Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Rush’s Neil Peart Among Nominees for ‘Revolver’ Mag’s Golden Gods Awards

Get ready to bang your head. On May 2, Los Angeles’ Club Nokia will be turned into a heavy-metal mansion for Revolver magazine’s fifth annual Golden Gods Awards show. Metallica, Rob Zombie and Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi are among the honorees, with Five Finger Death Punch, Anthrax, Stone Sour, Dillinger Escape Plan and Halestorm among the bands also performing. And if you can’t be there to rock, for the first time ever, the ceremony will be broadcast live through AXS TV, Xbox LIVE and Facebook.

“This event is booked and produced for the fans and to have a night that celebrates this genre of music, with bands, artists and celebrities all coming together, is just the best thing in the world,” said Josh Bernstein, Revolver’s marketing director/executive producer at a Golden Gods press conference Wednesday. “We consider this amazing rock, punk, metal awards show as our anti-Grammys, the anti-MTV awards. It’s people doing what they do best.”

Heavy-metal icons Metallica are headlining this year and will receive the Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement Award. (Previous honorees include Rush, Motley Crue, Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead and Ozzy Osbourne.) Metallica’s 3D movie Through the Never premieres in August.

PHOTOS: Sunset Strip Music Festival 2012

“The last time Metallica did a show like this in an intimate venue this size was in 1983, so that’s really exciting,” said Black Label Society’s Zakk Wylde, who will be one of the award presenters and is also nominated for “Most Dedicated Fans.” “It will be like a big-high school party, with Metallica and Anthrax and all the other ass-kicking bands playing!”

Getting nominated is secondary compared to being able to play, said Anthrax’s Scott Ian. “I have been at this awards show before as a presenter; I am just happy we get to play. I never really have understood the concept of awards shows, it all seems so boring to me. Normally at these things we don’t get to just sit down and hang out. You are generally backstage working the whole time. But to play — I am totally down for that.” Anthrax is nominated for “Best Live Band.”

Next up for Anthrax: going to India and Australia with Metallica and other bands for the Soundwave Festival and touring for the next several months.

The Golden God Award, which is given each year to a musician who embodies the spirit of hard rock and metal, will go to Rob Zombie, while Rob Zombie guitarist John 5 is nominated for best guitarist. “It is great to be in this category with all these other great guitar players. I really appreciate that. It’s going to be a blast!” John said.

Rob Zombie’s next album, “Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor,” will drop April 23, followed by the release of his “Lords of Salem” film on April 26, which John 5 co-scored. “This is my first feature-length, full film that I’ve scored. It’s been incredible! Lots of music in that film, which was so much fun to do,” John added.

NEWS: Black Sabbath Announces New Album, First With Ozzy Since 1978

After the press conference was over, Halestorm performed a short set and was joined onstage by Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach, singing  “Slave to the Grind,” which appears on Halestorm’s 2011 EP “ReAnimate.”

“I wrote that song in 1990, and here we are in 2013! Who would have thought back when Skid Row was in a garage that this kind of thing would happen? It’s the kind of thing when you lay your head down at night, you think, ‘Wow, man, I had an effect on people,'” said Bach, who along with Dee Snider, will be hosting the black-carpet pre-show, interviewing all the nominees, honorees and performers.

“My 16-year-old self was so excited to be performing with Sebastian!” quipped Lzzy Hale, lead singer of the Grammy-nominated Halestorm. “It was a dream come true for me. He inspires me to live out-loud always. My parents raised me on classic rock and metal, and Skid Row was always in there. ‘Slave to the Grind’ is my favorite song right now!”

Also announced was the launch of the first-ever Revolver Road to the Golden Gods Tour. Featuring Stone Sour and In This Moment, the 30-city national tour will launch in March and end in May. 

GUITARIST presented by Epiphone

·         John 5 (Rob Zombie & solo)
·         Stephen Carpenter (Deftones)
·         Alex Lifeson (Rush)
·         Misha Mansoor (Periphery)
·         Brendon Small (Dethklok)
·         Kim Thayil (Soundgarden)

BEST DRUMMER presented by Drum Workshop

·         Abe Cunningham (Deftones)
·         Mario Duplantier (Gojira)
·         Arejay Hale (Halestorm)
·         Gene Hoglan (Dethklok & Testament)
·         Roy Mayorga (Stone Sour)
·         Neil Peart (Rush)

PAUL GRAY BEST BASSIST presented by Dean Markley

·         Rex Brown (Kill Devil Hill)
·         Steve Harris (Iron Maiden & solo)
·         Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead)
·         Geddy Lee (Rush)
·         Jason Newsted (Newsted)
·         Sergio Vega (Deftones)

BEST VOCALIST presented by Rockstar Energy Drink

·         Phil Anselmo (Down & solo)
·         Maria Brink (In This Moment)
·         Chris Cornell (Soundgarden)
·         Lzzy Hale (Halestorm)
·         Chino Moreno (Deftones)
·         Corey Taylor (Stone Sour & Slipknot)

BEST NEW TALENT

·         Device
·         Ghost
·         Kvelertak
·         Miss May I
·         Of Mice & Men
·         Young Guns

MOST METAL ATHLETE presented by Roadrunner Records

·         Tom Crabtree (Green Bay Packers, NFL)
·         Tanner Faust (Rally and drifting car racing)
·         Clay Guida (Mixed Martial Arts fighting, UFC)
·         Triple H (WWE wrestling)
·         Geoff Rowley (Skateboarding)
·         CJ Wilson (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, MLB)

BEST LIVE BAND presented by Samson/Zoom

·         Anthrax
·         Five Finger Death Punch
·         Hatebreed
·         Lamb of God
·         Slipknot
·         Volbeat

COMEBACK OF THE YEAR

·         Aerosmith
·         The Darkness
·         Quicksand
·         Refused
·         Soundgarden
·         Tenacious D

SONG OF THE YEAR

·         Asking Alexandria, “Run Free”
·         Avenged Sevenfold, “Carry On”
·         Black Veil Brides, “In The End”
·         Dethklok, “I Ejaculate Fire”
·         Halestorm, “Love Bites (So Do I)”
·         In This Moment, “Blood”

MOST DEDICATED FANS presented by Xbox LIVE

·         Black Label Society
·         Black Veil Brides
·         A Day To Remember
·         HIM
·         Rammstein
·         Slipknot

ALBUM OF THE YEAR presented by Orange Amplification

·         Deftones, Koi No Yokan
·         Gojira, L’Enfant Sauvage
·         Halestorm, The Strange Case of…
·         Marilyn Manson, Born Villain
·         Soundgarden, King Animal
·         Stone Sour, House of Gold & Bones Part 1

Twitter: @THRMusic