It's February 1st, which means it's the moment you've all been waiting for… The 9th Annual Metal Storm Awards are upon us. We've done a lot of work in setting this whole thing up and now it's your turn to bust your voting nut 30 seconds in to the month then spend the next 28 days whining because we didn't include your favorite album or put it under the wrong genre.
Seriously though, take your time and check out our nominees. We've got LOTS of first timers that made the cut and are worth taking a listen to before casting your vote. And for any questions regarding what category a band belongs in please ask HERE.
I agree. As I told, I just put Ihsahn in Black for practical senses, otherwise, I wouldn't have chosen any band in black metal category, and i think he deserves a vote for his album in at least one category related.
I agree. As I told, I just put Ihsahn in Black for practical senses, otherwise, I wouldn't have chosen any band in black metal category, and i think he deserves a vote for his album in at least one category related.
Ok so if you don't like the Staff Black noms but you like Shining then vote for him in Black where he belongs. And if you don't like the Staff Prog noms but you like Ihsahn then vote for him in Progressive where he belongs. I fail to see why this concept is so difficult. It makes much more sense to vote for your favorite BLACK metal album in the BLACK metal category and your favorite PROG album in the PROGRESSIVE metal category.
Honestly you should just go ahead and flip your votes now because they're going to get nuked eventually for being in the wrong categories anyway.
I am wondering how the hell anyone could actually see Ihsahn as black metal? Just because he used to be in Emperor? His solo work realy has nothing to do with black whatsoever.
I am wondering how the hell anyone could actually see Ihsahn as black metal? Just because he used to be in Emperor? His solo work realy has nothing to do with black whatsoever.
Agreed. Not to mention the fact that part of the disbandment of Emperor was due to his lack of desire to work within the confines of the black metal genre anymore.
Oh, It's really impossible to choose from the extreme doom category. Black and death metal were tough ones as well. By the way the nominations are great, just as I would expect from MS, keep up the good work.
So much good stuff nominated this year, thank you MS! So far I've discovered and liked: Alkerdeel, Indesinence, Faal, Monolithe, Elysian Blaze, Ævangelist and the re-recorded Darkspace demo.
Also, somehow connected to the MS awards I discovered Abyssal.
None of the extreme doom nominations I discovered have been able to beat Profetus though. "...to Open the Passages in Dusk" is definitely my album of the year.
Written by Skyum on 07.02.2013 at 11:18 None of the extreme doom nominations I discovered have been able to beat Profetus though. "...to Open the Passages in Dusk" is definitely my album of the year.
I liked that one... but not as much as most of the nominees in the extreme doom category. Glad that you have discovered a few names though! That's the spirit.
I went this whole year thinking this wasn't a great year, I checked out most of the albums that are now nominated. Now, however, upon hearing them again I have a hard time choosing what to vote for... I also bought like 10 albums on bandcamp yesterday.
Also, I hate to see Kreator, Overkill and Testament nominated. Their albums sounded really mediocre to me (especially Kreator's and Testament's), and one of those 3 will probably win, while other thrash bands did a much better job this year.
EDIT: Actually, I can think of only one band that did a 'much' better job, but still, most of thrash metal this year was mediocre.
Hey, Abbath put out a doom album, according to the write in votes. Funny name for an album, though.
What?! Abbath from Immortal or some other Abbath that I am unfamiliar with? I'm not a fan of doom but I would still check out a doom band/album from Abbath Doom Occulta...
Hey, Abbath put out a doom album, according to the write in votes. Funny name for an album, though.
What?! Abbath from Immortal or some other Abbath that I am unfamiliar with? I'm not a fan of doom but I would still check out a doom band/album from Abbath Doom Occulta...
Someone has put as a write in vote "I - Still Hate This Genre" in the doom catagory. I was pretending that it was tha band I (http://www.metalstorm.net/bands/band.php?band_id=2296&bandname=I)
Is there one of those little smiley things that show something going over someone's head?
