avant garde, and in 2005 I believe Deathspell Omega actually won out black metal for their Kenose EP

Written by M C Vice on 01.02.2014 at 09:08
Who actually writes the nomination descriptions? I saw one that was clearly Boxcar Willy.

All of us help as much as we can, but definitely some writers have a much more noticeable writing style...

Written by Sean 79 on 01.02.2014 at 13:17

Can someone explain the reasoning behind having a Doom AND an Extreme Doom category and a Black Metal and a Melodic Black Metal category

Because they're all separate things that shouldn't be lumped in with each other. Do Funeralium and The Ruins Of Beverast look proper sitting next to albums from Age Of Taurus and Avatarium? No. Why? Because they have more in common with extreme metal than doom, hence the separate category. The melodic black metal category was a bit of an administrative decision. With all the (undeserving, in my opinion) hype surrounding the Summoning, Deafheaven, and An Autumn For Crippled Children albums, we thought it would be a better idea to move them into their own class than shove them in with more aggressive BM releases and have them completely dwarf the others. Besides, those bands are all more so shoegaze, ambient music, and post rock than they are black metal anyway. As someone on here once joked, they're "black metal for people who don't like black metal."

Written by M C Vice on 01.02.2014 at 09:08
Who actually writes the nomination descriptions? I saw one that was clearly Boxcar Willy.

As you can see, there are a shitload of descriptions to make... So everybody helps! I think I wrote around 15 this year which is just a small fraction compared to the total number! Fortunately we are many

Written by Hex_Omega on 01.02.2014 at 11:59

I don't know why an album can't be nominated in more than 1 category

If you've paid attention, Carpe Noctem, Lantern, Regarde Les Hommes Tomber, and Vallendusk are all nominated both within their separate categories and within Best Debut. Of course, this is the only situation in which bands can be nominated more than once though. Why would you want any album appearing in more than one category and just spamming the shit out of every subgenre? You can say "oh well, this album is both black metal, doom, AND progressive," or something like that, but that's what we have our pleasant little genre debates before the Awards for: to decide which albums that cross multiple genres belong where.

I like the way you say "pleasant", sometimes we outright call each other names!

Nominating bands in multiple categories would give them an unfair advantage. Simple as that.

Written by Uldreth on 01.02.2014 at 12:15

Also no Ovid's Withering?

+1
They're the biggest non-inclusion I've noticed this year. It's currently at a rating of 9.1.
Of the ones which did make the cut, I'm seeing a lot of below-par releases from well known bands (Killswitch, Kvelertak, etc).

Written by Moose on 01.02.2014 at 17:49

+1
They're the biggest non-inclusion I've noticed this year. It's currently at a rating of 9.1.
Of the ones which did make the cut, I'm seeing a lot of below-par releases from well known bands (Killswitch, Kvelertak, etc).

Some of us liked it... some didn't (I didn't). Shit happens.

Written by Auntie Sahar on 01.02.2014 at 17:17

Written by Hex_Omega on 01.02.2014 at 11:59

I don't know why an album can't be nominated in more than 1 category

If you've paid attention, Carpe Noctem, Lantern, Regarde Les Hommes Tomber, and Vallendusk are all nominated both within their separate categories and within Best Debut. Of course, this is the only situation in which bands can be nominated more than once though. Why would you want any album appearing in more than one category and just spamming the shit out of every subgenre? You can say "oh well, this album is both black metal, doom, AND progressive," or something like that, but that's what we have our pleasant little genre debates before the Awards for: to decide which albums that cross multiple genres belong where.

Ok I understand your point of view. Although I still don't know why for example Avatarium is good enough to be nominated in 'Doom Metal' category but not good enough to be nominated as the Best Debut. It seems to me that the answer to this question is rather simple: we have different tastes. But still I miss many good albums in Debut category...

Written by X-Ray Rod on 01.02.2014 at 17:53



Some of us liked it... some didn't (I didn't). Shit happens.

I'm surprised, since you thumbs'd the staff pick and also liked Neverbloom last year...

I was just a bit surprised at its noninclusion since I seem to recall lots of staff members liking it but maybe I remember wrong.

I just think Shining (NOR) belong to Avantgarde. And no Black Sabbath, Sepultura and Almah? Dahell is wrong with you people?

Written by Uldreth on 01.02.2014 at 18:06

Written by X-Ray Rod on 01.02.2014 at 17:53



Some of us liked it... some didn't (I didn't). Shit happens.

I'm surprised, since you thumbs'd the staff pick and also liked Neverbloom last year...

I was just a bit surprised at its noninclusion since I seem to recall lots of staff members liking it but maybe I remember wrong.

Aw fuck I forgot to be more specific, sorry... I just meant that Killswitch release which got nominated (and I didn't like). Of course I like Ovid's Withering.

Hell yeah! Well, I missed out on quite a lot albums last year so I will have to be catching up a bit.