This was the first time ever I managed to vote in every single category: not only all 26 main genre categories, but the CCs and all the special ones as well. It only took 11 editions. Hooray. I also managed to pick 7 winners out of 26, which is better than usual.

I'm very proud of you all for making Havukruunu the winners of folk. Go with my blessing into the days that await.

The Best Folk / Pagan / Viking Metal Album

11. Myrkur - Folkesange (write-in vote)

Oh yes, that famous folk metal album full of acoustic singer-songwriter folk


But cool to see Havukruunu win

Oh shet, I forgot to check the write-in votes in the end of the month.
Is there a way to check all the write in votes for a category, or only the 10 top ones are displayed now and that's it?

Lewandowski difference in extreme doom

Written by Karlabos on 01.03.2021 at 00:19

Oh shet, I forgot to check the write-in votes in the end of the month.
Is there a way to check all the write in votes for a category, or only the 10 top ones are displayed now and that's it?

The write-ins that got more than 10 votes are still displayed and will remain shown in the results.

Written by Karlabos on 01.03.2021 at 00:19

Oh shet, I forgot to check the write-in votes in the end of the month.
Is there a way to check all the write in votes for a category, or only the 10 top ones are displayed now and that's it?

There's a list of all 600+ write-in votes.
Which category/categories are you interested in?

The true drama of the year...

Unable to connect to database

Written by Starvynth on 01.03.2021 at 01:05

Written by Karlabos on 01.03.2021 at 00:19

Oh shet, I forgot to check the write-in votes in the end of the month.
Is there a way to check all the write in votes for a category, or only the 10 top ones are displayed now and that's it?

There's a list of all 600+ write-in votes.
Which category/categories are you interested in?

well, avantgarde, black metal and meloblack would be nice. but mostly avantgarde

Written by Karlabos on 01.03.2021 at 01:36

well, avantgarde, black metal and meloblack would be nice. but mostly avantgarde

Here you go.

I'm baffled Unleash the Archers beat D&W by that amount.

Didn't get to listen to as much this year, but still got to enjoy a bunch of stuff I didn't know existed. Cheers as always, MS

Written by Druss on 01.03.2021 at 04:51

I'm baffled Unleash the Archers beat D&W by that amount.

Didn't get to listen to as much this year, but still got to enjoy a bunch of stuff I didn't know existed. Cheers as always, MS

Yeah, I'm very much wondering if the Shaffer drama influenced some opinions. Anyway, UtA have become very popular in the Power Metal scene and Abyss was a pretty decent record.

Written by Druss on 01.03.2021 at 04:51

I'm baffled Unleash the Archers beat D&W by that amount.

Didn't get to listen to as much this year, but still got to enjoy a bunch of stuff I didn't know existed. Cheers as always, MS

Theres no mistery really, 2020 was pretty shit for power metal, unleash the archers was one of the main releases of that style. DW never had a chance, I'm surprised it made that far considering how bad, uninspired and bland it was.

Surprised to see DT's moment win best melodeath, Mors Principium's album was far better, oh well, glad Fires in the Distance and Stygian won their categories really great releases.

Written by Uxküll on 01.03.2021 at 05:57

Surprised to see DT's moment win best melodeath, Mors Principium's album was far better, oh well,

I liked DT's album much more. I loved the return to a more Projector sound and there is just so much variation between all of the tracks. MPE's Seven was good too but it sounded repetitive to me and I found myself only revisiting Lost in a Starless Aeon after 10 or so spins. Anyway, I can totally see why people might be put off by the new DT sound and they probably won this just by simply being the bigger name band.

Written by Druss on 01.03.2021 at 04:51

I'm baffled Unleash the Archers beat D&W by that amount.

Didn't get to listen to as much this year, but still got to enjoy a bunch of stuff I didn't know existed. Cheers as always, MS

that happened a few times, where a "well known" band got a bunch of votes over the lesser known band. Nature of the beast

Strange and funny how AC/DC won the hard rock competition, when their new album was met with mockery and often negativity. There was some serious competition in the hard rock category. As much as I enjoyed Power Up, no way it would have got my vote with all the other albums there.

Written by JoHn Doe on 01.03.2021 at 08:33

Strange and funny how AC/DC won the hard rock competition, when their new album was met with mockery and often negativity. There was some serious competition in the hard rock category. As much as I enjoyed Power Up, no way it would have got my vote with all the other albums there.

Doesn't surprise me at all, AC/DC was the big one that completely overshadowed every other hard rock release last year. I doubt many people can even name another hard rock album from 2020 without checking out some internet source first, I sure can't.

Written by JoHn Doe on 01.03.2021 at 08:33

Strange and funny how AC/DC won the hard rock competition, when their new album was met with mockery and often negativity. There was some serious competition in the hard rock category. As much as I enjoyed Power Up, no way it would have got my vote with all the other albums there.

Not strange. They're the most popular band of the bunch. Simple as.

Written by Uxküll on 01.03.2021 at 05:57

Surprised to see DT's moment win best melodeath, Mors Principium's album was far better...

