The Heavy Music Awards has today unveiled the 2020 nominations shortlist, who will now go forward for public vote to win at the annual ceremony – taking place Thursday 21 May at London O2 Kentish Town Forum. The HMAs are renowned as the staple, raucous celebration of talent across the entire landscape of the rock community – recognising artists, events, producers and photographers alike. Leading this year’s nominations are Bring Me The Horizon, Slipknot and Rammstein, garnering four nominations each. Other names up for the coveted gongs are Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes, Poppy, Enter Shikari, Don Broco, Rammstein, BABYMETAL and many more. Voting is open now, with all voters entered into the draw to win free-tickets to the biggest party in the rock calendar https://vote.heavymusicawards.com/.
UK rock torchbearers Bring Me The Horizon picked up nominations for Best Album and Best UK Band reflecting the huge success they have enjoyed following their sixth album ‘amo’. They’ll have to fend off tough competition from previous winners Architects, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, homegrown metalcore heroes Bury Tomorrow, Creeper, While She Sleeps and Venom Prison.
Masked metallers Slipknot picked up multiple nominations including Best International Band, Best Album presented By Amazon Music and Best Live band presented by O2 Kentish Town Forum. They are joined in the latter category by aussie metal powerhouse Parkway Drive – following their debut Bloodstock headline set, as well as the pyro-loving Rammstein, swedish melodic death metal pioneers, Amon Amarth, Behemoth, Belgian post hardcore trio Brutus and the incendiary Fever 333.
The Heavy Music Awards have relentlessly championed new music and provided a platform for emerging talent from around the world. The key categories of Best UK Breakthrough Band presented by Primordial Radio and Best International Breakthrough Band reflect what has been a hugely exciting 12-month period in heavy music.
Higher Power, Lotus Eater and Ithica epitomise the boundary-pushing new wave of British heavy music and are nominated Best UK Breakthrough Band; alongside pop-punk upstarts Hot Milk, Aberdeen’s finest Cold Years and genre-smashers Pengshui and Nova Twins – capitalizing on their performance at last year’s ceremony.
Best International Breakthrough Band sees Mongolian metal outfit The Hu pick up their first nomination. Supergroup Simple Creatures led by Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus and All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth are also nominated alongside Philadelphia hardcore mob Jesus Piece and the head turning industrial-nu-metal-goths SKYND. Flying the flag for Australia is Stand Atlantic alongside metalcore riffers Thornhill and Polaris.
Best International Band presented by eOne reflects the rise of both fun and furious politically-aware punk with nominations for Fever 333, Stray From The Path and The Interrupters. Rock giants Tool who made their grand return with the stunning new album ‘Fear Inoculum’ and an enigmatic Download Festival headline set are up, as well as nods for German metal legends Rammstein and Slipknot.
See below for the full list of nominations.
HMAs 2020 Finalists
Best Album presented by Amazon Music
Babymetal – Metal Galaxy (Produced by Kobametal)
Bring Me The Horizon – amo (Produced by Oliver Sykes & Jordan Fish)
Dinosaur Pile-Up – Celebrity Mansions (Produced by Larry Hibbitt)
Sleep Token – Sundowning (Produced by George Lever)
Slipknot – We Are Not Your Kind (Produced by Greg Fidelman)
Tool – Fear Inoculum (Produced by Joe Barresi)
While She Sleeps – So What? (Produced by Carl Bown)
Best UK Band
Architects
Bring Me The Horizon
Bury Tomorrow
Employed to Serve
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes
Venom Prison
While She Sleeps
Best International Band presented by eOne
Fever 333
The Interrupters
Parkway Drive
Rammstein
Slipknot
Stray From The Path
Tool
Best Live Band presented by O2 Forum Kentish Town
Amon Amarth
Behemoth
Brutus
Fever 333
Parkway Drive
Rammstein
Slipknot
Best UK Breakthrough Band presented by Primordial Radio
Cold Years
Higher Power
Hot Milk
Ithaca
Lotus Eater
Nova Twins
Pengshui
Best International Breakthrough Band
The Hu
Jesus Piece
Polaris
Simple Creatures
SKYND
Stand Atlantic
Thornhill
Best Album Artwork
Baroness – Gold & Grey by John Dyer Baizley
Blood Incantation – Hidden History Of The Human Race by Bruce Pennington
Bring Me The Horizon – amo by Darren Oorloff
Cattle Decapitation – Death Atlas by Wes Benscoter
Korn – The Nothing by Tension Division
Rammstein – Rammstein by Jes Larson
Venom Prison – Samsara by Eliran Kantor
Best Video
Bring Me The Horizon – In The Dark (Directed by Oliver Sykes)
Creeper – Born Cold (Directed by Oscar Sansom)
Don Broco – Action (Directed by Benjamin Roberds)
Enter Shikari – Stop the Clocks (Directed by Polygon)
Poppy ft. Fever 333 – Scary Mask (Directed by Titanic Sinclair)
Rammstein – Deutschland (Directed by Specter Berlin)
Slipknot – Unsainted (Directed by Shawn Crahan)
Best Festival presented by Ticketmaster
2000 Trees
ArcTanGent
Bloodstock Open Air
Download Festival
Hellfest Open Air
Roadburn
Slam Dunk Festival
Best Photographer
Sarah Louise Bennett
Corinne Cumming
Paul Harries
Jennifer McCord
Jake Owens
Sabrina Ramdoyal
Ester Segarra
Best Producer
Carl Bown
Romesh Dodangoda
Greg Fidelman
Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood
Larry Hibbitt
George Lever
Catherine Marks