Awards Voting Now Closed
So this, the 10th Annual Metal Storm Awards, have come to pass.
The awards have continued to grow, with numerous categories surpassing 1000 votes cast, despite a lack of big name clout. For point of comparison, Therion was the biggest vote getter in our first ever awards, racking up 191 for Lemuria. In 2014 they barely would have cracked the Top 25. And that is only if Kvelertak doesn't score two more votes as I type this during the waning hours of the month. That is some growth.
While in general this lack of big names in many genres lead to some closer contests, as with each of the prior 9 editions, we also had the typical big name beat downs. Carcass racked up nearly 600 votes, nearly half cast in the Death Metal field. TesseracT also pulled nearly half the votes in Djent, thumping their competitors. Ever popular Amorphis exorcised Ghost B.C. by over 200 votes, and garnering a third of the vote in a busy Heavy/Melodic metal.
Conversely Orphaned Land won a relatively tight 20 vote victory over Finntroll in a strong Folk / Pagan / Viking cast, and Amaranthe for eeking out a "count the difference on your fingers" victory over Shining in Industrial/Cyber Metal. Congrats and hails to Gloryhammer for winning Best Debut.
Best Clandestine Cut was the newest, bestest, tightest race ever. How tight? Try a tie. Our first tie ever. Deception was winning by a paltry two votes over Pin-Up Went Down as I wrote this up with about an hour before voting closed and went down to the wire as a tie with 20 minutes to go. This has left me furiously typing and updating this piece so it's accurate. Maybe we can find the brick who voted for My Dying Bride to break the tie?
Earlier this year your humble narrator didn't have great things to say about the latest Megadeth? Looks like the Metal Storm masses found it equally limp, Burn!ing it with Biggest Letdown, with more than double the write-ins of second place "winner" Turisas.
And much to my surprise,Carcass Black Sabbath took Biggest Surprise for making an album that wasn't even remotely surprising. Not sure what y'all were expecting from them? Grind Zydeco? Death Doom Himalayan Throat Singing?
Check out all our winners here.
So 10 up, 10 down. Congratulations to our winners. But more importantly, congratulations to those fans who found new bands, and those bands who found new fans.
The awards have continued to grow, with numerous categories surpassing 1000 votes cast, despite a lack of big name clout. For point of comparison, Therion was the biggest vote getter in our first ever awards, racking up 191 for Lemuria. In 2014 they barely would have cracked the Top 25. And that is only if Kvelertak doesn't score two more votes as I type this during the waning hours of the month. That is some growth.
While in general this lack of big names in many genres lead to some closer contests, as with each of the prior 9 editions, we also had the typical big name beat downs. Carcass racked up nearly 600 votes, nearly half cast in the Death Metal field. TesseracT also pulled nearly half the votes in Djent, thumping their competitors. Ever popular Amorphis exorcised Ghost B.C. by over 200 votes, and garnering a third of the vote in a busy Heavy/Melodic metal.
Conversely Orphaned Land won a relatively tight 20 vote victory over Finntroll in a strong Folk / Pagan / Viking cast, and Amaranthe for eeking out a "count the difference on your fingers" victory over Shining in Industrial/Cyber Metal. Congrats and hails to Gloryhammer for winning Best Debut.
Best Clandestine Cut was the newest, bestest, tightest race ever. How tight? Try a tie. Our first tie ever. Deception was winning by a paltry two votes over Pin-Up Went Down as I wrote this up with about an hour before voting closed and went down to the wire as a tie with 20 minutes to go. This has left me furiously typing and updating this piece so it's accurate. Maybe we can find the brick who voted for My Dying Bride to break the tie?
Earlier this year your humble narrator didn't have great things to say about the latest Megadeth? Looks like the Metal Storm masses found it equally limp, Burn!ing it with Biggest Letdown, with more than double the write-ins of second place "winner" Turisas.
And much to my surprise,
Check out all our winners here.
So 10 up, 10 down. Congratulations to our winners. But more importantly, congratulations to those fans who found new bands, and those bands who found new fans.
Comments page 2 / 5
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| TheMAGAmvm Soycrusher Posts: 1086  |
Those that expect awards to be a competition based on quality material must have been delusional. Awards are popularity contests. Be it world-wide recognized and famous awards or obscure ones. Many people do not widen their musical limits other than listening the classics of a genre. If you guys considered that this voting is abysmal, no biggy, on the most popular Romanian metal site, Metallica got no.1 6 years in a row, Manowar got no.1 for best album when they released The Lord of Steel, this year Negura Bunget got no.1 and so on. Some metalheads just do not listen to anything else rather than Metallica, Megadeth, Manowar, Rammstein and other popular bands. I consider this award as far better than most I've seen. Surely, on a romanian site you will not see Carcass, Inquisition, Avatarium, Enshine, Ihsahn to win, not even more popular bands like Stratovarius , Dream Theater or Amorphis. This is how bad it is. I myself consider the industrial/cyber/electronic section as the worst. I mean seriously, Amaranthe of all things? Expected Carcass to win by a vast majority as the album is great and the waiting amplified the expectations, it was natural. I expected Black Sabbath to also win in Biggest Surprize. Had no doubt about Amon Amarth and Summoning as well. Disappointed a little bit that SubRosa did not win in sludge/stoner as Kylesa's new work is kinda weak compared to More Constant Than The Gods. Inquisition released a good one but pales in comparison with Gris's new opus. I actually nailed 10 no.1 albums and bands this year. LOL My suggestion for those that are whining that their favorites did not win: keep promoting them so that they will get well known and someday overcome to current popular bands. It is the only thing you can do. Expecting awards to become contests based on meritocracy is futile, since you're lucky if people listened to at least 1-2 albums out of a category.
