Revolver Magazine hosted their sixth annual Heavy Metal award show, the Golden Gods Wednesday night. Streamed through Amazon.com, it was a night of apparent technical difficulties; with nearly all the performers taking the stage several minutes after they were announced, bad jokes, and interesting award decisions.
Some of the notable award recipients of this years show were Black Sabbath winning Best Album for 13 and Rob Zombie winning Best Live Show. Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age taking Best Vocalist over fan(and crowd) favorite Papa Emeritus II of Ghost B.C., and Deep Purple winning Comeback of the Year, a choice Five Finger Death Punch‘s Ivan Moody took umbrage with, stating “That last award should have gone to Black Sabbath” after taking the stage with 5FDPs bass player to accept an award. On the subject of 5FDP, the band walked away with two awards, one for Best Bassist and one for Best Song for their single “Lift Me Up.”
Hard Rock icon Joan Jett walked away with this year’s “Golden God” award, but not before joining with the rest of The Blackhearts to play a few songs and Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses received the lifetime achievement award.
Performance highlights of the evening included a surprise set by Slayer to kick off the show, with the band playing a new song titled “Implode” to help set the pace of the show. Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society) traded his guitar for a piano and performed the ballad “In This River” as a montage of deceased Rock and Metal performers played on stage. California’s own Suicide Silence also took the stage, marking their first US performance since announcing that Eddie Hermida(ex-All Shall Perish) would be taking over vocal duties after former vocalist Mitch Lucker passed away in 2012. Finally, Guns N’ Roses closed out the show, with former bassist Duff McKagan joining them for their set.
The Golden Gods will re-air on VH1 Classic sometime in May, for a full rundown of award winners click here.