Metal Grammy Award 2008 Nominees
Slayer and Machine Head Among Bands Up For Best Metal Performance
A look at As I Lay Dying, King Diamond, Machine Head, Shadows Fall, and Slayer - the nominees for Best Metal Performance to be presented at the 50th Grammy Awards.
The 50th Grammy Awards will be presented at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on February 10th, 2008. The bands nominated for Best Metal Performance are spread across the metal spectrum from bestselling metalcore bands to thrash metal icons to underground black metal pioneers.
As I Lay Dying: Bestselling San Diego Metalcore
As I Lay Dying is a metalcore band from San Diego, CA. "Nothing Left" is from the As I Lay Dying album An Ocean Between Us on Metal Blade Records. As I Lay Dying have become Metal Blade's biggest selling artists, with An Ocean Between Us reaching Number 8 on the Billboard 200 and Number 1 on the Billboard Top Rock Album charts. As I Lay Dying is singer Tim Lambesis, drummer and fellow founding member Jordan Mancino, guitarists Nick Hipa and Phil Sgrosso, and new bassist Josh Gilbert.
King Diamond: Black Metal Pioneer
The band King Diamond formed in 1985 when singer King Diamond quit the band Mercyful Fate. While never a commercial bestseller, King Diamond and Mercyful Fate are both considered highly inluential in both thrash and black metal circles. "Never Ending Hill" is from the album Give Me Your Soul...Please, released in the USA by Metal Blade Records and in Europe by Massacre Records. Give Me Your Soul...Please is a concept album, as are all of the King Diamond studio albums apart from Fatal Portrait and The Spider's Lullaby.
Machine Head: The Blackening Winning Awards
Guitarist and singer Robb Flynn started Machine Head in 1992 after leaving thrash metal band Vio-lence. "Aesthetics of Hate" comes from Machine Head's Roadrunner Records release The Blackening. The Blackening has already won many awards for Machine Head, including Best Album at both the Metal Hammer Golden Gods and the Kerrang! awards shows in the UK and Best International Album at both the Swedish Metal Awards and Danish Metal Awards, plus awards for Album of the Year from numerous metal and guitarist magazines around the globe.
Shadows Fall: Massachusetts Metalcore Band's Second Nomination
Springfield, MA metalcore/thrash metal band Shadows Fall were previosly nominated for the Best Metal Performance Grammy Award at the 2006 Grammy ceremony for their song "What Drives the Weak". Shadows Fall lost out that year to Slipknot's "Before I Forget", but are nominated again this year for "Redemption". "Redemption" is from the Shadows Fall album Threads of Life, out in the USA on Atlantic Records and on Roadrunner Records in Europe.
Slayer: Iconic Thashers Repeat?
Slayer are one of the "Big Four" of thrash metal, along with Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax, have been thrashing audiences worldwide for over 25 years, and are a major influence to an entire new generation of thrash metal bands. Slayer won the 2007 Best Metal Performance Grammy Award for the song "Eyes of the Insane" from the album Christ Illusion on the American Recordings label. Christ Illusion was re-released in a special edition in 2007 that included a DVD and a new song, "Final Six", for which Slayer have been nominated for the 2008 Best Metal Performance Grammy Award.
The field for Best Metal Performance at the 2008 Grammy Awards is wide and varied. It will be interesting to see which of the five bands walks away as winners.
Find out which band won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.
