Golden Gods 2015 Guide: Best New Band

Orange Amplification Presents the Metal Hammer Golden Gods In Association with World Of Warships is taking place on 15th June in London and we want YOU to choose the winners. There are eleven voted categories that we need your help with, and here’s the guide to the Best New Band category…

Cast your votes in the Best New Band category here.

**King 810 **The most visceral and divisive band of 2015. King 810 have gone from playing shows in their local Michigan area to opening up for Slipknot and Korn in arenas off the back of chilling debut album Memoirs Of A Murderer, which showcases their penchant for everything from brutal metal, to grinding industrial, to unsettling acoustic balladry. Most of all though it’s characterised by the lyrics of frontman David Gunn, who’s agonised, nightmarish visions of a troubled past are utterly unlike anything to have infiltrated the metal landscape for many years. The comparisons to early Slipknot are valid, but there is so much more to King 810.

Beartooth One of the biggest shocks of the year was to see the return Caleb Shomo to prominence within our world. As former frontman of Attack Attack!, a band that garnered almost exclusively negative reviews throughout their career, you’d have got long odds on him unleashing an album as impressive as Beartooth’s debut Disgusting on an unsuspecting public. But that’s exactly what happened, Shomo spits out his deeply personal lyrics over a barrage of punk influenced metallic hardcore riffs with an almost manic fury. It’s catchy, it’s heavy, it’s unrelentingly intense and it’s why Beartooth have made it on to our list.

**Marmozets **Less than three years ago youthful, Sheffield quintet Marmozets were nothing more than a bunch of schoolkids intent on making as much abrasive, unlistenable noise as possible. Today they are a real crossover success who have made a genuine impression on everyone from the hardcore punk underground to mainstream rock fans. Debut album The Weird And Wonderful Marmozets has captured their early schizoid nature, married it to more palatable alt-rock influenced earworms and sprinkled it with their secret weapon; frontwoman Becca Macintyre’s incredible vocal range. The sound of the early ‘90s riot grrrl movement has been twisted into all manner of new and fascinating shapes.

We Are Harlot When Danny Worsnop left one of the biggest British metal bands of the last ten years for a glam rock side-project that had yet to release any music, there were more than a few raised eyebrows. Those naysayers have been firmly put in their place by WAH’s self-titled debut album, eleven tracks of ‘80s Sunset Strip influenced glam metal that has enough contemporary influences and electronic beats to be more than a mere pastiche of Ratt or Warrant. Just take a listen to songs like Dancing On Nails or The One and you’ll hear more than just pop-metal bangers, you’ll hear the sound of Worsnop happy, at home and truly revelling in the experience.

King Parrot The Australian metal scene hasn’t been in such rude health for decades, and although there is a multitude of heavy sounds coming up from down under King Parrot are the most extreme band around. Although it might have been three years since the release of debut album Bite Your Head Off, the Aussie grinders have been hard at work taking their warp speed, old school thrashings to anyone and everyone that will listen. Doing things in the way that an underground metal band should, they’ve attained the patronage of Carcass and Obituary, who took them out on tour, and Philip Anselmo who put in an amusing performance in the band’s video for Like A Rat.

To vote in the Golden Gods and win tickets to the ceremony head over here now.

Stephen Hill

Since blagging his way onto the Hammer team a decade ago, Stephen has written countless features and reviews for the magazine, usually specialising in punk, hardcore and 90s metal, and still holds out the faint hope of one day getting his beloved U2 into the pages of the mag. He also regularly spouts his opinions on the Metal Hammer Podcast.