Extreme doom is hardest category this year, rest was a bit easier as that one .... ehhh

Can we get a slam/brutal death category next year?

Just as an FYI for users, we have had a discussion in the wake of comments in previous years regarding the continued existence of the Best DVD category, and we have revised the category as Best Live Concert Release, as basically everything that was getting nominated in the category was a live concert release, and nobody buys DVDs anymore. In effect, anything that is a full live concert album/recording that has been officially released in an obtainable capacity (DVD/Blu-Ray/VHS/digital download) is eligible. We did discuss whether to make a distinction of it having a video release or just purely audio, and we felt that it was such a negligible difference that it wasn't worth factoring in, but are open to feedback on this point from those who are more regular viewers/listeners of live releases.

Thank you to all who contributed to putting this massive list together! I've realized I haven't listened to much new metal from last year and have been taking this opportunity to really dig in. I don't know far I'll get, but I'm going to do my best. So far:

Power Metal: Battle Beast (runner up: Hagane)
I didn't find any truly stunning albums, but Battle Beast really brought the thunder and creativity this year. I'll miss Noora dearly!

Progressive Metal: Danefae (runner up: Moron Police)
Whoa, this one is good. Reminds me of Lumsk, but with more of those prog metal tendencies. I found it tantalizing!

Biggest Letdown: Helloween
The bar was just too high from their last outing. I still love the inclusive lineup they have now, but this one just did not deliver in the same way.

Ok! Onto Stoner next.

Ebullient.

I owe a big gratitude to staff and contributors pulling up yet another fabulous edition of THE Metal Storm Awards. I wasn’t active this year pretty much handling new phase of my life after I get hitched last month to my wife whom I was dating for last 2 years. She’s not a big metal fan, but picking up the good pace.

It also stuck with me the timeline I have spent over here on Metal Storm: I joined when I was pursuing my under-grad from Cardiff to shifting to India working for big MNC companies and now to the point of settling down with my wife, while all the while hanging out on Metal Storm back and forth.

Anyway, back to topic.

One month to grind. I shall be leaving no stone unturned.

Written by musclassia on 07.02.2026 at 21:08

Just as an FYI for users, we have had a discussion in the wake of comments in previous years regarding the continued existence of the Best DVD category, and we have revised the category as Best Live Concert Release, as basically everything that was getting nominated in the category was a live concert release, and nobody buys DVDs anymore. In effect, anything that is a full live concert album/recording that has been officially released in an obtainable capacity (DVD/Blu-Ray/VHS/digital download) is eligible. We did discuss whether to make a distinction of it having a video release or just purely audio, and we felt that it was such a negligible difference that it wasn't worth factoring in, but are open to feedback on this point from those who are more regular viewers/listeners of live releases.

So this wouldn't count cause it's not a full show (it is official and profesionally edited)?

Written by NastyHero on 09.02.2026 at 13:26

Written by musclassia on 07.02.2026 at 21:08

Just as an FYI for users, we have had a discussion in the wake of comments in previous years regarding the continued existence of the Best DVD category, and we have revised the category as Best Live Concert Release, as basically everything that was getting nominated in the category was a live concert release, and nobody buys DVDs anymore. In effect, anything that is a full live concert album/recording that has been officially released in an obtainable capacity (DVD/Blu-Ray/VHS/digital download) is eligible. We did discuss whether to make a distinction of it having a video release or just purely audio, and we felt that it was such a negligible difference that it wasn't worth factoring in, but are open to feedback on this point from those who are more regular viewers/listeners of live releases.

So this wouldn't count cause it's not a full show (it is official and profesionally edited)?

So that's not eligible for the ongoing awards regardless, as that video was only uploaded in 2026 and there doesn't seem to be a 'full' upload prior to 2026. I would say it isn't eligible for next year's awards either currently, as there doesn't appear to be a way to obtain it other than downloading the Youtube video, while in contrast, all releases that have been nominated thus far in the category this year are all purchaseable from an official source in one format or another. By a similar token, the various Covid livestreams would not have been eligible for nomination, unless the artist opted to subsequently turn it into an officially obtainable release. Should Thy Catafalque make that set available on CD/DVD/Blu-Ray or downloadable on Bandcamp, then I would consider it eligible.

