It was a good year. Glad Long Distance Calling won and Grayceon got like 30 votes which is good for an unknown band Didn't expect them to win of course.

Written by BitterCOld on 01.03.2012 at 02:21

I've always viewed letdown/surprise as album related categories...

the one that i laugh at is the people whining that King Diamond has no plans for UK/DK in 2012. how can something that hasn't happened yet this year be a let down for last year?

That, aside from it being retarded, means that the one who posted it is also completely clueless: KD is playing Sweden Rock Festival, and it's just a max. 2-hour journey from Copenhagen to the festival site.

Symphony X are kings of progressive metal in 2011
Redactors from Metal-Rules.com should redefine their knowledge, tastes and ideas about metal genre.

Written by Alakazam on 01.03.2012 at 01:20

Am I the only one who genuinely really liked Heritage? Ixion sounds really cool and others I mean to list down in my mean-to-check-out list!

Honestly, Heritage to me was decent but Opethian's thought this album crashed like anything...so i genuinely accepted. i am amused to see Machine Head sweeping Thrash Metal category which i was in 1/1000 times wasn't even thinking to be a winner. Either it was Havok or Vektor.[Infact, all nominees were awesome.]

I was kind of surprised to see Machine Head win the Thrash category. Somehow, I was sure Havok would win; I guess I was too naive.

As far as Symphony X winning, I voted for them myself because at the end of the day, they were just better than anything else (even if not by much).

In the Death category, I guess i'd rather see Vader win than Fleshgod Apocalypse (although I did not spend enough time with either album to really form a complete opinion).

Written by X-Ray Rod on 01.03.2012 at 01:13

Written by IronAngel on 01.03.2012 at 01:07
But wtf at Long Distance Calling taking the post-metal prize? O_o People really need to listen to post-rock more.

I believe we already discussed this:

We felt it was good for a nomination... we wondered where it could go. Post-metal was the only one close enough. the staff/elite (at least those who were working on the nominations for that category) is well aware of what post-rock is.

Well, that's another discussion. I'm not commenting on them being nominated, but on 96 people thinking it was the best album in the category. It probably won because it stood out in the category in virtue of its accessability and catchiness. (I'm not saying it's a bad album without good qualities; just pretty mediocre.) For the average joe, it had an advantage when contrasted with bands like Corrupted, Earth or Obscure Sphinx. If you grab a 15-year-old bloke with an Iron Maiden shirt off the street and play them Corrupted, and then play them LDC, it's obvious which they will likely prefer. Doesn't make the latter a better album, though.

But if there was a post-rock category nominating the best post-rock bands of the year, and if the voters actually listened to the samples, can anyone honestly say Long Distance Calling would have gotten many votes? To take a look at what else was released: Grails, *shels, Epic45, Mogwai, MØN, Einar Stray, This Will Destroy You, And So I Watch You From Afar, Junius, Laura, Blueneck, 3epkano, Nils Petter Molvær, Heroin and Your Veins, and some popular garbage like EITS and Russian Circles.

So yes, I think they got 96 votes because they stood out in the category, not because they stood out in the post-rock genre. I do not think even 50 of those 96 people had heard 50% of the albums listed above, which means they really need to listen to post-rock more. I'm not bitching at you for nominating it Just analyzing the results and bashing the unwashed masses, which is what this topic is for.

Written by Nunzie 69 on 01.03.2012 at 08:51

I really wish they had an all out "METAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR" vote.Most of us here listen to more then one type of metal,and I'm interested on who would win.A lot of bands won just on their popularity and not their album,kinda like the Metal Grammy's here and we Metal Heads are supposed to be better then that!!!

If you're interested in the community consensus, just look at the charts for the year. It's not very accurate, of course, but neither would be nominating 10 random albums and letting people vote.

Some of my favorite albums of 2011, Theocracy As the World Bleeds, Nightwish Imaginaerum and Riot Immortal Soul.

I'm either an oracle, or the MS Awards are predictable as fuck.
Seriously, the only winner I didn't see coming was Falloch (expected Alrakis or Lantlos).

I vote for one winner each year, it seems. Last year it was Agalloch, 40 Watt Sun this time.
The Gothic category was the biggest disappointment, though. Not a single album there that I absolutely wanted to win. Pretty sad.

