The finalists for the fifth annual Heavy Music Awards have been revealed following the news that HMA21 will take place at a full capacity, in-person event at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town on Thursday 02 September 2021, which will be live streamed to a global audience exclusively on Twitch.
Voting is open now until 14 July at vote.heavymusicawards.com – all voters over the age of 18 are entered into the ballot to win tickets to the Awards.
Among the eclectic mix of nominees from the full spectrum of the rock and metal scene, previous HMA winners including Architects, Nova Twins and While She Sleeps face off against a host of first-time finalists including Machine Gun Kelly, Ghostemane, Five Finger Death Punch, Ghøstkid and Dance Gavin Dance.
Sponsors and supporters for this year’s event – which is set to be the biggest HMAs ever – include EMP, Fireball, SharpTone Records, Nuclear Blast, Rude Records, Allianz Musical Insurance, O2 Forum Kentish Town, The Heavy Network and Dead Simple Accounting. BIMM return for the fifth year as Education Partner, while music therapy organisation Nordoff Robbins will once again be the HMAs’ charity partner.
This year’s programme also sees a reworking of the categories to reflect the effects of the global pandemic on touring and live events – with no live music for much of 2020, the Best Photographer and Best Festival categories have been removed, while an all-new Best Podcast category has been added, and the Best Producer category has evolved to Best Production. ‘The H’, an award handed to an individual or organisation which has provided an exceptional positive contribution to the heavy music scene, will be announced at September’s event.
Once again the finalists were decided democratically thanks to nominations from almost 700 industry insiders, while the winners will be chosen entirely through a public vote. The Heavy Music Awards has no influence on the shortlists or winners.
******
HEAVY MUSIC AWARDS 2021: FINALISTS
BEST ALBUM
Bring Me The Horizon – Post Human: Survival Horror (RCA / Produced by Jordan Fish & Oliver Sykes)
Bury Tomorrow – Cannibal (Music For Nations / Produced by Dan Weller)
Code Orange – Underneath (Roadrunner Records / Produced by Jami Morgan and Nick Raskulinecz. Co-Produced by Will Yip)
Creeper – Sex, Death & The Infinite Void (Roadrunner Records / Produced by Xandy Barry)
Deftones – Ohms (Reprise Records / Produced by Terry Date & Deftones)
Machine Gun Kelly – Tickets To My Downfall (Polydor / Interscope / Executive Produced by Travis Barker)
Neck Deep – All Distortions Are Intentional (Hopeless Records / Produced by Matt Squire)
BEST UK BAND
Bring Me The Horizon (RCA)
Bury Tomorrow (Music For Nations)
Creeper (Roadrunner Records)
Loathe (SharpTone Records)
Neck Deep (Hopeless Records)
Nova Twins (333 Wreckords)
While She Sleeps (Search & Destroy / Spinefarm)
BEST INTERNATIONAL BAND Presented by EMP
Corey Taylor (Roadrunner Records)
Deftones (Reprise Records)
Five Finger Death Punch (Better Noise Music)
Ghostemane (Blackmage Records)
Lamb Of God (Nuclear Blast)
The Pretty Reckless (Century Media)
Trivium (Roadrunner Records)
BEST UK BREAKTHROUGH BAND Presented by SharpTone Records
As Everything Unfolds (Long Branch Records)
Caskets (SharpTone Records)
Death Blooms (Adventure Cat Records)
Phoxjaw (Hassle Records)
Salem (Roadrunner Records)
Static Dress (Independent)
Wargasm (Angry Songs For Sad People)
BEST INTERNATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH BAND
Dying Wish (SharpTone Records)
END (Closed Casket Activities)
Ghøstkid (Century Media)
Meet Me @ The Altar (Fueled By Ramen)
Spiritbox (Rise Records)
Tallah (Earache Records)
Yours Truly (UNFD)
BEST ALBUM ARTWORK
Code Orange – Underneath (Roadrunner Records / Art Direction by Jami Morgan)
Creeper – Sex, Death And The Infinite Void (Roadrunner Records / Illustration by Demon Dance, Artwork by Andy Pritchard)
Dance Gavin Dance – Afterburner (Rise Records / Illustrated by Mattias Adolfsson, Colored by Chris Rubey, Layout by Kevin Moore)
Enter Shikari – Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible (SO Recordings / Initial Design & Art Direction: Ian Johnsen & Enter Shikari, Layout & Additional Design: Stuart Ford)
Ghostemane – Anti-Icon (Blackmage Records / Artwork by Carlos Estrada aka Sliizz)
Palm Reader – Sleepless (Church Road Records / Artwork by Tom Johnson, Layout & Logo by Jamie McDonals)
Phoxjaw – Royal Swan (Hassle Records / Artwork by Peter The Roman)
BEST VIDEO
Architects – Animals (Epitaph Records / Directed by Dan Searle)
Bring Me The Horizon ft Yungblud – Obey (RCA / Directed by Oliver Sykes)
Deftones – Ohms (Reprise Records / Directed by Rafatoon)
ERRA – Snowblood (UNFD / Directed by Kevin Johnson)
Eskimo Callboy – Hypa Hypa (Century Media / Sony Music / Directed by Pascal Schillo and Oliver Schillo)
Nova Twins – Taxi (333 Wreckords / Directed by Harry Lindley)
While She Sleeps – Sleeps Society (Search & Destroy / Spinefarm / Directed by Tom Welsh & Taylor Fawcett)
BEST PODCAST
The Downbeat (Craig Reynolds)
The Jasta Show (Jamey Jasta / Produced by Brian MacKay / GaS Digital Network)
Lifers (Ed Gamble / A Spotify Original – Produced by Anna Sinfield / Pixiu)
The Punk Rock MBA (Finn McKenty)
Riot Act (Stephen Hill & Remfry Dedman / Produced by John Hollingworth & Dan Davies)
Sappenin’ (Sean Smith & Morgan Richards)
Someone Who Isn’t Me (Daniel P. Carter)
BEST PRODUCTION
Bring Me The Horizon – Post Human: Survival Error (RCA Records / Produced by Jordan Fish & Oliver Sykes)
Code Orange – Underneath (Roadrunner Records / Produced by Jami Morgan and Nick Raskulinecz / Co-Produced by Will Yip)
Creeper – Sex Death and the Infinite Void (Roadrunner Records / Produced by Xandy Barry)
Enter Shikari – Nothing is True & Everything is Possible (SO Recordings / Produced by Rou Reynolds)
Four Year Strong – Brain Pain (Pure Noise Records / Produced by Will Putney)
Loathe – I Let It In And It Took Everything (SharpTone Records / Produced by Loathe / Mixed by George Lever / Mastered by Jens Bogren)
Palm Reader – Sleepless (Church Road Records / Produced by Lewis Johns)