Visions From the Darkside 2/3/13

This week get the headlines, of course, and we discuss the Brutal 5, we destroy the Revolver Golden God awards, Metal Storm Awards, The best music to work out with, and more metal topics... your weekly dose of metal perspective, Visions From the Darkside, Sundays at 10p only on NO CONTROL Radio www.nocontrolradio.com

Revolver Announce Golden Gods Nominees and Award Show Headliner: Metallica

The fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards will take place Thursday, May 2, at Club Nokia in Downtown LA. Fozzy frontman and WWE pro-wrestling personality Chris Jericho will host for the fourth consecutive year. The nominees in 11 different fan-voted categories, plus the recipients of this year's prestigious Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement Award, Golden God Award and Riff Lord were revealed at a press conference at the Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood in Los Angeles.

The Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement Award, will go to hard-rock and metal icons Metallica as well as the headlining slot on the show that will be broadcast live on AXS TV and XBox Live.  Metallica's Lars Ulrich commented: 

"Since the Revolver Golden Gods Awards is fast becoming THE most rocking awards ceremony in the hard rock world, we are beyond psyched to be at the receiving end of this shout out and in the distinguished company of RUSH, Lemmy, Ozzy and MÖTLEY CRÜE. I was hanging out and presenting at the shenanigans two years ago and the energy in the room and the vibe backstage was beyond f-cking cool, so Metallica is chomping at the bit to partake in this year's event. Once again, we are honored to be recognized as achievers (!!) and we can't wait to get up and jam onstage and sweat for and on everybody gathered."

You can cast your vote to decide who will take home the awards for Best Guitarist, Best Drummer, Best Vocalist, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Live Band, Best New Talent, Most Metal Athlete, Comeback of the Year, Paul Gray Best Bassist and Most Dedicated Fans.

Voting is now open at GoldenGodsAwards.com and ends April 15

The nominees for the 2013 Revolver Golden Gods Awards are:

Best Guitarist

• John 5 (Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson)
• Stephen Carpenter (Deftones)
• Alex Lifeson (Rush)
• Misha Mansoor (Periphery)
• Brendon Small (Dethklok)
• Kim Thayil (Soundgarden)

Best Drummer

• Abe Cunningham (Deftones)
• Mario Duplantier (Gojira)
• Arejay Hale (Halestorm)
• Gene Hoglan (Dethklok, Testament)
• Roy Mayorga (Stone Sour)
• Neil Peart (Rush)

Paul Gray Best Bassist

• Rex Brown (Kill Devil Hill, Pantera)
• Steve Harris (Iron Maiden)
• Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead)
• Geddy Lee (Rush)
• Jason Newsted (Newsted, Metallica)
• Sergio Vega (Deftones)

Best Vocalist

• Philip Anselmo (Down, Pantera)
• Maria Brink (In This Moment)
• Chris Cornell (Soundgarden)
• Lzzy Hale (Halestorm)
• Chino Moreno (Deftones)
• Corey Taylor (Stone Sour, Slipknot)

Best New Talent

• Device
• Ghost
• Kvelertak
• Miss May I
• Of Mice & Men
• Young Guns

Most Metal Athlete

• Tom Crabtree (Green Bay Packers, NFL)
• Tanner Faust (Rally and drifting car racing)
• Clay Guida (Mixed Martial Arts fighting, UFC)
• Triple H (WWE wrestling)
• Geoff Rowley (Skateboarding)
• CJ Wilson (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, MLB)

Best Live Band

• Anthrax
• Five Finger Death Punch
• Hatebreed
• Lamb of God
• Slipknot
• Volbeat

Comeback Of The Year

• Aerosmith
• The Darkness
• Quicksand
• Refused
• Soundgarden
• Tenacious D

Song Of The Year

• Asking Alexandria - "Run Free"
• Avenged Sevenfold -"Carry On"
• Black Veil Brides - "In The End"
• Dethklok - "I Ejaculate Fire"
• Halestorm - "Love Bites (So Do I)"
• In This Moment - "Blood"

Most Dedicated Fans

• Black Label Society
• Black Veil Brides
• A Day to Remember 
• Him
• Rammstein
• Slipknot

Album Of The Year

• Deftones - "Koi No Yokan"
• Gojira - "L'Enfant Sauvage"
• Halestorm - "The Strange Case Of…"
• Marilyn Manson - "Born Villain"
• Soundgarden - "King Animal"
• Stone Sour - "House Of Gold & Bones Part 1"

That Time Revolver Went the Way of the Buffalo

Korn's new record hits the shelves on Dec 6th, but is already polarizing metal fans, maybe better stated rock fans. With pieces of the album being released and lambasted by anyone who has any sense of self respect, it was an utter surprise that Revolver Magazine has not only put it in their top 20 records of the year, but named it the best album of 2011.

All things considered The Path of Totality is not the worst album of the year (I reserve that for Lulu), and they are embarking on territory that is not unfamiliar. Venturing into the dubstep realm is not a departure from their mixtures of the past, working with electronica artists and carving a small home out of the charred remains of the Nu Metal take over from the late 90s.

It is simply astounding though how this relic of the doldrums of 90s metal can garner the accolades of the 'premiere' hard rock magazine Revolver with an album that has not even been heard yet by most people. There is no doubt that it will sell, chart, and earn some praise, but with releases from Mastodon, Anthrax, Machine Head, Weedeater and so many more amazing bands allowing this to be the 'best' defies logic.

Yet the fact that this will ruffle the feathers of so many with an opinion, this may be a smart move just to make sure people are talking and buying magazines, however, my subscription is now cancelled.

Shatner is a Honorary Headbanger

The Revolver Golden God awards, one of the only awards for heavy music out in the big world of entertainment, decided that it would be a great idea to hand out honorary awards. In theory it might be a good idea if chosen are legendary people who directly influence the culture of heavy metal.

An Honorary Headbanger award will be issued this year to none other than William Shatner. You probably read earlier in the year about Shatner working with Zakk Wylde, but just curious if that makes him an integral part of metal music culture.

"Short of receiving an Emmy for my superb voice, the Honorary Headbanger Award is the next best thing. Praise be you won't hear me sing," said William Shatner.

I love the guy, I think what he did with "Rocket Man" was incredible, and he is a hell of a lot of fun to watch, but not sure where this idea came from. Last I checked, I loved me some Star Trek, but it did not make me metal, then again getting your trekkie ass kicked enough times will turn you to Slayer, so maybe it did. LONG LIVE SHATNER!