I thought I was alone as far as the opinion about Forest of Shadows new album... Guess not, since it won "biggest letdown"

Written by MetalManic on 01.03.2009 at 03:54

The only reason why some of the bands won was not by how great their album was but rather how large their fan base is:

EX: Meshuggah wins with 394
--the next 3 runners up

Cryptopsy - The Unspoken King 78
Textures - Silhouettes 71
Burst - Lazarus Bird 70 (look how close these are)

Give me a break.! The reviewers will agree. All in all, these awards are fun but in most cases its sadly a popularity contest

It IS just a popularity contest and the results are as predictable as always. The sense behind this all is that per nomination we lift unknown bands onto the same level as the well-known ones, so that people might consider giving the unknown ones a try before voting. Most people are too lazy to check some of the contestants and will just go for what they know, some others however will give plenty of bands a listen before placing their final judgement. Thus even if the results are crap, at least we do achieve what we want to achieve: introducing our more devoted readers to the cream of the crop. And giving some extra exposure to those bands which deserve it.

I was quite taken aback to see that MS has won the best drama category though.

I hadn't noticed, but why does the Gah! coming out it matter is such a big deal?, did he killed his partner?, did he raped a man?, did he harassed the male audience in a concert?

Written by Piro on 01.03.2009 at 05:15

I thought I was alone as far as the opinion about Forest of Shadows new album... Guess not, since it won "biggest letdown"

you are confusing your vote with the actual winner - In Flames "A Sense of Purpose"

Written by Visioneerie on 01.03.2009 at 05:06
Septic Flesh takes over the death metal category, ... there are no words to describe this crap, except for what i just wrote.

Maximum agreement, sir. (Sorry I didn't like Banishment as much as Human Mincer, so the cake stayed with Decrepit.) Almost as ridiculous is Arkona taking the video award. I mean seriously, nothing happens except a girl in old-style garb walks alone through a forest/field. What the fuck? All the other nominees were at least a million times better. (Except AA/DT/Ev - perhaps half a million times better.)

As per usual, none of the things I picked won, except perhaps if I had chosen Haggard/Esoteric/Moonspell/Cult of Luna (didn't vote there). What's really surprising is that Maiden's DVD got 23 votes compared to Within Temptation's 44. About the only thing that makes me happy is the debut where Warbringer won, while my pick Acid Witch came 5th. So kvlt.

edit - it would be nice if we could see a few more results for goth & grind. It doesn't seem fair to mention an O write-in as a distant 11th in the vid category while others are cut off way before 10.

It's to bad Gorath didn't win.... I think they really deserved it. I knew no body would beat Opeth but I'm still disappointed Enslaved didn't win best prog album.

Nice to see a few of my votes win but most of them seemed to either be 2nd or WAY down. Atleast it was fun

Man...only one band I voted for won anything. But looking at the winners overall its not surprising (Metallica, AC/DC, Amon Amarth, Opeth, Avantasia), the big names always win. And looking at the nominees I've come to the conclusion 2008 was generally a shit year in metal, 2009 seems to be looking better already. The one thing that bothers me (despite the fact I knew they would win), was Metallica taking best heavy metal category, say what you will about Metallica, whether you hated or loved the new album, and I know everyones happy about them trying to clean the shit out of their undies with this album, I find it hard to believe so many people thought it was the overall best. Lets pretend for a minute (and only a minute) that I actually thought Death Magnetic was actually worth the the materials it was printed on, I still have to say there were plenty of other bands out there doing what they were doing but much better, either way.

But at least this further proves that you are all completely stupid

This isn't just a cut-down because I dislike most of the albums that won, but even the albums I voted for were pretty bottom-of-the-barrel compared to other years. For the most part it was almost a "lesser of two evils" type thing. Looking at upcoming releases I gotta say that next year I'll probably have oodles to choose from.

When I first looked at the page and read it I thought "HOLY SHIT! All my favorite albums won!", little did I realize that was my own vote....