Not a big fan of the new Wintersun, but I don't see why it wasn't nominated in the symphonic metal category, I like it more than most of the stuff there. I avoid write-ins though. It will probably end up high anyway, since Wintersun seems to be voted for in every category.
Not a big fan of the new Wintersun, but I don't see why it wasn't nominated in the symphonic metal category, I like it more than most of the stuff there. I avoid write-ins though. It will probably end up high anyway, since Wintersun seems to be voted for in every category.
Wintersun never even came close to being nominated by the staff and elite. The Wintersun votes that aren't in the extreme power category won't count.
Wintersun never even came close to being nominated by the staff and elite. The Wintersun votes that aren't in the extreme power category won't count.
I know it didn't come close in extreme power, and I know it won't count in categories as black metal and stoner metal, but why not in symphonic metal? Sounds like symphonic (extreme) power metal to me.
Written by Zaphod on 10.02.2013 at 18:59 but why not in symphonic metal? Sounds like symphonic (extreme) power metal to me.
That is something that has been discussed as well although I don't remember what was the outcome of that. There's a fair chance that a Wintersun write-in for the Symphonic category could be treated differently than one in the doom category ahahahha.
If The Electric Age doesn't win for thrash I am going to fucking seriously kill some shit not really you get the point though
NO NEED BEGGIN GIMME ALL YO MONEY THERE'S A FLAT DOOR FEE IF ALL YOU WANT IS HONEY
Someone has put as a write in vote "I - Still Hate This Genre" in the doom catagory. I was pretending that it was tha band I (http://www.metalstorm.net/bands/band.php?band_id=2296&bandname=I)
Is there one of those little smiley things that show something going over someone's head?
Ah I know of I, and I've seen the "I - still hate this genre" write-in. But that isn't just Abbath in the band so that would be why it went over my head. *shrug*
I really don't want Electric Age to win Thrash award for simply giving a "okay, Overkill is nominated, rest gonna fuck up" nod. People should seriously listen all those nominations and give their votes at the end.
Not a big fan of the new Wintersun, but I don't see why it wasn't nominated in the symphonic metal category, I like it more than most of the stuff there. I avoid write-ins though. It will probably end up high anyway, since Wintersun seems to be voted for in every category.
Wintersun never even came close to being nominated by the staff and elite. The Wintersun votes that aren't in the extreme power category won't count.
Actually it ended up 11th in the Extreme Power category, so it wasn't that far away.
But yeah, just like each album could only be nominated by us in one single genre category, write-in votes will only be counted in one single genre category. Which one that is depends on the category in which a given album receives most votes by the users. We'll take a closer look at that in a few days and delete all invalid votes, so people can use their votes for other releases.
I really don't want Electric Age to win Thrash award for simply giving a "okay, Overkill is nominated, rest gonna fuck up" nod. People should seriously listen all those nominations and give their votes at the end.
I don't want it to win for the same reason. Also because I think it's not that great, but that's just me.
I really think you can't include in the same category Alcest and Les Discrets with bands like Borknagar and then mix those three with Taranis. Blackgaze and Melodic Black Metal are different type of genres and Borknagar is another thing entirely.
For those of you who have spotify, I'd like to post some spotify playlists I've created for the nominees. You'll find some are missing: sorry, they do not appear at spotify.
Melodic Black Metal / Metalgaze
http://open.spotify.com/user/sarmisen/playlist/385yjo4wlUxmXUrXyHk0oy
In order to give the bands the chance to make their strongest possible showing and to give your votes the biggest impact, we just deleted a bunch of write-in votes which appeared in more than one category. Check the voting discussion thread to find out which votes were affected, and head back to the awards intro screen if you want to discover the other entries and vote anew
LOL @ the metalstorm staff not even including Wintersun in the final nominations. What a joke... trying to manipulate the voting results due to their own bias. I probably won't be participating in the voting anymore, every year the staff tries harder and harder to squeeze their own bias and tastes into nominations. Sad, pathetic, and unprofessional.
