The 2017 edition of the Metal Hammer Golden Gods just went down. WWE superstar and Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho hosted, and this was a very important edition of the show, seeing as the magazine that throws the show together actually went out of business late last year.
Performers included Mastodon, Clutch, Avatar and Orange Goblin. Orange Goblin's Ben Ward and his partner Sandie Soriano won the Defenders of the Faith Award after setting up a very successful crowdfunding mission to help get some pay to the staff of the magazine, which was shut down right before Christmas with no warning or severance. ThePRP breaks down all the award winners as such:
Best New Band:
Venom Prison (Winner)
Zeal & Ardor
Brutai
Puppy
Ocean Grove
Best Underground Band:
Pallbearer (Winner)
Perturbator
Neurosis
Royal Thunder
Anaal Nathrakh
Best UK Band:
Architects (winner)
Bury Tomorrow
While She Sleeps
Tesseract
Orange Goblin
Best International Band:
Avenged Sevenfold (winner)
Metallica
Opeth
Alter Bridge
Korn
Best Live Band:
Mastodon (winner)
Steel Panther
letlive.
Killswitch Engage
Ghost
Best Independent Label:
Nuclear Blast (winner)
Cooking Vinyl
Deathwish
Season Of Mist
Basick
Dimebag Darrell ‘Shredder’:
Joel O’ Keeffe (Airbourne) (winner)
Kiko Loureiro (Megadeth)
Phil Manansala (Of Mice & Men)
Ben Bruce (Asking Alexandria)
Ben Weinman (The Dillinger Escape Plan)
Game Of The Year:
Iron Maiden: The Legacy Of The Beast (winner)
The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Overwatch
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Breakthrough:
Avatar (winner)
Code Orange
Creeper
Oathbreaker
Ho99o9
Non fan-voted categories:
Riff Lord: Devin Townsend
Defender Of The Faith: Ben Ward (Orange Goblin) & his partner Sandie Soriano
Inspiration: Exodus
Best Album: Gojira – “Magma”
Spirit Of Hammer: Prophets Of Rage
Icon: The Dillinger Escape Plan
Golden God: Black Sabbath