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| Lethrokai Posts: 507  |
Well, at least Leprous won in the Best Prog Metal category. Now then, since the Top of 2014 list is now everywhere, let's watch as every single album that isn't The Behemoth gets vote-abused into oblivion.
---- Sometimes you just need to roll the dice and look away.
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| Kamil Account deleted |
Kamil
Account deleted Written by erat on 01.03.2014 at 13:37 So true, man 
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| theFIST Posts: 1075  |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 01.03.2014 at 07:41 I think even Revocation is superior to Carcass Anyways, glad Ade got in with the write ins
---- http://metalstormmusicianscorner.bandcamp.com Written by Warman on 07.11.2007 at 22:39
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| Hex_Omega Gem Seeker Posts: 1178 |
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| Darkside Momo Retired Elite Posts: 9089  |
Written by [user id=29268] on 01.03.2014 at 14:13 If you think metalheads vote differently than normal people, I'm sorry for you, dude. Remember that the true winners of the MSA are bands that gained new fans, and fans that gained new fave bands/albums, whatever the final score is. All the rest is of so little consequence...
---- My Author's Blog (in French)  "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| mz Posts: 4832  |
None of my votes won, and this is more or less what I expected. But damn death metal category is such a disappointment. I expected carcas to win, but more than 50% of votes for that album in a year totally bombarded with much better death metal records?
---- Giving my ears a rest from music.
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| Hex_Omega Gem Seeker Posts: 1178 |
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| InnerSelf proofread free Posts: 2696  |
Written by Vombatus on 01.03.2014 at 04:00 Amen to that. It's been a while now that any result in the awards concerned me, but the Death Metal votes this year were shameful. EDIT : Only vote I got "right" this year was Kylesa and I think they really deserved it (was going to vote for Leprous too but forgot to cast my vote in the prog category  ).
---- He who is not bold enough to be stared at from across the abyss is not bold enough to stare into it himself.
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| angel. Evil Butterfly Posts: 2419  |
The biggest surprise was Black Sabbath ? Awesome joke !  Yay, Megadeth won the biggest letdown  I'm so disappointed by death metal category, the winner was Carcass, it was somehow expected but I didn't think that Carcass would win it on MS, also I'm disappointed by the best black metal album category which is the one by Inquisition !!! and it has those funny unbearable vocals and imagine none of those great ones by Gris, Aosoth or even Cult of Fire ( which I don't like it but still it has quality) won ! and best avantgarde won by Ihasan  [ this band at their best sounds one of the most generic average ones ] while there had been awesome album by Terra Tenebrosa and surprisingly the best post-metal album is not Obscure Sphinx !  What ? Summoning again ? the winner in Melodic Black Metal / Metalgaze ? Just put the album by An Autumn by Crippled Children next to the one by Summoning, none of the moments in these two are comparable, seriously with a very impartial analysis, it's very easy to draw the difference between these two and easily the one by AABCC would stand out, even I think to an inexperienced listener I think. I think people who voted are lazy people who don't bother to discover new stuffs. In the end, I so agree with the winners in sludge, hardcore and thrash metal category. 
---- The Fangirl.
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| TheMAGAmvm Soycrusher Posts: 1086 |
Written by erat on 01.03.2014 at 14:20 Awards are not made for highlighting quality material, they are popularity contests. If you hadn't realized this until now then you're really naive. It is nobodies fault. Voters vote what they like, and you are lucky if there are people who listened to at least 2-3 albums in each category. If you place a popular name along bands with a lack of mainstream coverage, of course those guys will win, especially if you put Carcass's new opus awaited for more more than a decade. Yeah, all of those albums you mentioned are great, quality material, but you have to ask yourself what do people listen more. Carcass or Kalmah? LMO or Tristania? The answer is simple. Amon Amarth's album is decent, not quality material, but as long as they do not make a completely bad album, people will surely vote it simply because when you say melodeath you say Amon Amarth among other pioneers and big names. As for Summoning, it has also gotten a top place in the best 20 albums in 2013 (based on popular votes). So yeah, it was obvious that they will win in their category. Same like Amon Amarth, they did not release average material either.