LOL @ the metalstorm staff not even including Wintersun in the final nominations. What a joke... trying to manipulate the voting results due to their own bias. I probably won't be participating in the voting anymore, every year the staff tries harder and harder to squeeze their own bias and tastes into nominations. Sad, pathetic, and unprofessional.
No offense, but you sound like one of those fangirls who was raging over Leonardo DiCaprio not getting his Academy Awards nomination for his role in Titanic.
Thing is: we have ten slots to give away. We have our ways to determine the staff's collective top 10 in any given category. I myself was certain that Wintersun would make it, but they finished 11th. Tough luck. Feel free to use your write-in vote. Preferably after checking out the other nominees. Kälter's Ubuntu might actually be right up your alley.
LOL @ the metalstorm staff not even including Wintersun in the final nominations. What a joke... trying to manipulate the voting results due to their own bias. I probably won't be participating in the voting anymore, every year the staff tries harder and harder to squeeze their own bias and tastes into nominations. Sad, pathetic, and unprofessional.
Ah shit, you caught us man, fuck we're totally busted guys...
Honestly though, the MSA nominees are chosen by Staff and 100% based on our musical tastes and not the Hot 100 charts (or whatever popularity polls you think we should base the nominees on) so you would be absolutely 100% correct about us "trying to manipulate the voting results due to their own bias". We prefer to call it "musical tastes" instead of "bias" though.
Super job their Shirley in figuring that out all by yourself.
(I've been rewatching Scrubs on Netflix lately so I just couldn't resist the urge to channel my inner Dr. Cox. )
The problem here that a lot of people (like yourself) fail to understand is that the MSAs are not just another popularity contest for the biggest name bands in metal (more like a popularity contest for the little guys since a lot of Staff listen to so many unknown and unrecognized bands ). Sure some big names make it in (because we, in Staff, agreed that said big name band's album was truly worthy of the recognition) but part of the ultimate goal of the MSAs is to have fun helping others find bands that they may not have otherwise looked into if they hadn't seen the band's album nominated in an official awards ceremony on a metal website.
The manner in which we choose our awards ceremony's nominees is what helps to set us apart from several other metal sites because we do tend to give the little guys a chance to shine and be recognized for their hard work (that in many cases is paid for by their own hard work and sweat rather than being funded by a major label).
As Promonex stated, if you believe that Wintersun deserves a nomination then PLEASE vote for them as a write-in, that is after all why we give you guys the write-in option so you can vote for albums that we did not nominate.
but part of the ultimate goal of the MSAs is to have fun helping others find bands that they may not have otherwise looked into if they hadn't seen the band's album nominated in an official awards ceremony on a metal website.
Like I probably never would have listened to Midnattsol if the Espa-whatever sisters weren't going head to head in last years awards. Great band.
every year the staff tries harder and harder to squeeze their own bias and tastes into nominations. Sad, pathetic, and unprofessional.
actually, it is our own "bias", and by "bias", it just means tastes. people cast votes for what they like and what the don't. we ultimately don't particularly give a shit if the band is big and popular or small and relatively obscure. the only thing that matters is the quality of the albums being assessed.
i'm also not entirely sure how one could do any type of awards without a degree of "bias", because, simply put, "bias" = "preference". if i prefer album X to album Y, i'm will vote for X, not Y.
i am sorry if you fail to comprehend the notion of preference, particularly when your own "bias" causes you to lash out like a schoolchild. if WS got in and one of the other bands didn't, you wouldn't say word one. you're just pissed because of your own "bias."
i have a better idea, rather than frothing at the keyboard, try listening to those bands that were nominated. free of bias. you might be pleasantly surprised.
me? i wouldn't really know. i don't touch that genre.
LOL @ the metalstorm staff not even including Wintersun in the final nominations. What a joke... trying to manipulate the voting results due to their own bias. I probably won't be participating in the voting anymore, every year the staff tries harder and harder to squeeze their own bias and tastes into nominations. Sad, pathetic, and unprofessional.