So thats the last of my bitching, but you'll be happy to know I'm very optimistic about 2009. Hate to come across as a negative nelly - but heres to a shit year in metal

I am ok with some winners and I'm dissapointed with other ones. Yeah, popularity over quality (but not in all cases), but there are popular (maybe not so popular) winner bands that deserve their place (ex. Haggard).
Big names that won this year? imo Meshuggah, Opeth, Haggard, Darkthrone, Moonspell, Metallica, Testament, Avantasia, AC/DC, Amon Amarth...
Who deserves their victory? maybe not all of them (I didn't vote on some categories), but I liked the final result in many of them.
But come on, Amon Amarth? yeah, they are great but I think Hollenthon made a great work, Opus Magnum is simply a great album, and Twilight is... kinda boring. Mar De Grises released an awesome album but well... we know the story. There were great covers last year, and let me tell you that Opeth's cover of "Would?" isn't one of them. "Slainia" is maybe one of the most overrated albums of 2008 imo, it is really boring, I liked more Týr's "Land" or Sig Ar Tyr - Beyond The North Winds.

Finally, I think In Flames deserved the biggest letdown and Metallica deserved the biggest surprise award.

PS. Yes I voted for Metallica and Moonspell, so? Deal with it.

Opeth won by a landslide, they deserved to win. I think In Mourning should've won the best debut album but unfortunately I couldn't vote more than once

All the rest seemed fine, I don't remember anything shocking, this was like the Oscars, the winners were kinda predicable.

On a last note, I'm glad Moonspell won since they are a great band and Portuguese, but I didn't vote in that category because I hadn't listened to all of the albums nominated.

Written by Fhuesc on 01.03.2009 at 05:53

I hadn't noticed, but why does the Gah! coming out it matter is such a big deal?, did he killed his partner?, did he raped a man?, did he harassed the male audience in a concert?

I was surprised as well that so many people write that one as biggest drama. It's like you said. But what this shows is the huge amount of homophobia still rampant in the metal scene.
If people had voted this in Biggest SURPRISE than I could understand but certainly not in drama, there is nothing dramatic about a guy coming out of the closet.

Wtf I totally didn't expect Eluveitie to win over Equilibrium!
Amon AMarth got the 60% of the votes in their category

LOL, none of the bands I voted for did win (except for Metallica), the only thing I wanted to win was Kamelot's video and it didnt...
also Ayreon, Draconian, Edenbridge and Serenity though I didnt expect them to win, and I was Shocked to know that Eluveitie won not Equilibrium!!!!

Atmospheric/Symphonic Metal was pretty much as expected, except for Battlelore - overvalued, IMHO.

Power Metal - wow, I knew that '08 was a bad year, but more than 50% of these albums are mediocre at best. Sabaton did surprisingly bad, event if they were a write-in.

Opeth...well they took it all. Could have at least lost in the Best DVD category. Amaseffer could have done a bit better in both Debut Album and Progressive categories, but oh well, there's always next year, at least for the latter category.

Jorn could have at least entered the list in Hard Rock, but that maybe just goes to show that he's better off singing and letting other do the songwriting.

Anyhow, congrats to all the winners!

Written by Enissa on 01.03.2009 at 14:23

I was Shocked to know that Eluveitie won not Equilibrium!!!!

This seems to be a rather common opinion.

I think it's quite funny that everybody complains about the big names to win the awards. Ofcourse Opeth would also win with the worst album of all time, but they released a great album last year and deserved to win! With Moonspell it's the same (imo) and also the Amon Amarth album is pretty good (although i voted for Hollenthon because Opus Magnum is amazing). The only winner that shocked me is Metallica. Death Magnetics is one of the worst albums I ever listened to (at the same level as St. Anger imo ). It hurts if you see an album like that winning with so many votes but it was somehow predictable ^^

It was unbelievable to see that gojira (was left awardless, cmon man!) and bloodbath was not nominated for the best death metal.
volbeat and motörhead should have also been nominated for the best heavy metal.
theatres des vampires and draconian (especially) deserved at least a nomination for the best gothic metal.
and daylight dies was left out of the best doom metal!

I'm ashamed.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 01.03.2009 at 04:45

Written by Talvi on 01.03.2009 at 04:40

Metal Storm Awards: Biggest joke in metal.

We already know which band is the most popular. Cryptopsy over Textures? With the crap they released?

Just let me LOL

Aha a pissed off fanboy, always fun.Even though I like the latest Textures it is their weakest imo whereas the latest Cryptopsy is their best by far. Thank god no more generic brutal death metal for the midless masses.

Uh? Pissed off fanboy? I don't think Textures should win because I like them, I think that if every voter had listened to every band, the results would be different.

And I liked latest Cryptopsy as much or more than their death metal releases.

