Mastodon to headline Metal Hammer Golden Gods 2017

Mastodon will headline this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods with Orange Amplification.

Brann Dailor, Brent Hinds, Bill Kelliher and Troy Sanders have just released one of the year’s most critically acclaimed albums in Emperor Of Sand – and now they’ll join Orange Goblin, Clutch and Avatar at the 15th annual event at London’s IndigO2 at The O2 on Monday, June 12, which will be hosted by Fozzy frontman and WWE megastar Chris Jericho.

Metal Hammer editor Merlin Alderslade says: “We told you we had something special planned – and trust us when we say this is going to be very special indeed.

“We wanted to bring something truly one-off to the IndigO2 as a way to say thank you to our amazing readers for the support they’ve shown us this year.

“Mastodon are not just one of the biggest bands we’ve ever had play our awards, but one of the greatest metal bands of this or any era.

“Expect minds to be blown, heads to be banged and beers to be raised. See you down the front.”

A limited number of tickets are now available for just £10 and are being sold on a first come, first served basis. Once they’re gone, they’re gone! Buy them here - but be quick!

Voting is now underway with fans able to register their favourites by visiting the Metal Hammer Golden Gods website. See the full list of nominations below.

Editorial-chosen awards include Riff Lord presented by Century Media, Defender Of The Faith presented by Orange Amplification, Album Of The Year, Icon, Inspiration, Spirit Of Hammer and The Golden God.

Metal Hammer Golden Gods full list of nominees

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Best New Band

Zeal & Ardor
Venom Prison
Brutai
Puppy
Ocean Grove

Best Underground Band

Perturbator
Neurosis
Royal Thunder
Pallbearer
Anaal Nathrakh

Best UK Band

Bury Tomorrow
Architects
While She Sleeps
Tesseract
Orange Goblin

Best International Band presented by Nuclear Blast

Metallica
Opeth
Alter Bridge
Avenged Sevenfold
Korn

Breakthrough

Code Orange
Creeper
Oathbreaker
Ho99o9
Avatar

Best Live Band

Steel Panther
Letlive
Killswitch Engage
Mastodon
Ghost

Dimebag Darrell ‘Shredder’

Joel O’ Keeffe (Airbourne)
Kiko Loureiro (Megadeth)
Phil Manansala (Of Mice & Men)
Ben Bruce (Asking Alexandria)
Ben Weinman (The Dillinger Escape Plan)

Best Independent Label

Nuclear Blast
Cooking Vinyl
Deathwish
Season Of Mist
Basick

Game Of The Year

The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Overwatch
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Iron Maiden: The Legacy Of The Beast
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

Artists

Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.