Dark Music Awards 2015 - RESULTS!!!

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Written by Tomaz

Terra Relicta Dark Music Awards 2015 - The Final Round!

First of all A big Thank You to all who casted your votes and made this competition so popular! Also a big thank you to all bands who promoted the Awards in many possible ways! As you know we started everything with the Preliminary Round. There were 9 groups with 7 albums in each, plus the "write in vote" group. From each group two albums with biggest amount of votes made it into the big finals and the result is:

The title of Dark Album Of The Year 2015 goes to:
THE INSIGHT - White Noise
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

The Insight links: Official website, Facebook, Bandcamp

Congratulations also to INKUBUS SUKKUBUS and their album Mother Moon for second place and SEIGMEN for their album Enola for third position!!! The battle for the throne was harsh and decided in the last few hours of the competition. And as well congratulations to all other bands who made it into the finals and fought really well. The results are listed below.

Check out also the results from each preliminary group over HERE.

jVoteSystem developed and designed by www.joomess.de.

Alfahanne - Blod Eld Alfa:
With a mix of black metal with classic rock and punk, and topped off with some new wave and goth influences, Alfahanne has created a style of music that is powerful and beautiful, yet ugly at the same time. With members from 90s black metal bands, Alfahanne creted an unique mix of the dark and grim atmospheres, energy and melody. With Alfahanne, there is one way in and no way out!

Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud:
Amorphis on their new album sound modern, adventurous, but still very much conscious of their legacy. Under The Red Cloud is maybe the best album this band did in the last ten years. It has it all we should expect from the band of a such caliber, they sound more devoted into what they are doing than ever and the result is highly captivating, melodic, dense, versatile and surprisingly dark sound. [Review]

Antimatter - The Judas Table:
Antimatter is back with a new very introspective album, The Judas Table. Most of the time Mick Moss and company sticks to the approved formula by using a multi-layered sound with heart breaking almost popy melodies, reverberate strong bass lines, smooth drums, gentle violin, absolutely fantastic keys that make the whole soundscape even gothier, in a short every single element is used with such a feeling and prudence. [Review]

Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss:
The Abyss is where Chelsea Wolfe is the most comfortable and we hear on this album a true vision of what it is like in that darkness. There are many memorable tracks here and they will stay interesting for many replays. Great production value matched with a raw beauty and intensity make for a masterpiece. [Review]

Dear Strange - Lonely Heroes:
Dear Strange posses the ability to create such vivid emotions and explicit coolness while walking a thin line beetween catchiness and atmosphere, thanks to the inspiration and re-invention of the dark side of the 80s with some minimal electro and club-sound-elements coming from an armada of synthesizers. Lonely Heroes is an album that captivates with its flow, with the inteligent revival of the new wave sound, addictive dark atmospheric layers and unique post-modern sound. [Review]

Draconian - Sovran:
Sovran is an ultimate proof that the combination of gothic metal and doom metal works out perfectly if you have top notch musicians performing and composing it. Sovran is magical, soothing, melancholic and dreamy adventure, yet it is ponderous, powerful and heavy. All of the songs on Sovran are nicely building up in atmosphere, there are so many layers and multidimensional ambiance gets often fulfilled with obscure gothy symphonic synths which give to the songs such an unimaginable depth and rich sound. [Review]

Enshine - Singularity:
Singularity is an album mostly for those who like to be overtaken by stunning melodic and spacey guitar lines. Jari and Sébastien made an album that is a decent successor to their magnificient debut and a solid continuation of the story that started with genesis on Origin, now going into the most complex processes of life formations, into new worlds of mind and space. Singularity is a very strong album; one of the best choices you can make while searching for some good atmospheric and melodic doom/death metal. [Review]

Hanging Garden - Blackout Whiteout:
The new album of Finns Hanging Garden is all about melancholic and heavy music. What they already shown on previous album, they intensified into heights that is hard to imagine. Blackout Whiteout is so very emotional, soothing mix of doom, post-metal/rock, acoustic folk elements and a pinch of melodic death metal, that must take the listener out of this space and time.

Inkubus Sukkubus - Mother Moon:
After 27 years and recognizable sound, which elegantly combines goth rock with pagan ideas, the British trio has again offered us an odyssey through human nature, intertwining with the divine. Mother Moon delivers classical Inkubus Sukkubus, yet at the same time presents something fresh – the stripped down, acoustic version of their sound.

