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MS Awards 2017 - Staff Picks!!


Written by: D.T. Metal
Published: 17.03.2018


The annual Metal Storm Awards are a wrap. Maybe some of your top albums won this year, if not; we hope that you at least discovered a couple of new bands among our nominees.

You thought you were alone while arguing that band A should win over Band B in one of the categories? Not so fast, at press time some of us are still baffled how others voted in our internal Staff Pick polls.

But without further ado, here are the 2017 picks compiled by your MS Staff, Elites and Official Contributors.






2017 Metal Storm Staff Picks




Alternative Metal
Lunatic Soul - Fractured

Ambient / Drone / Noise
Boris - Dear

Avantgarde / Experimental Metal
Merkabah (POL) - Million Miles

Black Metal
The Great Old Ones - EOD: A Tale Of Dark Legacy

Death Metal
Venenum - Trance Of Death

Djent / Math Metal
David Maxim Micic - Who Bit The Moon

Doom Metal
Procession - Doom Decimation

Extreme Doom Metal
Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper

Extreme Progressive Metal
Cormorant - Diaspora

Folk / Pagan / Viking Metal
Myrkur - Mareridt

Gothic Metal
Moonspell - 1755

Grindcore
Full Of Hell - Trumpeting Ecstasy

Hard Rock
Jess And The Ancient Ones - The Horse And Other Weird Tales

Hardcore / Metalcore / Deathcore
Body Count - Bloodlust

Heavy / Melodic Metal
Argus - From Fields Of Fire

Industrial / Cyber / Electronic Metal
Godflesh - Post Self

Melodeath / Extreme Power / Gothenburg Metal
Shaarimoth - Temple Of The Adversarial Fire

Melodic Black Metal
Fen - Winter

Post- Metal
Au-Dessus - End Of Chapter

Power Metal
Jag Panzer - The Deviant Chord

Progressive Metal
Pain Of Salvation - In The Passing Light Of Day

Sludge / Stoner Metal
Altar Of Betelgeuze - Among The Ruins

Symphonic Metal
Seven Spires - Solveig

Thrash Metal
Kreator - Gods Of Violence

Debut
Venenum - Trance Of Death





And there you have it; five times did we come up with the same results as you, our awesome and trusted user. If someone has the time to go back and see how our picks over the years compared with yours, please feel free to post your findings.

2018 is already in full swing, so make sure you update your lists and check what the other users compiled as of yet.


The Metal Storm Awards Team







Written on 17.03.2018 by Former boss lady. Now just a professional concertgoer... dangerously armed with a camera!


Comments

Comments: 16   Visited by: 290 users
17.03.2018 - 20:32
cobrapel
Concept One
I bet on Loss for extreme doom, but i lost
Also you should give "Permanent Victors of Black Metal Staff Picks Forever" to The Great Old Ones
For statistics, you normally have 2-5 same choises. Last year up to 9
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17.03.2018 - 22:35
Karlabos
Meat and Potatos
Written by cobrapel on 17.03.2018 at 20:32

I bet on Loss for extreme doom, but i lost

Your Loss!!!

Written by cobrapel on 17.03.2018 at 20:32

Also you should give "Permanent Victors of Black Metal Staff Picks Forever" to The Great Old Ones

You mean it's getting old that they are considered great? That's because they are The Great Old Ones!!!

I hate it when the puns make themselves
----
"Aah! The cat turned into a cat!"
- Reimu Hakurei
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17.03.2018 - 23:15
MetalManic

Glad to see the staff picks list...was it skipped last year? I seem to recall having not been able to find it at the time.
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18.03.2018 - 02:22
nikarg

Written by cobrapel on 17.03.2018 at 20:32

I bet on Loss for extreme doom, but i lost

They should have won. Bell Witch's album was great too though.
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18.03.2018 - 02:28
nikarg

Written by MetalManic on 17.03.2018 at 23:15

Glad to see the staff picks list...was it skipped last year? I seem to recall having not been able to find it at the time.

Have a look here.
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18.03.2018 - 11:48
cobrapel
Concept One
Written by Karlabos on 17.03.2018 at 22:35

Written by cobrapel on 17.03.2018 at 20:32

I bet on Loss for extreme doom, but i lost

Your Loss!!!

Written by cobrapel on 17.03.2018 at 20:32

Also you should give "Permanent Victors of Black Metal Staff Picks Forever" to The Great Old Ones

You mean it's getting old that they are considered great? That's because they are The Great Old Ones!!!

I hate it when the puns make themselves


Stop drink
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19.03.2018 - 15:01
WorpeX
Made of Metal
Yeesh. Most years I like the Staff picks better than the MS Picks, but not this year!
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19.03.2018 - 19:09
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
Written by WorpeX on 19.03.2018 at 15:01

Yeesh. Most years I like the Staff picks better than the MS Picks, but not this year!

Ok, which ones did we get wrong
----
Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
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19.03.2018 - 19:14
BloodTears
ANA-thema
I disagree with some of these too ahah

The right choices: Boris, Pain Of Salvation, Fen, Godflesh, Jess And The Ancient Ones, Moonspell.

Amenra should've won in post (even though Au-Dessus are great) and Bent Knee in avant but people don't listen to me
----
Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29

Like you could kiss my ass.