How dare the MS staff not follow your personal tastes. That's what the write in votes are for. If your favorite release of a genre is something that's not included, just write it in. If they were trying to twist the results to their own biases the "write ins" wouldn't exist.
Written by BitterCOld on 25.02.2013 at 07:22 i'm also not entirely sure how one could do any type of awards without a degree of "bias", because, simply put, "bias" = "preference". if i prefer album X to album Y, i'm will vote for X, not Y.
That's what I was thinking as well... Is there any kind of awards that isn't done with a little bit of "bias" ( = preference/tastes) in the beginning?
Don't think so and anyone else who thinks otherwise is hella naive to say the least.
Spin it however you'd like, it's mismanagement on behalf of MS.
For example, I'm not a fan of Slayer. However, if Slayer released a new album in 2012, and the general consensus amongst the metal community was that it was a good or great album, I'd certainly include it in any sort of "Best Thrash Album" category.
Likewise, Wintersun is a popular band that released, without argument, an album that has received a lot of attention and very good reviews. It has an average rating of over 8 on MS, and the vast majority of reviews for it from various other metal magazines and webzines have been very positive. Not only that, but it covers SEVERAL genres, not just one. Even if your own personal tastes go against it, for the sake of having a respectable and fair voting process, you should have included it.
But you didn't, due to your own personal bias. I'm not so sure why it is so difficult a concept for you to grasp.
Spin it however you want. You're just getting your panties in a twist that an album you loved didn't make it to the awards. I'm not sure why it is so difficult a concept for you to grasp.
Still though, it wouldn't be the awards without one whinge bag trying to blame management failure as the reason why something he / she liked didn't appear here. Thanks for filling in that role. Your reasoning that any popular metal album should automatically be included in the awards is utterly erroneous and completely misses the point of the awards. The staff don't owe a thing to any band just because it's popular. Learn to understand the notion of personal taste and free choice and stop wasting people's time with crybaby moaning disguised in misguided and fallacious reasoning.
...Even if your own personal tastes go against it, for the sake of having a respectable and fair voting process, you should have included it.
But we HAVE included it, just as we have technically included every other 2012 release via giving you the 'write-in' option. The awards aren't exclusive to just the albums we collectively enjoyed & nominated you know.
If you love the album that much, write it in! Your vote counts just as much as mine or any of the other elite, staff or users of this site.
Spin it however you want. You're just getting your panties in a twist that an album you loved didn't make it to the awards. I'm not sure why it is so difficult a concept for you to grasp.
Still though, it wouldn't be the awards without one whinge bag trying to blame management failure as the reason why something he / she liked didn't appear here. Thanks for filling in that role. Your reasoning that any popular metal album should automatically be included in the awards is utterly erroneous and completely misses the point of the awards. The staff don't owe a thing to any band just because it's popular. Learn to understand the notion of personal taste and free choice and stop wasting people's time with crybaby moaning disguised in misguided and fallacious reasoning.
I think you know I'm right, you're just too stubborn to admit it.
It's awards. You have a very popular metal band with an album that - whether YOU agree with it or not - got very good reviews from both critics and the majority of fans. It was one of the largest metal releases of 2012, and you don't even have it as 1 of 10 finalists in ANY category because of your own personal tastes.
I apologize that you're too dim-witted to see why that is unprofessional.
It's awards. You have a very popular metal band with an album that - whether YOU agree with it or not - got very good reviews from both critics and the majority of fans. It was one of the largest metal releases of 2012, and you don't even have it as 1 of 10 finalists in ANY category because of your own personal tastes.
Not that it matters but a small statistic. In all the years we've had a write-in option, no band has ever won through a write-in vote. If, as you say, an album was superb and widely recognized as awesome by the metal community it surely would have happened. Since it has not happened, we reserve the right to think we've done fairly good with nominations over the years.
Doesn't matter Ivor, we are clearly too unprofessional anyways. Despite the fact that the awards are meant for something completely different than for popular bands to win over and over again... But this fact goes over some people's heads. I can live with that since the majority of the people inside and outside the website appreciate our work. One complain a year is nothing.