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| enumaelis Posts: 266  |
As usually, I dont agree with even one of the winners XD but it was fun
---- http://enumaelis.blogspot.com/
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| VPeter Posts: 1450  |
If I may ask this to the Staff; Was I the only one who vote for Erdh in the Gothic/Symphonic metal section? If so I don't know whether to feel really kvlt or sad. For the rest no surprises and no reasons to be outraged. Discovered some nice bands again.
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| TheMAGAmvm Soycrusher Posts: 1086 |
Written by angel. on 01.03.2014 at 15:17 Wow, an unexperienced listener begins with the most mainstream bands out of a category and if he likes a certain genre, later he will venture into more obscure acts. Summoning's album is far better than AAFCC. You wish to know why Summoning is no.1 and AAFCC isn't? You should only look at the top 20 for 2013, and you will see why. What makes the awards and the top 20 similar? Both are based on subjective votes. So trying to explain about an 'impatial analysis' conducted from a subjective approach is futile. AAFCC is good because you consider it to be good and you rate it accordingly, on the other hand Summoning's latest if it is considered to be good by some individuals, they will also rate/vote it accordingly. I would've voted for them if Lost would've been released in 2013. Unfortunately, the last one is pretty much chaotic and incoherent.
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| Alex F Posts: 3519  |
Hey, nothing I voted for won! Awesome! Seriously, Carcass winning the death metal category, though expected, is really disappointing. With albums like λόγος, Vermis, Aura, The Formulas Of Death, Vexovoid, Below, and even Colored Sands, you would think that a terribly mediocre comeback album would be buried under the sheer mass of awesome music, but oh well.
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| theFIST Posts: 1075 |
Written by Alex F on 01.03.2014 at 16:50 it might have gotten buried had it not been a staff pick for the category had it been write in it wouldn"t have managed to get that much attention
---- http://metalstormmusicianscorner.bandcamp.com Written by Warman on 07.11.2007 at 22:39
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| In Bone Factory Posts: 381  |
" Hell " Should won that Heavy Genre Award. and in Melodic Black/Metalgaze there were so much better albums than Summoning's like AAFCC's. Ihsahn wasnt worthy to win Avant-garde and Inquisition shouldnt won the best Black and.... The good thing was win of Kvelertak in Hardcore... and Leprous in Progressive.
---- The End Is Nigh ...
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7595  |
Written by Darkside Momo on 01.03.2014 at 14:17 That's the only brilliant thing happens every year.
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7595 |
Written by In Bone Factory on 01.03.2014 at 17:15 Well, at least what I voted for. Great album. My favorites(in Heavy cat) is lying on 4th and 5th. But, denying Amorphis's new won't be smart move here. The reactions were strong when album dropped and I heard in glimpse so can't make fair judgement but yeah little sad that two great Heavy Metal records got low votes.
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| Lethrokai Posts: 507 |
I'll definitely agree that Kvelertak and Leprous were good decisions, but I think that Ihsahn was also quite deserving of his win as well. I may have voted for Omb, but Ihsahn had an incredible release with Das Seelenbrechen.
---- Sometimes you just need to roll the dice and look away.
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| Dinruth Posts: 442 |
I wonder at what point of time MS staff have given up on taking comments after MS awards personally ^^ ... don't get me wrong .. I too have my moments of fanboyism, but people are soooo butthurt after the awards it's crazy
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| Lawre Posts: 30  |
Seeing a lot of negativity regarding the results, but I couldn't care less. I want to thank the staff for once again putting together these awards, thereby firmly cementing February as my favourite month of the year. Spending it making an honest attempt to listen to each entry in its entirety lead to many a new discovery I would otherwise not have been fortunate enough to experience.
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| psykometal A staff guy... Elite Posts: 6101  |
Written by Dinruth on 01.03.2014 at 23:16 We never take any of the post-Awards bitching personally, or seriously. 
---- ~Zep, Database and Forum Moderation~ 
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989  |
Written by Lethrokai on 01.03.2014 at 22:47 I respect the fuck out of the man for what he's done for the metal scene and as a composer, but The Meads, Terra Tenebrosa, and Cloak Of Altering faaaaaar dwarfed him (and Vulture Industries, for that matter) with the impressive experiments in sound they dug into last year. So basically, I can dig it, because he is amazing, but most bizarre or batshit crazy release of last year in Das Seelenbrechen? Definitely not.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| VPeter Posts: 1450 |
Written by angel. on 01.03.2014 at 15:17 opinions are opinions. I checked out An Autumn for Crippled Children and I think they are crap, I would choose Summoning over them any day or any of the other albums in that category.
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| Schnabeltier 24 Posts: 87  |
Nothing for Haken and Gris  Some winners are strange (Inquisition, seriously, there has been so much good black albums this year...), but at least, thanks to this award, I listened to some bands I've ignored before. SPOIL : Behemoth's The Satanist will be the best black album of 2014 
---- Hey there, tiny wench !
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| Lethrokai Posts: 507 |
Written by Schnabeltier 24 on 02.03.2014 at 01:13 Yup, and every album that is even near The Satanist on the Top List of 2014 will mysteriously start getting lower votes!
---- Sometimes you just need to roll the dice and look away.
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