Written by Doc G. on 01.03.2009 at 08:49

When I first looked at the page and read it I thought "HOLY SHIT! All my favorite albums won!", little did I realize that was my own vote....

Same for me.. When I saw the green name of In Extremo in video section, I said to my self "I knew it, that video was all the way the best", but when I opened the page I realized that that video hasn't reach even 10 votes..
And it was same for all other sections, but Progressive Metal and Gothic Metal that bands that I voted for won.

I wasn't too surprised this year as far as how the votes went, since most of the big names won, the only difference from last year seems to be that many of the big name releases where actually good (although not necessarily the best). Only real surprise was Eluvintide (even though I'd knew they would at least come in second). I guess those who found equilibrium better also had somewhat less rabid love of the album than the others, or folk fans were just put off by Sagas occasionally stepping out of the typical folk genre.

As for the best video, I kind of knew it was going to win for some reason. Maybe because of the subtle beauty of the video, even if the chick (or was it a guy?) was singing like a man.

I voted for Gahl coming out. I don't think it was really drama as it was more of a surprise, considering his anti-homosexuality views, as well as the idea of one of the most influential black metallers to be gay just seems a little funny, but I guess homosexuality is more blasphemous.

Written by Paradox0 on 01.03.2009 at 18:30

..considering his anti-homosexuality views...

Wait wait wait... maybe I'm missing something or my memory sucks, but can you please give reference for this?

Written by Sunioj on 01.03.2009 at 18:43

Written by Paradox0 on 01.03.2009 at 18:30

..considering his anti-homosexuality views...

Wait wait wait... maybe I'm missing something or my memory sucks, but can you please give reference for this?

To be completely honest, that was based on what my cousin said who's pretty much in the well know of black metal and who said or believes what. I'm guessing it's in some interview but beyond that I wouldn't be able to help much

I cant believe so much people voted for Arkona or wathever the name is in the video category. Some chick with a percussion in the forest?. Thats pretty fucked up if you tell me. Fuck you you horny pubers.

Written by Evil Chip on 01.03.2009 at 19:23

I cant believe so much people voted for Arkona or wathever the name is in the video category. Some chick with a percussion in the forest?. Thats pretty fucked up if you tell me. Fuck you you horny pubers.

What did you vote?

The biggest missunderstanding and nonsense in these awards were that In Mourning was not nominated in any category. Its a big shame. And also i cant get how Slania could beat Mana.

I didn't vote in every category, but I did pretty well in the ones I did vote in. I was really hoping that more people would have voted for Abigail Williams in the Best Debut Album category, but that's personal preference.. and what voting is all about, I suppose.

It would appear that I have some new albums to check out.

Written by annodomini on 01.03.2009 at 20:26

The biggest missunderstanding and nonsense in these awards were that In Mourning was not nominated in any category. Its a big shame. And also i cant get how Slania could beat Mana.

Well, true but I voted them for the best debut album
Anyway Slania beated Sagas, not Mana

Absolute horse shit if you ask me...the lot of em. So Meshuggah won, which is cool, then again they were in the fucking Alternative catagory!!? WHo in their right minds put them in there, what the fuck!?

For the rest it sucked, Dark Throne shouldnt have won, terrible album, Avantasia shouldnt even be on there, and Eluveitie is NOT better than either Tyr or Equilibrium and Amon Amarth won because every other sod on here likes them eventhough all their shit sound EXACLTY the same.

Seriously I dont understand the point of this dumb awards thing, because people always vote for the most obvious albums, as if they only listen to what is shoved down their throats and dont delve deeper to find the real gems in metal.

Written by [user id=1909] on 01.03.2009 at 21:14

For the rest it sucked, Dark Throne shouldnt have won, terrible album...

Seriously I dont understand the point of this dumb awards thing, because people always vote for the most obvious albums, as if they only listen to what is shoved down their throats and dont delve deeper to find the real gems in metal.

First note...take another look in the black metal category, A Forest of Stars DID win, not Darkthrone. I was almost certain every goldbricker on here would vote for Darkthrone! I'm happy to see that A Forest of Stars won best Black metal and best Debut album!!

Though Gorath had an AWESOME release as well.

And no... most people won't look TOO much deeper, but who cares, right? Just a website, you've got your opinion and they have theirs (though others fuck shit up, lol). The Dude abides...

*looks at results*
Huh?
*sits in corner and cries like a little Emo bitch*