Once again, someone's ability to be personally affected by how their tastes in music are perceived and manifested on the internet in (peculiar) forms such as an album they like not being included in a set of awards comes to pass in glorious fruition once again. The defensive barriers that are put up, like blaming everyone else around you with nonsense and desperate reasoning, just so you can have your personal tastes validated (because the the crux of what you are seeking; validation, is patently obvious to everyone engaged in this discussion) is not a substitute for intelligent and logical debate. Don't blame us for trying to make you realise that.
Ultimately though, Italics, when you consider the variety of arguments leveled against your complaint, your endless obstinate retorts of "I think you know I'm right, you're just too stubborn to admit it" and laboured one-argument points just make you sound like this:
What I think you need to understand Italics is that simply because there was no nomination for Wintersun is NOT a statement of the lack of quality of the album in question. It is a statement of the quality of the nominations, not an abject rejection of Wintersun's album. Within the category in which Wintersun is placed we collectively decided the albums nominated were better. I fail to locate the lack of professionalism in that; we don't pander to the simple fact of popularity of particular albums to make decisions. When you listen to an album why would you let the majority dictate to you what is of quality?
A set of nominees which does not include a particular album you deem of sufficient quality to be among them does not equate with lack of professionalism, merely a difference of opinion. If you have listened to the albums chosen for the melodeath category would you not agree there is a standard of quality there? Or does the simple lack of Wintersun there negate the quality of those nominated albums?
Well guys the problem here is his inability to realize that OUR Awards are not based on what the general metal community thinks are the best metal albums of 2012, OUR Awards ARE based on OUR musical tastes so OUR Awards not containing a popular release has absolutely NOTHING to do with professionalism vs. unprofessionalism. So he is 100% correct about our Awards being based on our own "bias", which is not something anybody has denied and we won't deny because it IS true. He just can't quite seem to comprehend that when things on MS are based on OPINION and NOT popularity that those in charge of MS are going to base their decisions on what they think instead of letting the opinions of others dictate their actions.
He is trying to make it about professionalism because he is just super pissed that his favorite album in a particular category did not get nominated. And being that he has been a user here for a while, he is likely more than aware of what Ivor said about non-Staff nominated albums NEVER winning the MSAs and he is incredibly upset because he knows that no matter what, Wintersun is most likely NOT going to win what he believes they so righteously deserve just for being popular and taking 8 long years to create and release.
The whole unprofessionalism rant of his is what's known as "placing the blame", it's much easier to call us unprofessional than to just realize that OUR Awards have NOTHING to do with popularity and therefore bands like Wintersun (and even Slayer) are NOT going to just slide into OUR Awards on the coattails of their past success and over-hyped attention.
So this whole "debate" basically boils down to: Italics is a TOOL and feels that we are unprofessional because we are NOT tools.
I don't really care if he is a tool or who has the biggest spanner. Who has the best album in what category is subjective anyway. So the results of the awards mean shit. If you find something new from the nominations its a bonus. If it gives an unknown band some much needed exposure then all is good.
The only thing that annoys me is the genres. The lines are so blurred now between styles, why do the Metalstorm police keep deleting my write ins. Some albums could go in three different categories, it should be my decision if I think it should go as one style or another. You have made the recommendations with your picks, let me make mine with the write in vote.
Sorry to the staff if this seems like a rant, I wouldn't want to have to do all of the extra work you do to prepare the awards, but please give the write in vote a bit of freedom.
It makes much more sense to vote for your favorite BLACK metal album in the BLACK metal category and your favorite PROG album in the PROGRESSIVE metal category.
)
). Sure some big names make it in (because we, in Staff, agreed that said big name band's album was truly worthy of the recognition) but part of the ultimate goal of the MSAs is to have fun helping others find bands that they may not have otherwise looked into if they hadn't seen the band's album nominated in an official awards ceremony on a metal website. 
