REVIEW: Golden God Awards
- Posted on June 18, 2008 6:00 PM
- 1 comment
The 2008 Metal Hammer Golden God Awards
Indigo2, London
16 June 2008
Review by Emma Dalby
The day after the three day metal fest Download is usually one of calm, a time to sleep, contemplate the weekend and generally worry about whether your blood stream has actually been replaced by Jagermeister, but not this time…
Monday night gave us yet another event for the metal elite; The Metal Hammer Golden God Awards, now in its 6th year held at London’s Indigo2. Over 1,000 metal fans plus over 500 of the world's rock elite gathered together in a heaving, sweaty mess to celebrate the best music and best bands in heavy metal!
With five bands on the bill, a whole host of metal shaped nominees and the one and only Oderus Urungus from the mighty Gwar, the 2008 Golden Gods looked set to be one of the most interesting metal events of the year. Performances came from old school thrashers Testament, followed by head-banging cellists Apocalyptica and shredders Children Of Bodom. Swedish melodic death metallers In Flames and to end the proceedings the mighty, Disturbed.
On arriving at the Indigo2 amid a sea of black, a fair amount of tattoos and the unwashed, it was plain to see most of the audience had dragged themselves away from their much needed post Download sleep. You could clearly differentiate between those who had not been, who were all dressed up and clean and those who had been and judging by the aroma, barely had time to shower! But the balcony bar was packed regardless and on that note so too was the queue at the bar, which to my annoyance resulted in missing the opening act Testament.
This was soon forgotten however when we finally got our hands on the free beer, so with three in hand and a seat at the front, we were just in time to get acquainted with our compère for the evening, a man who resembled a character from Star Wars, in a B-movie horror flick equipped with some rather large appendages. After a short introduction and a little briefing of the night to come the second band was due on stage, Apocalyptica alongside Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil. The three cellists and one drummer were my personal highlight of the evening, quite simply because I didn’t know it was possible to head-bang whilst playing a cello. Who knew this instrument could rock! Cristina’s haunting vocals provided the perfect accompaniment to this unusual yet incredible performance.
The awards took place soon after and as we predicted many of the big name artists were not there in person to receive their awards. They included Iron Maiden, Dave Mustaine, Dimmu Borgir, one Cavalera brother, and Eddie. Nonetheless, we were treated to appearances from the man, the legend Kerry King, Aussie rockers Airbourne, Sharon den Adel from Within Temptation and hot rock chick Kat Von D.
A few more awards later and it was time for shredding genius’s Children Of Bodom to take to the stage. Little did I know my jaw was about to hit the floor, these guys can play, lead guitarist Alexi Laiho appears to have superpowers when it comes to playing solos and singing at the same time, while their shredding keyboardist wasn’t even looking at the keys. The man certainly deserved his Best Shredder Award.
After a few more free beers and probably the worst guitar hero performance ever from the Job For A Cowboy boys and it was time for Swedish metallers In Flames to do what they do best. They certainly didn’t disappoint with their thrash/death metal crossover and snarling dreadlocked frontman.
The final awards followed before the last performance of the night, one of which included the most important award of the evening, the actual ‘Golden God Award’ given to none other than Slayer’s Kerry King and presented by TV personality and tattooist Kat Von D. The crowd had really warmed up by this point and chants of Slayer were indeed rapturous. Chicago rockers Disturbed provided the perfect end to the nights proceedings, especially as they ended their 25 minute set with their most well known and favourite rock club track ‘The Sickness’.
So the night had come to an end, led by Oderus Urungus the ceremony may have seemed more like a metal pantomime than a rock show but it was certainly entertaining and with everyone from Kerry King, Ace Frehley, Max Cavalera, Kat Von D and Rita 'Dimebag' Haney showing up to pay homage to the biggest hitters in heavy metal, it was definitely worth it!
Unfortunately for us however, the night was not quite over as on leaving the Indigo2 we boarded the ‘Golden God’ which sailed us down the river to the aftershow party. The next thing I knew I was writing this review at my desk…
And the winners were…
Best UK Band – Iron Maiden
Best Live Band – Machine Head
Best Shredder - Alexi Laiho (Children Of Bodem)
Best Video – Dimmu Borgir (The Serpentine Offering)
Best Breakthrough Artist – Apocalyptica
Best Underground Band – The Black Dahlia Murder
Best International Band – In Flames
Dimebag Darrell Riff Lord – Dave Mustaine
Best Album – Testament
Best Debut – Airbourne
Best Label – Roadrunner
The Golden God – Kerry King (Slayer)
Event Of The Year – Hard Rock Hell
Spirit Of Hammer – The Cavalera Brothers
Icon Award – Eddie (Iron Maiden)
Related links:
Metal concert tickets.
Download Festival 2009 tickets.
Metal Hammer official site.
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