Lmao obvious winners

but then again i'm responsible for a couple of them... so...

Written by IronAngel on 01.03.2012 at 11:18

...because they stood out in the category.

Same with Amorphis every year.


What I'm amused about is that people complain about the people's vote... "MS is degrading, this is just the popular vote" duh duh... if you take 30 000 people and tell them to vote for the best (same as in politics), they're not gonna say "oh, let's check out the 100 nominees in the 10 cat's I'm interested in and decide"... no, 95% are just gonna vote for the name they know. The 5% of you who have taken advantage of this and found out about a good band (or 20), you're the winners.

So, 11 categories and not one vote for the winners. I'm obviously a hipster Now, Avantgarde, two best albums are on top, Wolves In The Throne Room, that's just fine, Chthonic over Vreid, why not, but Amon Amarth first and not at most fourth, that is a disappointment. Korn winning the Industrial category is just plain horror, considering Neuroactive, KMFDM, Gary Numan and Seth.ECT were in contention. I mean, the album is not bad, but it's not winning material either. Gothic category was mostly bland anyway, Folk/Viking, the winner was obvious, I'm glad that Primordial got so many votes, however I'm' not best pleased about Falkenbach's 5th place. Metalgaze was the toughest category for me, at least five albums deserved to win. New discoveries - Ixion first and foremost, 40 Watt Sun, Dornenreich.

Written by Slayer666 on 01.03.2012 at 12:04

I'm either an oracle, or the MS Awards are predictable as fuck.
Seriously, the only winner I didn't see coming was Falloch (expected Alrakis or Lantlos).

If you posted a list of your predictions a week ago, your words could have had some merit. Now that the results are in, anyone can claim that they predicted them. And all such claims are equally preposterous.

To balance such claims, let me tell you that I guessed only 3 winners

Written by Daniell on 01.03.2012 at 12:57

Written by Slayer666 on 01.03.2012 at 12:04

I'm either an oracle, or the MS Awards are predictable as fuck.
Seriously, the only winner I didn't see coming was Falloch (expected Alrakis or Lantlos).

To balance such claims, let me tell you that I guessed only 3 winners

Nice! and i guessed 14 correct and still disappointed to see Machine Head taking Thrash category. Meh.

Written by Milena on 01.03.2012 at 12:10

Written by IronAngel on 01.03.2012 at 11:18

...because they stood out in the category.

Same with Amorphis every year.


What I'm amused about is that people complain about the people's vote... "MS is degrading, this is just the popular vote" duh duh... if you take 30 000 people and tell them to vote for the best (same as in politics), they're not gonna say "oh, let's check out the 100 nominees in the 10 cat's I'm interested in and decide"... no, 95% are just gonna vote for the name they know. The 5% of you who have taken advantage of this and found out about a good band (or 20), you're the winners.

That's quite a good rant.

Written by Milena on 01.03.2012 at 12:10

if you take 30 000 people ....

30,000+ votes were cast, that doesn't mean that many people voted
Most people cats votes in multiple categories. It wouldn't surprise me if not even 3,000 people in total voted.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 01.03.2012 at 13:34

30,000+ votes were cast, that doesn't mean that many people voted
Most people cats votes in multiple categories. It wouldn't surprise me if not even 3,000 people in total voted.

I was thinking about our user database, which was quite a bad estimate, but even with 3 000 people, my remark stands.

This is crazy as pig nuts.

Melodeath-Amon Amarth!!

How can you possibly think of that when it straightforwardly this award belongs to Insomnium?!!!

Insomnium and Vektor lost to the better-known names! :S

Machine Head trash metal !!!!!!!!!!!!!

much better Havok and Onslaught, both are the best albums of this year.

Written by Daniell on 01.03.2012 at 12:57

If you posted a list of your predictions a week ago, your words could have had some merit. Now that the results are in, anyone can claim that they predicted them. And all such claims are equally preposterous.

To balance such claims, let me tell you that I guessed only 3 winners

I thought it was too bloody obvious to begin with. FYI, I mentioned WitTR months ago because it was a part of some discussion related to BaN, I think, and didn't want to even bother mentioning the other more than obvious winners.

