As musical life returns to its usual pace, the Latvian Metal Music of the Year awards will be presented again, and this time they will be awarded for performances over a three-year period, honoring the best records of 2020, 2021 and 2022.
As applications for the Latvian Metal Music of the Year award for 2020 have already been submitted, the organizers invite Latvian heavy music bands and publishers to submit their recordings made in 2021 and 2022 in album and/or mini- albums (EPs). All heavy music records released during this period – metal, hard rock, post-rock and post-metal, as well as all their sub-genres and hybrids – are welcome.
Applications will be accepted until January 15, 2023 at the email address [email protected]. The application must include a link to a website or streaming service where a digital version of the recording is available. Application for the Latvian Metal Music of the Year award is free. By the way, there is a lot of interest: already in the first hours after the start of filming, the organizers of the broadcast received three applications for submitting recordings.
“We last invited musicians and publishers to submit heavy music recordings for evaluation at the end of 2020, but although the performance was compiled at that time, due to the introduction of a temporary ban on public events, the awards did not take place. These misfortunes continued into the upcoming winter season, so the collection of records for 2021 did not start at all. However, nothing is forgotten! Events gradually returned to normal, it’s time to return to the award Latvian Metal Music of the Year So that neither those who have already managed to submit to the evaluation what they did in 2020 nor those who did well in 2021 remain divided, this time the awards for each of the previous three years will be presented in one ‘single ceremony,” informs Valdis Bērzvads, the longtime organizer of the Latvian Metal Music of the Year award.
Winners will be determined by a panel of judges and an internet vote, as before. So that the voters don’t get confused by three years of sound material, this time the jury will select the top 5 records from each evaluated year, which will be put up for voting on the Internet. The start of online voting will be announced on January 23, but the awards ceremony itself will take place on February 10 at the “Black Friday” club.
The Latvian Metal Music of the Year award will be presented for the twelfth time. Its initiators are representatives of the association “Zobens and Lemess” and the music club “Melnā piedtdiena”, which has been organizing heavy music events since 1996.