The Golden Gods Awards are back to wreak havoc upon all nonbelievers. The prophesized date and time of the event will be April 11 at Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles. The Golden Gods claim to be the only awards ceremony strictly catered to Metal and Hard-Rock music and is assembled by the one and only Revolver magazine. Most assuredly, only heavy-hearted, hell raising warlocks will be in attendance. Also on April 11 will be the grand opening of the ‘Golden Gods: A History of Heavy Metal’ exhibit at The Grammy Museum directly next door to Club Nokia. Interestingly enough, if one would rather not pay the ticket price (lowest at $36, highest at $746.50) the entire event will be broadcast live, via Xbox Live.
After looking through a preview of The Golden Gods, the opening line of this article might be better phrased: The Golden Gods are back and trying to wreak havoc upon everyone else in the world who’s moved on. Just looking at the nominees and award categories is enough to raise a brow of confusion; perhaps the Illuminati has some secret dastardly plot behind all of this, besides that one must wonder what the purpose is in having this event. Yes, bold words indeed in addressing an award show catered to two beloved and relentless genres of music.
Starting off on a ridiculous and absurd note, the event will be hosted by none other than ‘WWE pro-wrestling champion’ Chris Jericho, and this will be his third consecutive year hosting the show. Great. To help Jericho list of nominees and present awards will be legendary Alice Cooper, Zakk Wylde, Ronnie James Dio’s wife Wendy Dio (I think she’s been through enough already), and who may be in fact the most appropriate, Brian Deegan, the pro-motocross rider, amongst many more . This array of legends in one way or another will be awarding a nominee from categories such as; Best Guitarist, Comeback of the Year, Most Metal Athlete, Most Dedicated Fans, and Riff Lord.
Finally, the nominees themselves: the warriors of rock battling dragons and wizard alike only to be touched by a Golden God. Some of the notable nominees being Slash, Slipknot, Foo Fighters, Tool, Seether, and Korn. Nobody new; in fact, most of these bands hit their prime at least fifteen years ago (with the exception of Mastodon, Asking Alexandia, and Meshuggah who are also nominees). Not to degrade or insult any of the nominated bands, but in 2012 why would the only Metal Awards event be praising artists and bands on their way to expiration instead of saluting the bold, new future of metal?
It is a very good thing that there is an awards event with nothing except metal and hard rock. It is unfortunate the ‘only’ one out there is totally lame. Metal is a massive genre that only gets more powerful with momentum; these days there are even more innovative and inventive metal bands pushing the envelope into new metal subgenres that have proven themselves legitimate. It’s a disappointing fact that instead of recognizing the great new music from bands like Ghost or Electric Wizard, the only awards event for metal just wants to keep things just as they were.