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Metal Storm Awards 2007


 
The MS Awards are now into their fourth year, and every year they seem to get better! This year featured some rather standout runaway winners (such as Behemoth, Symphony X), but also some extremely close battles. In the Grindcore category, we saw Pig Destroyer and Cephalic Carnage go neck and neck most of the way. It was only in the last few days that Pig Destroyer pulled away a little and could start breathing again!

But the best tussle was in the Power Metal category. There we saw the closest result in Metal Storm history! Only one vote separated Nightwish's Dark Passion Play album and Kamelot's Ghost Opera, with the latter taking the gold. For the whole week leading up to the end it was even, Nightwish by two, then four, then Kamelot pegged them back a few votes. It was exciting stuff even if you weren't such a keen Power Metal fan! All of you out there that voted for Kamelot can think to yourselves "wow, it would've been a draw if it wasn't for my vote!". The results Nightwish came home with though were extremely interesting. Almost winning the Power Metal category, and winning the Biggest Surprise and Biggest Letdown. It seems fans were quite divided on this one!

Other interesting results were in the Folk/Viking Metal category where Korpiklaani's stranglehold on the category came to an end. The band took out the 2006 and 2005 awards, but this year were bettered by Ensiferum (the winner), Arkona, Turisas, Moonsorrow and Primordial. It seems Korpiklaani weren't quite strong enough this year! (Although it must be said it was a pretty strong year for Folk/Viking Metal!) The just mentioned Arkona were quite a surprise too. This small six year old Russian band did well for itself considering its opposition!

Winners from this year such as Dark Tranquillity, Paradise Lost, Candlemass and Kamelot are all past winners as well, so it shows that each of these bands aren't just releasing good albums as a once-off! The results for Dimmu Borgir, Machine Head, Dream Theater and Nile also prove that you, the voters, can still be objective about casting your votes. None of these bands were nominated in their respective genre, as they all let us down somehow, and the votes reflect this decision was a wise one. They all received no more than a handfull of votes, let's hope they take this message seriously, and come back with better stuff next time!

It should also be noted that we received more votes than ever. A few categories even managed to break through the 1,000 votes barrier. A nice reward for those that worked their asses off for these Awards. We hope to increase the amount of votes again next year.



The Best Alternative Metal Album



The Best Atmospheric/Symphonic Metal Album



The Best Avantgarde Metal Album



The Best Black Metal Album



The Best Death Metal Album



The Best Doom Metal Album



The Best Extreme Doom Metal Album

1. Evoken - A Caress Of The Void 85
2. Colosseum - Chapter 1: Delirium 45
3. Worship - Dooom 29
4. Deinonychus - Warfare Machines 22
5. Abyssmal Sorrow - Abyssmal Sorrow 20
6. Wijlen Wij - Wijlen Wij 18
7. Night Must Fall - Dissonance Of Thought 16
  Longing For Dawn - A Treacherous Ascension 16
  Funeralium - Funeralium 16


The Best Folk/Pagan/Viking Metal Album



The Best Gothic Metal Album



The Best Grindcore Album

1. Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb 122
2. Cephalic Carnage - Xenosapien 105
3. The Berzerker - Animosity 64
4. Leng Tch'e - Marasmus 29
5. Inhume - Chaos Dissection Order 27
6. Antigama - Resonance 15
  Total Fucking Destruction - Zen And The Art Of Total Fucking Destruction 15
8. Inferia - Fucking Is A Great Way To Get To Know New People 10


The Best Heavy Metal Album



The Best Industrial Metal Album



The Best Melodeath/Gothenburg Album



The Best Metalcore Album



The Best Post-Metal Album

1. Neurosis - Given To The Rising 99
2. Pelican - City Of Echoes 74
3. The Ocean - Precambrian 56
4. Zatokrev - Bury The Ashes 34
5. Jesu - Conqueror 33
6. Omega Massif - Geisterstadt 22
7. Minsk - The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment 14
  Rosetta - Wake / Lift 14
9. Crippled Black Phoenix - A Love Of Shared Disasters 13