Written by musclassia on 09.02.2026 at 13:46

So that's not eligible for the ongoing awards regardless, as that video was only uploaded in 2026 and there doesn't seem to be a 'full' upload prior to 2026. I would say it isn't eligible for next year's awards either currently, as there doesn't appear to be a way to obtain it other than downloading the Youtube video, while in contrast, all releases that have been nominated thus far in the category this year are all purchaseable from an official source in one format or another. By a similar token, the various Covid livestreams would not have been eligible for nomination, unless the artist opted to subsequently turn it into an officially obtainable release. Should Thy Catafalque make that set available on CD/DVD/Blu-Ray or downloadable on Bandcamp, then I would consider it eligible.

I see, thanks for the answer. Yeah, I missed the obvious part that it was uploaded in '26 as well. I don't think they have any further plans with this, so ineligible it is (and will be).

Written by Steiney on 06.02.2026 at 22:31

Can we get a slam/brutal death category next year?

Seconded, just so i can give Peelingflesh some love.

Great job again MS staff! Ms awards are always a highlight of my year. The black metal category was the most difficult to me .. very well curated .. only great albums … had to pick TGOO in the end

in another note .. I am fully aware that these are Metal awards, but since we also feature some on this site I would looove a Neofolk/darkwave/dungeonsynth category!!

Written by Roman Doez on 01.02.2026 at 19:53

Written by Shmelevod on 01.02.2026 at 19:24

I really think we need to make distinct 'Brutal/Technical/Atmospheric/Whatever Death Metal' category. Having to choose between Dormant Ordeal, Jade, 1914 and Baest feels terrible. Last year it was the same when Ulcerate stole all the votes.

On the one hand, I agree that grouping everything together is not alway logical and can lead to weird lineups for the MSAs, but on the other hand it's going to be difficult to find 10 different albums to put in each new subgategory, epecially since we want to focus on quality over quantity. I'll let someone more qualified add to / correct what I said, but I think that would be our main reason for why there hasn't been a split so far.

It has become really difficult for me to choose and separate the Death metal category, where many subgenres of this style are mixed. Overall, thanks to the site team for their tremendous work!!!

Written by ScoobyScotty on 03.02.2026 at 05:59

I hate that you make me choose between Omnium Gatherum and The Halo Effect.

It is exactly the level of sadism during award season you can expect on MS.

Another harf is best video,artwork have seen a lot and cant remeber all

Where would you guys put Tómarúm? Extreme progressive? Asking because it seems to be in a few categories already. As usual, thanks for doing these!

Written by Ardynaika on 15.02.2026 at 17:20

Where would you guys put Tómarúm? Extreme progressive? Asking because it seems to be in a few categories already. As usual, thanks for doing these!

They were considered for Extreme Progressive during the staff nomination phase. I'd say that's a yes

Written by Vellichor on 02.02.2026 at 18:13

Written by Shmelevod on 01.02.2026 at 19:24

I really think we need to make distinct 'Brutal/Technical/Atmospheric/Whatever Death Metal' category. Having to choose between Dormant Ordeal, Jade, 1914 and Baest feels terrible. Last year it was the same when Ulcerate stole all the votes.

I do agree that we need multiple categories for DM, just not sure the best way to do it. You can tell a lot of the good ones get put into the Avantgarde, Extreme Prog, or Symphonic to avoid omitting a lot of the pure DM albums. For example Guib mentioned how Retromorphosis latest didn’t make the cut for Extreme Prog, but that one is an obvious fit to the DM category to my ears, even though it is some proggy tech death.

Maybe breaking it into Traditional/OSDM, adding BDM to Grindcore since that’s probably one of the least listened categories and they are very adjacent, and making a new category for Prog/Tech Death to open up a few more spots in the crowded Extreme Prog category while keeping Melodeath/Extreme Power/Viking its own thing. I’m probably overthinking this for a genre I barely listen to but I’m bored today so might as well!

