Kerrang! Awards 2019 Preview - My Picks

Music award shows can often seem like superficial affairs, with industry big wigs congregating to pat each other on the back for winning awards chosen by an elite group of voters. However, the Kerrang! Awards flies in the face of this tradition, with its nominees and winners being determined by fan votes.

These awards may not be as globally revered or capture as much mainstream attention as the Grammys or even the Brit Awards, but their status remains high in the rock community, with the fan voting adding an extra air of legitimacy and excitement. The 2019 Kerrang! Awards ceremony is just over a week away, so in anticipation of the biggest awards show in rock, I thought I would share my picks of the nominees.

Architects have the most nominations this year (Photo credit: Ryan Johnson)

The most interesting category for me this year is Best British Breakthrough, which is genuinely hard to predict. IDLES seem a safe bet, given that they have amassed a very impressive following over the last year or so and also have a Brit Awards nomination under their belt. 'Trap metal' artist Scarlxrd already has in excess of one million monthly listeners on Spotify, with his genre-bending sound redefining what it means to be both a rock artist and a rap artist in 2019. Opening for Bring me the Horizon earlier this year brought the 24-year-old rapper new levels of attention amongst rock fans, so don’t be surprised if he walks away with the trophy in the wake of all his recent hype. My pick of the bunch is Yonaka, something which will come as no surprise to anyone who used to listen to my show on LSRadio. This four-piece have been making some of the most exciting alternative music out there for the last two years now and have just dropped their debut full length LP Don’t Wait till Tomorrow, easily my most anticipated record of this year. Frontwoman Theresa Jarvis is a genuine star in the making and the whole band is surely on the verge of a real mainstream breakthrough, meaning that Yonaka walking away with Best British Breakthrough would make perfect sense. Also nominated are Svalbard and Black Peaks, but the three aforementioned acts seem like the biggest contenders.

For Best International Breakthrough, Californian pop punks SWMRS feel like likely winners, but I went with ska-punk revivalists The Interrupters, whose most recent record Fight the Good Fight was one of my top picks of 2018.

The Best Album category is equally strong and diverse this year, with the records nominated illustrating the breadth of rock music in 2019. This category was the hardest one for me to decide on, but I ultimately went with Bring Me the Horizon’s amo - still quite possibly my favourite album of 2019 so far. The divisive yet inescapable Greta van Fleet have also got the nod for their 70s-inspired debut full-length Anthem of the Peaceful Army, while Ghost’s Prequelle and Architects’ Holy Hell, perhaps the best offerings from each band to date, are also very strong contenders. Given the emotional significance of Holy Hell, being Architects’ first LP since the tragic passing of Tom Searle, its easy to see fans voting the new record to much-deserved awards status. 

Architects also have the most nominations over all, with a total of three, so there's a good chance we will see the metalcore stalwarts walk away with an award to cap off their stellar last few years.

My pick for Best Song was Rammstein's 'Deutschland', the colossal lead single from their new untitled record. I hadn't been a particularly big fan of Rammstein previously, but the track quickly forced me to re-evaluate my opinions on Germany's biggest metal act. This industrial metal banger also seems like a safe bet for the winner, given the track's recent staying power on the UK rock charts.

Finally, there are the Live categories, awarded to the bands who have put on the best gigs and tours in the last 12 months. After I snubbed Architects for Best Album, I thought it was appropriate to vote for them in the Best British Live Act category, whilst Metallica look my vote for Best International Live Act.

Metallica bringing the heat on their Worldwired tour (Photo credit: Ryan Johnson)

Voting closes on 12^th June, with the ceremony taking place on 19^th June. You can cast your votes and see the full lists of nominees at kerrang.com/vote.

Thanks for reading
- Danny

Follow me on Twitter @realdannymoore

Check out my review of Metallica's Manchester Etihad gig here.