The awards of course, were dished out between live sets from tonight’s performing bands. Opening the night were post-hardcore wavemakers As Everything Unfolds, followed by fast rising pop punk stars Hot Milk, however tonight there was a secret extra performance in the form of the self dubbed skiffle-punk duo Glitchers, who turned up outside the venue performing from the back of a truck before the doors had even opened. Bonus band, what value for money.
Following these performances we have our first batch of awards:
Best Video
Nova Twins took the first award of the night, beating out fierce competition such as While She Sleeps, Architects and Deftones with their video for ‘Taxi’.
Best Production
Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds snagged this one for his work on Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible, triumphing over the likes of Code Orange, Loathe and Bring Me The Horizon.
Best UK Band
The absolute titans that are Bring Me The Horizon have been formally recognised with this one, having already been a staple of the UK’s heavy music scene for many years now.
Best Album Artwork
This one was picked up by Dance Gavin Dance for the cover of their latest record Afterburner. The album art was created by Swedish artist Mattias Adolfsson, who has created artwork for every one of the bands albums since their 2007 debut Downton BattleMountain. Fun fact, he also was the creative mind behind the artwork for Weezer’s recent album OK Human.
Best International Band
This whopping title has been won by none other than Ghostmane, who took on the likes of Lamb Of God, The Pretty Reckless and even Corey Taylor to be called this years best international artist.
Following these awards, and fresh off the back of their new album Don’t You Feel Amazing? Trash Boat hit the stage, with a special set highlight coming from Wargasm‘s Milkie joining onstage for a performance of ‘Bad Entertainment’, a song that she features on the studio version for. Her appearance onstage shut down the Twitch stream of the event due to, well, in her own words (posted via her Twitter account some days prior to the event) “if anyone was planning on going to the heavys and not seeing my nipples… im sorry that is simply not an option.” followed swiftly by “Fuck COVID, get your tits out”. A mantra to live your live by.
But back to the awards;
‘The H’
A special award given out each year in recognition of exceptional contributions to the heavy music scene – Frank Turner took to the stage to announce this special award for the one place it truly belongs this year, to the Music Venue Trust, for their incredible efforts over the past year working to save the UK’s live music industry from collapse under the strain of the global pandemic.
Best Podcast
The Downbeat (helmed by Stray From The Path‘s very own Craig Reynolds) took home the award for best podcast over Sean Smith’s ‘Sappenin’, Daniel P Carter’s ‘Someone Who Isn’t Me’ and even Finn McKenty’s ‘The Punk Rock MBA’.
Best International Breakthrough
who else could have won this but Spiritbox, undeniably the hottest rising band in heavy music right now, there surely was no question here about who was gonna grab this one.
Best UK Breakthrough
This one went to WARGASM, who were up against a slurry of hotly tipped artists including Static Dress, Death Blooms and Phoxjaw for this highly sought after recognition.
Best Album
The final award for the night, the prestigious best album award went to none other than Bring Me The Horizon, making it their second win of the 2021 HMA’s, for their phenomenal record Post Human: Survival Horror. They were up against the likes of Deftones, Neck Deep, Creeper and Bury Tomorrow.
Closing out the night was a spectacular performance from Sleep Token, taking to the stage to put the flourishing finale on what was an incredible celebration of heavy music with a transcendent musical extravaganza that sent the whole venue into a frenzy. The mysterious air surrounding the band, the allure of Vessel’s silky smooth vocals, and the hype surrounding this band makes them a surefire nominee for next years categories.