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Metal Storm Awards 2013


 
So this, the 10th Annual Metal Storm Awards, have come to pass.

The awards have continued to grow, with numerous categories surpassing 1000 votes cast, despite a lack of big name clout. For point of comparison, Therion was the biggest vote getter in our first ever awards, racking up 191 for Lemuria. In 2014 they barely would have cracked the Top 25. And that is only if Kvelertak doesn't score two more votes as I type this during the waning hours of the month. That is some growth.

While in general this lack of big names in many genres lead to some closer contests, as with each of the prior 9 editions, we also had the typical big name beat downs. Carcass racked up nearly 600 votes, nearly half cast in the Death Metal field. TesseracT also pulled nearly half the votes in Djent, thumping their competitors. Ever popular Amorphis exorcised Ghost B.C. by over 200 votes, and garnering a third of the vote in a busy Heavy/Melodic metal.

Conversely Orphaned Land won a relatively tight 20 vote victory over Finntroll in a strong Folk / Pagan / Viking cast, and Amaranthe for eeking out a "count the difference on your fingers" victory over Shining in Industrial/Cyber Metal. Congrats and hails to Gloryhammer for winning Best Debut.

Best Clandestine Cut was the newest, bestest, tightest race ever. How tight? Try a tie. Our first tie ever. Deception was winning by a paltry two votes over Pin-Up Went Down as I wrote this up with about an hour before voting closed and went down to the wire as a tie with 20 minutes to go. This has left me furiously typing and updating this piece so it's accurate. Maybe we can find the brick who voted for My Dying Bride to break the tie?

Earlier this year your humble narrator didn't have great things to say about the latest Megadeth? Looks like the Metal Storm masses found it equally limp, Burn!ing it with Biggest Letdown, with more than double the write-ins of second place "winner" Turisas.

And much to my surprise, Black Sabbath took Biggest Surprise for making an album that wasn't even remotely surprising. Not sure what y'all were expecting from them? Grind Zydeco? Death Doom Himalayan Throat Singing?

So 10 up, 10 down. Congratulations to our winners. But more importantly, congratulations to those fans who found new bands, and those bands who found new fans.\m/

(Make sure you discuss the results on the news thread, here.)



The Best Alternative Metal Album



The Best Avantgarde / Experimental Metal



The Best Black Metal Album



The Best Death Metal Album



The Best Djent / Math Metal



The Best Doom Metal Album



The Best Extreme Doom Metal Album



The Best Folk / Pagan / Viking Metal Album

1. Orphaned Land - All Is One 288
2. Finntroll - Blodsvept 270
3. Falkenbach - Asa 166
4. Thrawsunblat - Thrawsunblat II: Wanderer On The Continent Of Saplings 99
5. Thyrfing - De Ödeslösa 67
6. Saor - Roots 56
7. Ereb Altor - Fire Meets Ice 50
8. Gwydion - Veteran 27
  Bucovina - Sub Stele 27
10. Darkestrah - Manas 25
11. Aether Realm - One Chosen By The Gods 11


The Best Gothic / Symphonic Metal Album



The Best Grindcore Album



The Best Hard Rock Album



The Best Hardcore / Metalcore / Deathcore



The Best Heavy / Melodic Metal Album



The Best Industrial / Cyber / Electronic Metal Album



The Best Melodeath / Extreme Power / Gothenburg Metal Album



The Best Melodic Black Metal / Metalgaze



The Best Post-Metal Album



The Best Power Metal Album



The Best Progressive Metal Album



The Best Sludge / Stoner Metal Album



The Best Thrash Metal Album



Clandestine Cut Of The Year

1. Pin-Up Went Down - B-Sides [EP] 44
  Deception - Break The Silence [EP] 44
3. Brutai - Brutai [EP] 32
4. Enceladus - Time In A Dream [Single] 29
5. Devil's Rage - Rise Of Insanity [EP] 27
6. Aphelium - Demo 19
7. Bølzer - Aura 11


The Best Cover Song

1. Týr - Cemetary Gates 47
2. Revocation - Dyers Eve 43
3. Heaven Shall Burn - Valhalla 37
  Ghost B.C. - If You Have Ghost 37
5. Caladan Brood - The Passing of the Grey Company 23
6. Omnium Gatherum - Subdivisions 19
7. Children Of Bodom - Sleeping in My Car 17
  Anthrax - T.N.T. 17
9. Rob Zombie - We're An American Band 11


The Best Debut Album



The Best DVD

1. Devin Townsend - The Retinal Circus 81
2. Nightwish - Showtime, Storytime 79
3. Anathema - Universal 64
4. Epica - Retrospect 44
5. Kreator - Dying Alive 26
6. Metallica - Through The Never 24
  Dream Theater - Live At Luna Park 24
8. Black Sabbath - Live? Gathered In Their Masses 17
9. Empyrium - Into The Pantheon 16
10. Iron Maiden - Maiden England '88 15


The Best Video

1. Behemoth - Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel 75
2. Amon Amarth - Father Of The Wolf 34
3. Haken - Cockroach King 29
4. Shade Empire - Ruins 24
5. Ghost B.C. - Year Zero 22
6. Within Temptation - Paradise (What About Us?) 19
7. Omnium Gatherum - The Unknowing 17
8. Black Sabbath - God Is Dead? 14
9. Portal - Curtain 13
  Kalmah - Seventh Swamphony 13


The Biggest Letdown



The Biggest Surprise



Drama Of The Year

1. Slayer - Jeff Hanneman's Death, Dave Lombardo leaves, Slayer continues 118
2. As I Lay Dying - Tim Lambesis hiring a hitman, who was secretly a cop, to kill his wife 74
3. Motörhead - Lemmy's Health Problems 18
4. Lostprophets - Ian Watkins sentenced to 35 years in prison 15
5. Metal Storm Users - The ass on the banner of the MS Awards 13