The Best Power Metal Album



The Best Progressive Metal Album



The Best Stoner/Sludge Metal Album

1. Down - Down III: Over The Under 131
2. High On Fire - Death Is This Communion 68
3. Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today 55
4. Monster Magnet - 4-Way Diablo 26
5. Bongripper - Hippie Killer 21
  Witchcraft - The Alchemist 21
7. Fu Manchu - We Must Obey 20
8. Om - Pilgrimage 16
9. Orange Goblin - Healing Through Fire 15
10. Heavy Lord - Chained To The World 14


The Best Thrash Metal Album



The Best Cover Song

1. Turisas - Rasputin (Boney M) 150
2. Ensiferum - Lady In Black (Uriah Heep) 132
3. Apocalyptica - Helden (David Bowie, 'Heroes') 82
4. Graveworm - I Need A Hero (Bonnie Tyler) 74
5. Avantasia - Lay All Your Love On Me (ABBA) 71
6. Raintime - Beat It (Michael Jackson) 55
7. Ministry - Roadhouse Blues (The Doors) 48
8. Northern Kings - We Don't Need Another Hero (Tina Turner) 41
9. Metalium - Show Must Go On (Queen) 25
10. Axel Rudi Pell - Beautiful Day (U2 cover) 16


The Best Debut Album

1. Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde 113
2. Ride The Sky - New Protection 69
3. SpellBlast - Horns Of Silence 24
4. Funeralium - Funeralium 21
5. Essence Of Sorrow - Reflections Of The Obscure 18
6. Pathosray - Pathosray 14
  C-187 - Collision 14
8. Abyssmal Sorrow - Lament 13
  Sanctity - Road To Bloodshed 13
  Wijlen Wij - Wijlen Wij 13


The Best DVD



The Best Video

1. Kamelot - Ghost Opera 117
2. Nightwish - Amaranth 98
3. Symphony X - Serpent's Kiss 77
4. Serj Tankian - Empty Walls 72
5. Swallow The Sun - Don't Fall Asleep 62
6. Turisas - Rasputin 60
7. Epica - Never Enough 42
8. Manowar - Die For Metal 33
9. After Forever - Energize Me 27
10. Avantasia - Lost In Space 26


The Biggest Letdown



The Biggest Surprise

1. Nightwish - Dark Passion Play 30
2. Dethklok - The Dethalbum 16
3. Machine Head - The Blackening 15
4. Ensiferum - Victory Songs 12
5. Symphony X - Paradise Lost 11
  Tarja - My Winter Storm 11


The Best Drama

Quarrels in the Black Metal neighbourhood are no longer solved with some old fashioned killing or scratching each other's eyes out with an evil and dark long fingernail like in the good ol' days, but they are now fought in legal disputes. Even the devil has an advocate, right?

It more or less all began when Gaahl got released from jail (in what kind of krieg world are we living if you can't even threaten to drink one's blood anymore?) and started fighting with Infernus over the future of the band. On a dark Sunday night in October, Gaahl and King Ov Hell sent a text message through Satan's Message Service to Infernus saying his pale corpsepainted ass was kicked out of the band. Although it is King who is full-time employed as a primary school teacher, it was Regain Records who entered the stage as intervener between the cry-babies and sided with Infernus. In a statement, the label recognized Infernus as the rightful owner of the band's name, logo and trademark, and is prepared to take any legal steps necessary to prevent any third party from exploiting it, artistically and commercially.

Gaahl and King then racked their brains and started thinking for a new kvlt name. Ingenious and creative as they are, they temporarily renamed to "The Dark Power Of The Force Of Gorgoroth Of Steel", in short "The Force Gorgoroth". But thank God for Gaahl and King, another force joined their dark legion, namely the frostbitten Norwegian authorities themselves. The Norwegian patent office decided Gaahl and King could retain the rightful ownership and use of the name and logo, now and in the future. They also decided any third parties who use the name Gorgoroth will be met with legal prosecution, and probably with a badly produced several-hour torture session by Gaahl on top.

Infernus shook his spiked fist angrily and is now hatching a revengeful plan in his grim underground lair. Furthermore, he already promised for saTan himself that he will be coming back (muhahaha!) and is planning to appeal the decision, something he's pretty good at so it seems. In the meantime, poor JRR Tolkien must be turning in his grave, while we from the staff already start burning down our houses and inversely crucify each other on beforehand for writing such blasphemy.