G-Shock Rolling Stone Metal Awards 2016 Nominees Announced

If it was Delhi metal’s chance to shine among last year’s Rolling Stone Metal Awards nominees, the upcoming seventh edition of RSMA indicates that there was enough impressive metal coming in from all across the country.

Mumbai thrash/groove metal band Zygnema have got seven [out of a total of eight] nominations at the upcoming G-Shock Rolling Stone Metal Awards, which take place on February 28th at Hard Rock Café Worli, Mumbai. Following behind them with nominations in six categories are Bengaluru thrash/death metallers Inner Sanctum and Aizawl death metal band Third Sovereign.

Zygnema lead the RSMA 2016 nominations for their second album What Makes Us Human Is Obsolete, which released in 2015, while albums by Inner Sanctum [Legions Awake] and Third Sovereign [Perversion Swallowing Sanity] are representing death metal. Bengaluru’s sludge band Shepherd, who released their debut Stereolithic Riffalocalypse last year, have five nominations.

Of the lot, Zygnema have previously won at RSMA 2011, in the Best Band (Popular Choice) and Best Song (Popular Choice) [“Theory of Lies and Negation”], while [now] two-time nominees Inner Sanctum couldn’t pick up any of the Gibson Flying V guitar trophies despite being nominated for their debut EP Provenance at the inaugural RSMA in 2010. It was a similar fate for Third Sovereign, who were nominated for their earlier released single “Sarcophaga” in the Best Song category in 2010, but lost out to Mumbai extreme metallers Demonic Resurrection’s “The Unrelenting Surge of Vengeance.” But the North East has more representation, especially in the Best Drummer category, which includes Delhi-based Nishant Hagjer from Guwahati metal bands Rectified Spirit [nominated for a second time for their recent album The Waste Land] and Lucid Recess’ sticksman Partha Boro, for their new album Alive and Aware.

Mumbai heavy metal/horror band Albatross, who released their full length album Fear From the Skies last year, Kolkata metallers Yonsample’s debut full-length Extropy and Mumbai “stone-age” metallers Primitiv, who released their doom/death mix concept album Immortal & Vile late last year, have picked up three nominations each.

Online voting in the top three categories of Best Band, Best Album and Best Song is now open.

Best Band

Best Song

Best Album

This year, public voting will count for half the weightage, the other half being decided by our jury comprising Indian and international judges.

You can also head out to an upcoming RSMA pre-gig in your city to vote for your favorite band, on February 7th in Bengaluru, February 12th in Guwahati and February 18th in New Delhi.

Best Band

Albatross

Inner Sanctum

Shepherd

Third Sovereign

Zygnema

Best Album

Inner Sanctum - Legions Awake

Primitiv - Immortal & Vile

Shepherd - Stereolithic Riffalocalypse

Third Sovereign - Perversion Swallowing Sanity

Zygnema - What Makes Us Human Is Obsolete

Best Song

Albatross ”“ “Children of the Cloud”

Inner Sanctum ”“ “Guardian”

Shepherd ”“ “Crook”

Third Sovereign ”“ “Living This Hate”

Yonsample ”“ “Tibro”

Zygnema ”“ “The Phoenix Effect”

Best Vocalist

Inner Sanctum ”“ Gaurav Basu

Primitiv ”“ Nitin Rajan

Third Sovereign ”“ Vedant Kaushik

Zygnema ”“ Jimmy Bhore

Best Guitarist

Inner Sanctum ”“ Chintan Chinnappa & Suraj Gulvady

Primitiv ”“ Kiron Kumar & Rajashri Bhattacharyya

Shepherd ”“ Namit Chauhan

Yonsample ”“ Soumik Roy

Zygnema ”“ Sidharth Kadadi

Best Bassist

Albatross ”“ Dr. Hex

Shepherd ”“ Abhishek Michael

Third Sovereign ”“ Jonah Hnamte

Zygnema ”“ Leon Quadros

Yonsample ”“ Anirban Banerjee

Best Drummer

Inner Sanctum ”“ Abhinav Yogesh

Lucid Recess ”“ Partha Boro

Third Sovereign ”“ Reuben Lalchuangkima

Rectified Spirit ”“ Nishant Hagjer

Zygnema ”“ Mayank Sharma

Best Keyboardist

Whitenoiz – Taz James

Diabolus Arcanium – Archon

Passages – Renin Raphael