The traditional/modern split is roughly what i would have suggested as well.
Brutal/Technical could share a category, where Cytotoxin, Cryptopsy, Kakothanasy and Unbirth would have been very strong competition for my preferred Brainblast.
The inclusion of Brutal to Grindcore could mean the Grindcore category gets completely overrun by quite tech leaning stuff, should Wormed, Origin, Cytotoxin, Desecravity and Defeated Sanity decide to release in the same year, also it would probably mean it gets overrun by Brutal Death Metal in general.

Written by theFIST on 17.02.2026 at 18:26

The traditional/modern split is roughly what i would have suggested as well.
Brutal/Technical could share a category, where Cytotoxin, Cryptopsy, Kakothanasy and Unbirth would have been very strong competition for my preferred Brainblast.
The inclusion of Brutal to Grindcore could mean the Grindcore category gets completely overrun by quite tech leaning stuff, should Wormed, Origin, Cytotoxin, Desecravity and Defeated Sanity decide to release in the same year, also it would probably mean it gets overrun by Brutal Death Metal in general.

Last year Grindcore had 41 albums released. Of those 41, only 9 had yellow ratings. Only 20 received more than 10 votes, and we can assume those who are fans of the genre voted on most albums but only 6 of the 20 were yellow. Of the yellow ratings, only one was above a 7.3. Only 5 had over 20 ratings, with two yellow ratings and the highest being a 7.1. So this means the genre is not even competitive because a quarter of the genre is being nominated and albums that may or may not be good are nominated because they have spots to fill, not because they are legitimate contenders. You are correct that it would probably be overrun by BDM, but Death Metal had 481 releases last year, which means 4.81% of albums got nominated versus 25% of Grindcore. If BDM and Grindcore merged you would probably have 1 or 2 Grindcore noms, but they would be the best albums in a niche genre alongside the standout albums in a saturated genre. This would also mean more albums that normally get passed in the old school or tech death categories would be nominated because they wouldn’t be competing in such an oversaturated category with all the death metal subgenres. So yes, Grindcore would be overshadowed but it’s not a genre that sees many fans and those fans don’t seem to actually like what’s being released that much.

Written by bazinko on 09.02.2026 at 00:17


Biggest Letdown: Helloween
The bar was just too high from their last outing. I still love the inclusive lineup they have now, but this one just did not deliver in the same way.

Crazy talk. Giants & Monsters was the album of the year!

Written by Vellichor on 17.02.2026 at 19:09

Written by theFIST on 17.02.2026 at 18:26

The traditional/modern split is roughly what i would have suggested as well.
Brutal/Technical could share a category, where Cytotoxin, Cryptopsy, Kakothanasy and Unbirth would have been very strong competition for my preferred Brainblast.
The inclusion of Brutal to Grindcore could mean the Grindcore category gets completely overrun by quite tech leaning stuff, should Wormed, Origin, Cytotoxin, Desecravity and Defeated Sanity decide to release in the same year, also it would probably mean it gets overrun by Brutal Death Metal in general.

Last year Grindcore had 41 albums released. Of those 41, only 9 had yellow ratings. Only 20 received more than 10 votes, and we can assume those who are fans of the genre voted on most albums but only 6 of the 20 were yellow. Of the yellow ratings, only one was above a 7.3. Only 5 had over 20 ratings, with two yellow ratings and the highest being a 7.1. So this means the genre is not even competitive because a quarter of the genre is being nominated and albums that may or may not be good are nominated because they have spots to fill, not because they are legitimate contenders. You are correct that it would probably be overrun by BDM, but Death Metal had 481 releases last year, which means 4.81% of albums got nominated versus 25% of Grindcore. If BDM and Grindcore merged you would probably have 1 or 2 Grindcore noms, but they would be the best albums in a niche genre alongside the standout albums in a saturated genre. This would also mean more albums that normally get passed in the old school or tech death categories would be nominated because they wouldn’t be competing in such an oversaturated category with all the death metal subgenres. So yes, Grindcore would be overshadowed but it’s not a genre that sees many fans and those fans don’t seem to actually like what’s being released that much.