My Instagram
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20.03.2018 - 03:37
WorpeX
Made of Metal
Written by RaduP on 19.03.2018 at 19:09

Written by WorpeX on 19.03.2018 at 15:01

Yeesh. Most years I like the Staff picks better than the MS Picks, but not this year!

Ok, which ones did we get wrong


Well its obviously personal opinion! I think MS got the Melo-death, Power Metal and Hardcore albums right specifically. I thought Shaarimoth released a really poor album and Jag Panzer always sounds super generic to me. Body Count is imo, the worst metal band in the scene.
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20.03.2018 - 11:29
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by WorpeX on 20.03.2018 at 03:37



Well its obviously personal opinion! I think MS got the Melo-death, Power Metal and Hardcore albums right specifically. I thought Shaarimoth released a really poor album and Jag Panzer always sounds super generic to me. Body Count is imo, the worst metal band in the scene.


Shaarimoth released a great album but has nothing to do with melodeath, so it shouldn't have been in that category. How it ended up in there, no frigging idea. About Jag Panzer, yeah they are quite generic, but then again which power metal band isn't? I would say it was the best album in that category. As for Body Count... they are awesome. Their debut was briljant, Born Dead was good. Violent Demise was quite iffy as was Murder 4 Hire, Manslaughter was good again as was Bloodlust.
But of course that is my personal opinion.
----
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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20.03.2018 - 12:41
WorpeX
Made of Metal
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 20.03.2018 at 11:29

Written by WorpeX on 20.03.2018 at 03:37



Well its obviously personal opinion! I think MS got the Melo-death, Power Metal and Hardcore albums right specifically. I thought Shaarimoth released a really poor album and Jag Panzer always sounds super generic to me. Body Count is imo, the worst metal band in the scene.


Shaarimoth released a great album but has nothing to do with melodeath, so it shouldn't have been in that category. How it ended up in there, no frigging idea. About Jag Panzer, yeah they are quite generic, but then again which power metal band isn't? I would say it was the best album in that category. As for Body Count... they are awesome. Their debut was briljant, Born Dead was good. Violent Demise was quite iffy as was Murder 4 Hire, Manslaughter was good again as was Bloodlust.
But of course that is my personal opinion.


Thats probably why I didn't enjoy the Shaarimoth all that much. I agree. I also felt the same way about Novembers Doom... that was not a melodeath record. It could have been a strong contender in the Doom category if it was placed there!

Power Metal lately does sound pretty generic but I thought the new Iced Earth record was really fresh sounding! Was a great return to form for them.
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20.03.2018 - 12:54
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by WorpeX on 20.03.2018 at 12:41


Thats probably why I didn't enjoy the Shaarimoth all that much. I agree. I also felt the same way about Novembers Doom... that was not a melodeath record. It could have been a strong contender in the Doom category if it was placed there!




Except that Novembers Doom haven't played doom for quite some time and are way more melodeath than doom.
----
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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20.03.2018 - 14:34
WorpeX
Made of Metal
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 20.03.2018 at 12:54

Written by WorpeX on 20.03.2018 at 12:41


Thats probably why I didn't enjoy the Shaarimoth all that much. I agree. I also felt the same way about Novembers Doom... that was not a melodeath record. It could have been a strong contender in the Doom category if it was placed there!




Except that Novembers Doom haven't played doom for quite some time and are way more melodeath than doom.


That I don't agree with! Hamartia is very similar to a Swallow The Sun record. Definitely has Melodeath moments and has some growls but its still distinctly Doom metal at its core. If StS releases a record, it always gets placed into the Doom Category for MS Awards. Plague Bird, Ghost, Ever After, Hamartia, Miasma, Waves in the Red Cloth and Borderline are all slow-mid paced, clean sung Doom songs... and thats more than half the album! I'll give you Devil's Light though. Great track that one but one pure melodeath song doesn't make a record melodeath! Apostasy and Zephyr are a cool mix of death/doom.
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20.03.2018 - 18:21
BitterCOld
The Ancient One
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 20.03.2018 at 11:29


As for Body Count... they are awesome. Their debut was briljant, Born Dead was good. Violent Demise was quite iffy as was Murder 4 Hire, Manslaughter was good again as was Bloodlust.
But of course that is my personal opinion.


Been an Ice-T fan since '89 when a rap-loving friend popped "Freedom of Speech" in the tape deck while driving around and it opened with a Jello Biafra piece, "Shut up, be happy" set to the primary riff from Black Sabbath. Loved the showing of cross-genre inspiration.

Their debut was like a drunk dude walking the DUI trap for me, swerving between awesome and mediocre. Some great bits coupled with, in an album which very clearly stated (repeatedly) African Americans can rock, too, shows they also embrace the worst trappings of the music. Take "There Goes The Neighborhood"... has that awesome, ominous lead-in riff which reoccurs, great headbanging main riff, and awesome bridge bit. Then you have about 3 minutes of bullshit, solos, and crap that drags the song down before it ends in a bang. The video version, if I recall, was trimmed and thus much better. Song was representative of the album to an extent. Lots of Killer, but lots of Filler.

Didn't bother with them again for a long time as was just happy blaring the same few tracks.

Over the years seems they got a lot better at editing, cutting the unneeded fluff. Bloodlust is great, fully deserving winner.
----
get the fuck off my lawn.

Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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31.03.2018 - 19:38
tea[m]ster
Au Pays Natal
The staff done good....
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rekt
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