Kommunity FK - Thee Image & Thee Myth:
The new album by American cult band Kommunity FK holds a vibrant spark missing in so many of today’s modern releases bringing together the beautiful conglomeration of alternative music, post-punk, gothic rock, deathrock, electronic rock, industrial music and Noise. This band, whom is celebrating it’s 35th anniversary this year, continue onward and forward, as if it is the last great original evocative band on Earth.

Luciferian Light Orchestra - Luciferian Light Orchestra:
Luciferian Light Orchestra' debut is an elegant vintage sounding album, it's still fresh, in a twisted way modern and offers many different elements which take the listener from one mood into another with such a lighty way. When you think that the music in here could became too complex, psychedelic or perverse, Luciferian Light Orchestra immediately kicks off with such a catchy structure that you'll be in an instant put again into the corridor of this musical occultistic, yet conceptual journey. [Review]

Moonspell - Extinct:
Exactly twenty years after their first full length release, Wolfheart, the Portuguese quintet is back in black and they are on their prime. Extinct, is everything anyone who at least fancies Moonspell a bit would want and wish, as it not only portrays their immense talent and skilful musicianship, but also depicts just how much they have grown and learnt throughout the years. Extinct may revolve around dying and extinction, but Moonspell have never been as alive as they are. [Review]

Orkan - Livlaus:
Norwegian black metal outfit Orkan are back with their sophomore album named Livlaus, three years after the release of their debut Crimson Canvas. Livlaus is on excellent opus and it was worth waiting for it. First of all Orkan is unquestionably quintessentional black metal, but other influences are woren in a marvelous way, ranging from thrash to almost black'n'roll elements. Livlaus is a strong contender for many "Best of 2015" lists. [Review]

Paradise Lost - The Plague Within:
The Plague Within is maybe the heaviest and probably the darkest album Paradise Lost ever did. But yet, it's not everything about the past on The Plague Within, it's as well a modern album by all means that in an intriguing way shows a constant evolution of the band. The Plague Within will satisfy most of the bands fans as it's regardless of everything a killer release, a demanding one, a dark jevel in its own way. [Review]

Seigmen - Enola:
A nothing less than brilliant comeback by the oh so missed, but never forgotten Norwegians, delivers ten songs which go beyond hypnotizing with a slightly modern tone, giving them a special flavour. Seigmen are not a static form of melancholy, they are forever changing, exploring the variety of it. Enola will make your deepest wounds bleed again, but it will also help to stop the bleeding. [Review]

Shining - IX/Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends:
When it comes to the Swedish pioneers of depressive undertones in black metal, Shining, a lot of people just think of all the rumors around them, especially about frontman and founder Niklas Kvarforth, and they forget the whole band and the fact they are indeed skillful musicians. IX/Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends is rather short album with only 6 tracks on it, but it's 6 tracks of pure golden music. [Review]

Still Patient? - Shape Shifters:
A band that could be considered as one of the axes around which the second wave of gothic rock was vertebrated in 90s is in full bloom and their return after 14 years of absence showcases a band who instead of merely exhaust the old success formulas or play the lately popular return-of-the-90s-legend game, the Germans have been able to reinvent themselves and remain relevant, mighty and seductive, and all this without losing none of their signature.

The 3rd Attempt - Born In Thorns:
Raw and on the verge of sanity, Born In Thorns is just what every black metal fan would crave for. The 3rd Attempt show no mercy and went for it with full power. It’s black metal, it's fast, blasting, uncompromising and even somewhat psychotic at moments.

The Insight - White Noise:
Expressive voice, english poetic texts on a cold and post-punk music, the band wields brilliantly saturated guitars, minimalist keyboards, heavy bass, as well as acoustic and electro beats, that surely will make you vibrate. Proudly trademarking their post-punk English influences, they are anyway French and yet in a way very original. White Noise is a collection of twelve mature and melancholic retro sounding gems.

Thurisaz - The Pulse Of Mourning:
The Pulse Of Mourning is nothing else but a rollercoaster of emotions, a professionally done album from each and every aspect. A huge dose of melancholy that is present all over in those beautifully arranged melodies makes most of the songs truly unforgettable, sometimes making your skin going goose bumps and leaves you breathless. Diversity, aggressivity and beauty are the key words of Thurisaz's fourth full-lenght album. [Review]

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