I was unaware that the reality of the genre on here is so much bleaker than the solid selection in the category makes it appear, in that case merging makes sense

Written by Vellichor on 17.02.2026 at 19:09

So yes, Grindcore would be overshadowed but it’s not a genre that sees many fans and those fans don’t seem to actually like what’s being released that much.

Think you could say that about a couple of the categories. When was the last time we had a good selection of symphonic metal albums? Or Power? Or Hard rock?

Written by A Real Mönkey on 19.02.2026 at 02:54

Written by Vellichor on 17.02.2026 at 19:09

So yes, Grindcore would be overshadowed but it’s not a genre that sees many fans and those fans don’t seem to actually like what’s being released that much.

Think you could say that about a couple of the categories. When was the last time we had a good selection of symphonic metal albums? Or Power? Or Hard rock?

The hard rock selection is excellent if you ask me, toughest choice.

Written by A Real Mönkey on 19.02.2026 at 02:54

Think you could say that about a couple of the categories. When was the last time we had a good selection of symphonic metal albums? Or Power? Or Hard rock?

I don’t disagree much there either. It seems like as a whole metal has started shifting away from the traditionally popular genres and now most of the records that gain any traction are a mix of one of the extreme genres + post/prog/gaze/core, or just basic melodic black/death and they all fight over a few select categories and the rest of the votes go to whatever band has best name recognition in the other categories. And I don’t mean that as a criticism in any way, just an observation.

Hey metalheads, Spotify partially fixed their API so I could finally run my usual script to create the Awards playlists. They come a bit late this, but well.. better late than never right ? Have fun!

And as usual, huge thanks to the staff for those selections. I always end up discovering new great music in there, even though I consider myself very active in music research all year long

Alternative Metal
Ambient / Drone / Noise
Avantgarde / Experimental Metal
Black Metal
Death Metal
Djent / Math Metal
Doom Metal
Extreme Doom Metal
Extreme Progressive Metal
Folk / Pagan / Viking Metal
Gothic Metal
Grindcore
Hard Rock
Hardcore / Metalcore / Deathcore
Heavy / Traditional Metal
Industrial / Cyber / Electronic Metal
Melodeath / Extreme Power / Gothenburg Metal
Melodic Black Metal
Metalgaze
Post-Metal
Power Metal
Progressive Metal
Sludge Metal
Stoner Metal
Symphonic Metal
Thrash / Speed Metal
Clandestine Cut Of The Year
The Best Debut Album

Written by Liafev on 20.02.2026 at 12:01

Hey metalheads, Spotify partially fixed their API so I could finally run my usual script to create the Awards playlists. They come a bit late this, but well.. better late than never right ? Have fun!

I was actually going to ask if anyone had some kind of list, so thank you for this!

There's been some interesting discussion regarding death metal in this thread. We will have internal discussion about it ahead of next year, but I will say from my perspective that I don't think it's necessary to introduce additional categories for it. I think death metal albums have quite a few routes to get nominated - on top of the primary category, anything that is veering towards deathgrind tends to end up in the Grindcore category (as do some brutal death bands, such as Benighted), tech-death that goes in a more complex direction (First Fragment) often spills over into Extreme Progressive, anything that goes particularly weird often ends up in Avant-Garde, and then there's Symphonic for symphonic death and Melodeath for the more melodically inclined death metal (e.g. Grenadier this year). Death Metal does end up as one of the more competitive categories each year, but the Modern/Traditional route potentially opens a can of worms of something might need doing for Black (and possibly Progressive) as well, not to mention I think having a category dedicated to traditional sounds does potentially mean having a category that is cut off from having innovative acts in it, which I'm not too keen on (even the Heavy/Trad category, which by its nature is set up for classic-sounding bands, can be open to more unusual sounds such as those of Nite or Scimitar).

The one area in which we probably should be considering adding more categories is seeing if Hard/Metal/Deathcore should have any split, particularly with a year as strong as this.