And wait, what? Are you honestly saying you didn't predict In Flames, Devin Townsend, Wolves In The Throne Room, 40 Watt Sun, Esoteric, Draconian, Amon Amarth, Septicflesh, Machine Head etc? Then either you're not following up on what's popular nowadays or you live in a fairytale world where everyone really checks out every album and doesn't just throw his vote at the biggest name on the list.

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 01.03.2012 at 13:55

This is crazy as pig nuts.

Melodeath-Amon Amarth!!

How can you possibly think of that when it straightforwardly this award belongs to Insomnium?!!!

+1

What is exactly surprising about opeth music in their last album ?

Written by Slayer666 on 01.03.2012 at 14:17

And wait, what? Are you honestly saying you didn't predict In Flames, Devin Townsend, Wolves In The Throne Room, 40 Watt Sun, Esoteric, Draconian, Amon Amarth, Septicflesh, Machine Head etc? Then either you're not following up on what's popular nowadays or you live in a fairytale world where everyone really checks out every album and doesn't just throw his vote at the biggest name on the list.

Your guesses are wong I'm afraid. I didn't predict all of the above, because I wasn't trying to get inside the hive mind of the general metal public. I tried to predict the best winners, not the most popular ones. I sincerely hope you can see the difference.

Written by Daniell on 01.03.2012 at 14:31

Written by Slayer666 on 01.03.2012 at 14:17

And wait, what? Are you honestly saying you didn't predict In Flames, Devin Townsend, Wolves In The Throne Room, 40 Watt Sun, Esoteric, Draconian, Amon Amarth, Septicflesh, Machine Head etc? Then either you're not following up on what's popular nowadays or you live in a fairytale world where everyone really checks out every album and doesn't just throw his vote at the biggest name on the list.

Your guesses are wong I'm afraid. I didn't predict all of the above, because I wasn't trying to get inside the hive mind of the general metal public. I tried to predict the best winners, not the most popular ones. I sincerely hope you can see the difference.

Predicting has nothing to who you deem best. Had I predicted the winners I would have had most categories correct. When I cast my votes it had nothing to do with preidciotns because my vote doesn't predict my vote reflects my taste, which is something entirely different to predicting.

Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa is a golden record so I deff support the number one vote at the folk/pagan/whatevers/whatevers section (srsly, just call it folk).
Don't really approve of Suidakra being higher ranked than Falkenbach though..
This year will be very interesting for folk metal. Especially Ensiferum, Falkenbach (that's damned quick..) and Skálmöld!

Written by Daniell on 01.03.2012 at 14:31

Your guesses are wong I'm afraid. I didn't predict all of the above, because I wasn't trying to get inside the hive mind of the general metal public. I tried to predict the best winners, not the most popular ones. I sincerely hope you can see the difference.

I don't understand the problem, then. I voted for whom I deemed best, and that happened to concede with the general opinion (read: popular) once, with 40 Watt Sun. None of the others I voted for won, most of them didn't even make it to top 5. I simply stated that I already knew most winners even before the 1st of March.

I'm happy Cormorant made it onto the prog list with write in votes. Disappointed Machine Head won thrash, i thought that album was terrible.

Pre·dict
   [pri-dikt] Show IPA

verb (used with object)
1.
to declare or tell in advance; prophesy; foretell: to predict the weather; to predict the fall of a civilization.

verb (used without object)
2.
to foretell the future; make a prediction.

Written by -DC-002- on 01.03.2012 at 10:17

Results are!?.. and dang fang id was pretty confident that Ulcerate would win.

I kept my fingers crossed for them, but eventually the least Death Metal album won -_-

Written by tea[m]ster on 01.03.2012 at 00:52

Dirge SEVENTH in post-metal voting? I listened to ALL of them and my second choice was Obscure Phoenix which was in SIXTH? I need to quit caring what other people think...

Did this catagory have the closest voting? I mean all of choices got a fair share amount of votes.

I was disappointed to see them at the seventh place, didn't expect them to win but I thought they got enough exposure through the last year that they would end up higher.

I was particularly surprised that Insomnium lost by a big margin, for some reason I had the idea that they should have won this easily.
The only result I totally resent is Falloch winning over Alrakis, Lantlos, Sleeping Peonies and An Autumn For My Crippled Children. I found it good and that's that