It was just the other day that the folks over at Metal Hammer Magazine had their “Golden Gods” awards show and with the winners making the rounds on the web, I could do no less than keeping our fine readers in the know. Scroll through to read them all and then I will return with my editorial notions on it and even ask you for yours. Here we go.

Best New Band:
Lovebites (winner)

Over Conjurer, Sleep Token, Loathe and Visigoth

Best Underground Band:
Wolves In The Throne Room (winner)

Over Amenra, Chelsea Wolfe, Heilung and Tribulation

Best British Band:
Judas Priest (winner)

Over Asking Alexandria, Cradle Of Filth, Alestorm and Rolo Tomassi

Best Live Band:
Lacuna Coil (winner)

Over Sabaton, Converge, Cannibal Corpse and Sólstafir

Best International Band:
Arch Enemy (winner)

Over Stone Sour, Trivium, Parkway Drive and Marilyn Manson

Best Independent Label:
Sumerian (winner)

Over Holy Roar, UNFD, Southern Lord and Indie Recordings

Best Event:
Download (winner)

Over Bloodstock, Tech-Fest, Chicago Open Air and Wacken

Breakthough:
Code Orange (winner)

Over Marmozets, Power Trip, Employed To Serve and Carpenter Brut

Here are the winners of the non fan-voted awards:

Best Album: Myrkur – “Mareridt”
Defender Of The Faith: Parkway Drive
Riff Lord: Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit, etc.)
Global Metal: Kaoteon
Inspiration: Meshuggah
Icon: Maynard James Keenan (Tool, A Perfect Circle, etc.)
Spirit Of Hammer: Jessica Pimentel (Alekhine’s Gun, ‘Orange Is The New Black‘)
Golden God: Ozzy Osbourne

PiercingMetal Thoughts: Looking over the list I am going to say that I was happy to find Judas Priest and Arch Enemy winning out in the Best British Band and Best International Band categories as each are very deserving of the honor. Now I think that they picked the wrong band for Best Live Band because while I love what Lacuna Coil does on the stage they are miles away from the vibe that one gets from a Sabaton show. My heart feels like its coming out of my chest when those guys play and if you’ve seen them as well you will likely agree that they are the better live band. I don’t know enough about the Best New Band and Breakthrough Acts to speak about them but feel that both Wolves and Tribulation are a very close call for Best Underground Band. As I didn’t manage to view any clips from the show, I don’t know if the winners of the non-fan voted stuff were against anyone else. Some interesting winners for sure outside of Ozzy being quite deserving of the title “Golden God”. Yay Ozzy. What do you think of the winners here? Did you see the show at all? Or better yet, did you attend? Chime in down below. I love hearing from you folks on this stuff.

Official Website: http://www.metalhammer.com