I'm not surprised. It's simply the fan base effect. Principium's record is indeed better... and Countless Skies' even more for that matter.

Written by RaduP on 01.03.2021 at 08:55

Written by JoHn Doe on 01.03.2021 at 08:33

Strange and funny how AC/DC won the hard rock competition, when their new album was met with mockery and often negativity. There was some serious competition in the hard rock category. As much as I enjoyed Power Up, no way it would have got my vote with all the other albums there.

Not strange. They're the most popular band of the bunch. Simple as.

it's strange to me then. It means a lot of people did not listen to the other albums, like you hoped, and voted for the band/album they knew. I was the exception it seems, i hope I was not the only one.

Written by Metal Rasputin on 01.03.2021 at 08:55

Written by JoHn Doe on 01.03.2021 at 08:33

Strange and funny how AC/DC won the hard rock competition, when their new album was met with mockery and often negativity. There was some serious competition in the hard rock category. As much as I enjoyed Power Up, no way it would have got my vote with all the other albums there.

Doesn't surprise me at all, AC/DC was the big one that completely overshadowed every other hard rock release last year. I doubt many people can even name another hard rock album from 2020 without checking out some internet source first, I sure can't.

I thought we had a month to listen to the albums suggested and then choose. No?

I planned to vote in every category until halfway through the month I got busy and stopped caring much. Voted in only 8 mainline categories, 3 winners out of them. Though it would be a lie if I said I couldn't predict most of the winners. Still, seeing most of the votes for extreme doom go to the two most boring records of the bunch is a bit disheartening. Same for Urfaust winning ambient/drone category, although that was much closer.

An "epic" battle in 'The Best Folk / Pagan / Viking Metal Album' category. Multiple exchanges in the lead, with Havukruunu racing against two "giants" and eventually surpassing them in the last couple of days. Surprising victory, but most importantly, a deserved one.

All things aside,

Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo losing in Thrash and for the love of metal, how the hell Rosy Finch's Scarlet lose the Stoner Metal category?!

That's shallow of laziness.

I'll rage.

Got a sort of question/complaint: why was my drama vote changed? Deleted I could understand, but changed?

Written by M C Vice on 01.03.2021 at 09:33

Got a sort of question/complaint: why was my drama vote changed? Deleted I could understand, but changed?

Technically there shouldn't have been any drama votes at all this year, but we forgot to fix that before the awards went live. Your vote was probably changed to be merged with a similar vote, unless it was changed to a completely different thing.

First of all, thank you to all the staff for the heart poured into these awards.

The results are more or less predictable. AC/DC for example, which is sad, considering how bland and uninspired it is. What surprised me was Lucid Planet snatching all 3 categories, including the biggest surprise (that one I was sure would go to Sepultura, maybe Ensiferum). Even though I haven't voted for Lucid Planet in prog, I've got to admit it was a great album and maybe if I had listened to it more, I would have voted for them instead of Green Carnation. Still, a fairly obscure band beating Pain of Salvation and Green Carnation was unexpected. And hey, they're #1 for 2020 now.
I just checked and they actually posted on facebook about MS Awards (twice) but then again, so did Pain of Salvation and they're like 20 times more popular.

Looking forward to next year, be sure to miss at least two important albums in nominations, because this year you forgot to do it (as in - no extreme overlooks). Happens to the best of us, eh? At least some of the albums were in wrong categories, so I could bitch about something.

(...no, but seriously, great job overall - as always)

The passive aggression from the MS Staff in the summary is hilarious. Time for an overhaul of your awards process next go-around?

Thanks to everyone that took part in these awards, to those of you who commented, tried to listen to as many nominees as possible, voted, shared your kind words of praise or your well-established criticism. It's all very much appreciated, it gives us motivation for the future, and helps us do better each year.

Personally, the result I always care more for is the Clandestine Cuts category because it is the only one in which people do have to listen before voting because the bands are largely unknown and there is no automatic winner. Last year, one of the nominees - Lamp Of Murmuur - made a bit of a breakthrough, yet didn't win. Nada winning the category is the most satisfying result for me because they deserve it 100%. I remember listening to their EP on YouTube totally by chance and really loving it. I suggested it to musclassia for a write-up in the CCs because he has a better understanding and appreciation for this kind of music than me and, of course, he nailed it. I expect great things from this band in the future.

edit: Which gives me the chance to pimp the CCs of the month of January. You have no excuse, the Awards are over so go and listen right now because it is the only category that you decide the nominees in the end. The February issue is coming this weekend.

Written by RaduP on 01.03.2021 at 09:54

Written by M C Vice on 01.03.2021 at 09:33

Got a sort of question/complaint: why was my drama vote changed? Deleted I could understand, but changed?

Technically there shouldn't have been any drama votes at all this year, but we forgot to fix that before the awards went live. Your vote was probably changed to be merged with a similar vote, unless it was changed to a completely different thing.

Sort of. My vote was for the sheer number of different spellings used for Covid 19 in the write ins. I even made sure to use 2 different spellings in my vote. My vote now says it's just Covid 19.