Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards Announced

• 8th Apr 2009

The nominations for this year's Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards have been announced. The winners will be revealed at a ceremony at IndigO2 in London on 15 Jun. Performances on the night will come from Trivium, Amon Amarth, Devildriver, Saxon and special guests Anvil. This year's nominations span all corners of the metal scene, from underground to mainstream, old to new.
Here are the nominations for the eight fan-voted categories in full:

Best UK Band: Iron Maiden, The Answer, Dragonforce, Saxon, Gallows, Motorhead

Best Live Band: Slipknot, Devildriver, Clutch, Deathstars, Skindred, Down

Best International Band: Slipknot, Amon Amarth, Deathstars, Dimmu Borgir, Metallica, Lamb of God

Best New Band: Black Tide, Five Finger Death Punch, Sylosis, Malefice, Trigger The Bloodshed, Alestorm

Shredder(s): Mick Thompson & Jim Root (Slipknot), Olavi Mikkonen & Johan Söderberg (Amon Amarth), Mark Morton & Willie Alder (Lamb of Good), Eric Petersen & Alex Skolnick (Testament), Herman Li & Sam Totman (Dragonforce), Mike Akerfeldt (Opeth)

Breakthrough Artist: All That Remains, Amon Amarth, Gojira, Bring Me The Horizon, Airbourne, Underoath

Best Underground Band: Architects, Annotations Of An Autopsy, Kylesa, Beneath The Massacre, Legion Of The Damned, Behemoth

Best Metal Label: Roadrunner, Metal Blade, Rising Records, Nuclear Blast, SPV / Steamhammer, Spinefarm

On the night, there will also be a further nine awards selected by the Metal Hammer editorial team, including Best Album, Riff Lord and, of course, the Golden God Award.