Written by John_Doe on 19.02.2026 at 09:21

Written by A Real Mönkey on 19.02.2026 at 02:54

Think you could say that about a couple of the categories. When was the last time we had a good selection of symphonic metal albums? Or Power? Or Hard rock?

The hard rock selection is excellent if you ask me, toughest choice.

I gotta agree with you there. Monkey is tripping. Hard Rock as been solid for many years in a row if you ask me. This year I was torn between 3 albums (Cold In Berlin, Phantom Spell and Wytch Hazel) with others not too far behind. And I'm not even that big on this category at all. Nice to find these gems every year.

Damn, DM category is always the hardest for me.
I'm torn between Sphere - Inferno (groovy as hell), Throne - That Who Sat (total banger) and Dormant Ordeal - Tooth And Nail (amazing overall but an absolute bummer 😞)
I keep changing my vote 🤣

As for the categories discussion I vote for:
Death Metal
Technical DM
Progressive DM

There will always be albums that fit all of them, but having too many categories dilutes the value of the awards I think. And we already have too many of them...

Aaand my votes are here!
Not that much to comment about them, as always I come with a huge backlog BUT it was slightly less this year, and hope it will be even less so next year. So by the time MSA releases I will have been more familiar with more albums already. Cause now some of the votes are like 'yeah, that can change once I get back to this album in a couple of months'.
The votes themselves are self-explanatory, just a few comments.
Post-metal is stoked this year, definitely the strongest category. And while I think I would have voted for Dimscua, had it been nominated, Pothamus is sooo close, I don't want them to be left out, and I snuck a vote for Dimscua for debut album. But really, the worst album in that category is still a very strong 7 for me.
Thrash is also surprisingly good, considered how bored of the genre I've grown in the past. Coroner got my vote but I think Testament or Species would have won any of the past couple of years.
So just 2 write-ins in main categories then -- The Protomen may be my favorite album of this year, but after all these years I still don't know how to advertiese a hard rock opera about dystopian Mega Man. It's full of bangers. No surprise they haven't got nominated, while they do have a strong fanbase, it's still a separate bubble and the release date is a bit of a clusterfuck, and they've got only themselves to blame for the weird decisions they've made regarding this. I also was surprised to see them already being put as a write-in before I voted - so cheers, zach.buddie, a true man of culture.
The other is Eyes. I don't like metalcore in general, but Eyes actually I do enjoy.

The one album that surprised me from being missed from nominations is Agriculture... then I saw that it didn't click with the staff at all. What can I say, it is popular in my bubble. And I liked it a lot, had it been in Blackgaze, it'd have been my second choice.
The other surprise is that deathcore band being featured in the debut album... perhaps I'm biased cause of my dislike for the genre but I think there are way more other interesting debuts -- including the ones you nominated yourselves.

Alright, for me MSA wouldn't be complete if I hadn't complained politely said which albums didn't belong in which category. While there's a couple I'd definitely have placed somewhere else, I can see the logic of them being there but there is an only one which is a complete miss and it's Spiritworld.

------------
AND THE ONLY IMPORTANT THINGS IN THE ENTIRE POST:

A) I discovered a lot! While I think I do keep a pretty good record of getting to interesting albums on my own, every year there is something for me to find here, which I would have missed but this year I think it's a record. After first listens I think Drowned in Silver is the most interesting one (and they're Polish too).

B) To the staff: Thank you, thank you, thank you. (not an accident I said it thrice, maybe the gratitude will be better remembered (: )
Putting this together sounds like an enormous amount of work, but what nobody almost always mentions is the write-ups. 278 if I recall (main categories + that one debut + dramas). I don't know how many people will actually read them all, but I know I did and had fun doing so. I especially enjoyed some of the dry jokes - 2 of them I was sure they were made by RaduP but he had told me that it was ScreamingSteelUS's deed. Well, maybe if I had been more regular here, I'd have found out on my own... Also a shoutout to musclassia for mentioning Pure Reason Revolution in one of the write-ups (even though I don't hear that much of a resemblance, any mention of them deserves a praise!)

Was fun, thanks, guys.

Ulver in "the biggest letdown" category?!