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MS Awards 2019 - Staff Picks!!


Written by: ScreamingSteelUS
Published: 25.03.2020


The 2019 Metal Storm Awards were our biggest yet - most categories, longest voting period (well, tied with the other leap years), and, though we haven't verified exactly, possibly the largest voter turnout we've had. 2019 was also bursting at the seams with high-quality metal releases that we were very eager to promote, so much so that, as always, the staff highlights article and the actual MSAs themselves were not enough to satisfy our urge to pitch things. These are the albums that we, the staff of Metal Storm, democratically determined to be the best in their respective categories.





2019 Metal Storm Staff Picks






Alternative Metal
Soen - Lotus

Ambient / Drone / Noise
Big Brave - A Gaze Among Them

Avantgarde / Experimental Metal
Katharos XIII - Palindrome

Black Metal
The Great Old Ones - Cosmicism

Death Metal
Suffering Hour - Dwell

Djent / Math Metal
Herod - Sombre Dessein

Doom Metal
Officium Triste - The Death Of Gaia

Extreme Doom Metal
Esoteric - A Pyrrhic Existence

Extreme Progressive Metal
Disillusion - The Liberation

Folk / Pagan / Viking Metal
Obsequiae - The Palms Of Sorrowed Kings

Gothic Metal
Idle Hands - Mana

Grindcore
Full Of Hell - Weeping Choir

Hard Rock
Year Of The Goat - Novis Orbis Terrarum Ordinis

Hardcore / Metalcore / Deathcore
The Acacia Strain - It Comes In Waves

Heavy / Melodic Metal
Spirit Adrift - Divided By Darkness

Industrial / Cyber / Electronic Metal
Vous Autres - Champ Du Sang

Melodeath / Extreme Power / Gothenburg Metal
In Mourning - Garden Of Storms

Melodic Black Metal
Wormwood - Nattarvet

Metalgaze
Numenorean - Adore

Post-Metal
Cult Of Luna - A Dawn To Fear

Power Metal
Paladin - Ascension

Progressive Metal
Borknagar - True North

Sludge Metal
This Gift Is A Curse - A Throne Of Ash

Stoner Metal
Bees Made Honey In The Vein Tree - Grandmother

Symphonic Metal
Wilderun - Veil Of Imagination

Thrash Metal
Possessed - Revelations Of Oblivion

Debut
Idle Hands - Mana

Clandestine Cut
Crypts - Promo / Demo





And there you have it: the staff picks. It's worth noting that for the Gothic category we had to go into double-tiebreak overtime; we had great difficulty choosing between Idle Hands and Helevorn's Aamamata, and it wasn't that we were strongly divided against each other - just about all of us were individually torn between the two. It was only after a lot of hemming and hawing and an almost-literal coin toss that we finally declared Idle Hands the winner long after the other picks had been settled. It was a tough choice between two albums very similar in quality, if not in sound; for all intents and purposes, you may consider Idle Hands and Helevorn joint recipients of this honor.






Written on 25.03.2020 by I'm the reviewer, and that means my opinion is correct.


Comments

Comments: 8   Visited by: 128 users
25.03.2020 - 01:18
musclassia

So unlike last year, I actually voted for more of the staff pick winners than general vote winners (7/27 vs 3/27); I guess actually being involved in the process this time round might help on that front.
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25.03.2020 - 01:50
ScreamingSteelUS
Editor-in-Chief
After finally conquering that extra tr tag, it shows back up again... and the CC image is too large.

Well, I need to go take a shower. If this is still a problem when I get back tomorrow, I'll fiddle with it some more.
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"Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader

I'm the Agent of Steel.
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25.03.2020 - 03:15
nikarg

If I am not mistaken, this is the third album in a row by The Great Old Ones that gets staff picked.
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25.03.2020 - 19:23
Nejde
CommunityManager
As a Swede I always feel a little proud when Swedish bands get picked and praised and last year was apparently a good year for us with six staff picks. Also I feel a little extra for Cult of Luna since they are from my hometown of Umeå and all members are really nice and down to earth when you meet them. So maybe I'm a bit biased but for me they made AOTY (together with Wormwood)
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Bow to the King Hercules!
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27.03.2020 - 00:59
Abattoir

Written by Nejde on 25.03.2020 at 19:23

Also I feel a little extra for Cult of Luna since they are from my hometown of Umeå and all members are really nice and down to earth when you meet them. So maybe I'm a bit biased but for me they made AOTY (together with Wormwood)

Cult Of Luna are probably the most compelling pick for a winner, on both fronts.
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29.03.2020 - 01:54
quieted_darkness

Suffering Hour - Dwell is a far better choice than Cattle Decapitation - Death Atlas. Well done, staff.
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29.03.2020 - 03:55
nikarg

Written by quieted_darkness on 29.03.2020 at 01:54

Suffering Hour - Dwell is a far better choice than Cattle Decapitation - Death Atlas. Well done, staff.

Thank you. It was actually a head to head battle between Suffering Hour and Blood Incantation and SF only won by one vote.
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26.04.2020 - 17:45
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
Obviously none of us agree 100% with the outcome of every category, but I think this is a great representation of what the year had to offer in terms of quality, ingenuity, and accessibility.
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"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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