After a little break, the Rock Sins 2015 awards are continuing with one of our top photographers, the awesome Fran. She’s put down her camera and picked up her keyboard and (rather eloquently, if we do say so ourselves), picked out her best bits (and the odd disappointment) from last year. Over to you Fran.
1) Album Of The Year: Young Guns – Ones and Zeros
With Young Guns being one of my all time favourite bands, Ones and Zeros was easily one of my most highly anticipated albums of this year but also with how much time Young Guns had been away and without new music, it was probably the release this year that I was most anxious about. Thankfully it’s safe to say that the Young Guns did not disappoint, they’ve come back full force and released what I can only describe as the biggest rock album to grace the scene this year.
Honorable Mentions:
Stick To Your Guns – Disobedient
Cancer Bats – Searching For Zero
While She Sleeps – Brainwashed
Beans On Toast – Rolling Up The Hill
2) Song Of The Year: Stick To Your Guns – Nothing You Can Do To Me
Prior to Stick To Your Guns’ most recent album Disobedient I was a very casual fan of theirs but this album has changed that drastically and pushed them up to being one of my current favourite bands. “Nothing You Can Do To Me” is easily one of the high points of that album, it’s fuelled by the band’s trademark aggression but also features this huge chorus, I don’t think there are many bands in the scene who do this quite as well as Stick To Your Guns. As well as all of this, “Nothing You Can Do To Me” features a absolutely killer guest vocals slot from Rotting Out’s Walter Delgado and has a great video full of fluffy dogs.
Honorable Mentions:
Crossfaith, feat. Benji Webb – Wildfire
All Time Low – Kids In The Dark
While She Sleeps – Brainwashed
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes – Juggernaut
3) Video Of The Year: Feed The Rhino – Featherweight
I am personally one of those people who finds music videos to be a really significant part of music and sadly this left me a bit disappointed as I wasn’t very impressed with anything this year, thankfully Featherweight did change this and it was really the only contender for my video of the year. Featherweight gives a refreshing new twist on the classic music video of a band playing in a empty warehouse by having the interactive aspect, but still gives an insight into the crazy and outrageously energetic performances of Feed The Rhino. I can’t help but speak about Feed The Rhino without a hint of sadness at the moment, Featherweight even as a song alone created such a high starting point for a new Feed The Rhino album and I just have to say I hope the next year or so goes well for the band and they’re back soon and as good as ever.
Honorable Mentions:
Stick To Your Guns – Nothing You Can Do To Me
4) Gig Of The Year: Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls @ Alexandra Palace, 26/11/15
I picked this for my gig of the year for so many reasons, it had everything from a surprisingly great venue, excellent supports, a great stage show, a perfectly judged setlist and as always a flawless performance from Frank and the Sleeping Souls themselves. I saw a number of gigs this year that also ticked most of those boxes but I cant think of any other show that left me smiling quite as much as this night did, mostly because of the atmosphere in that room, this is the number one reason why Frank Turner shows are some of my favourite to ever go to.
Honorable Mentions:
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes @ The Borderline
While She Sleeps and Cancer Bats @ most dates of their co-headline tour
The Devin Townsend Project @ The Royal Albert Hall
5) Festival Performance Of The Year: Every Time I Die @ Download Festival
I assume like most other people who saw Every Time I Die at Download Festival this year, I left that tent absolutely covered in sweat and beer, feeling like I’d just spent 40 minutes being kicked in the face by Keith Buckley and loved every second. I also couldn’t help but just felt a bit sorry for any other band playing any other festival this summer because it just was never really going to beat that.
Honorable Mentions:
The Ghost Inside @ Impericon Festival & Download Festival
Anti-Flag @ Warped UK
Yellowcard @ Download Festival
You Me At Six @ Slam Dunk Festival
6) Most Disappointing Album Of The Year: Bring Me The Horizon – That’s The Spirit
I did not have very high expectations for Bring Me The Horizon’s newest album, I have not 100% enjoyed a release of theirs since 2010’s There Is A Hell Believe Me I’ve Seen It, There Is A Heaven Let’s Keep It A Secret however I at least enjoy a handful of tracks from Sempiternal and I was hoping for something similar with the newest release, but sadly to me, Bring Me can’t even seem to do that anymore. I am far from against Bring Me changing and distancing themselves from their original more metal sound, however I believe they have lost the originality they once held dear and have just released a very poor British rock album, to make things worse this came in a year that saw the release of so many excellent British rock albums.
7) Times the Rock and Metal Community Have Made The Best Of A Horrible Situation.
The latter parts of this year saw some truly tragic events transpire across the entire world but I know I’m not alone when I say that some of these events hit particularly close to home as a fan of heavy music. As terrible as the tragedies of this year have been, what I really want to talk about is the incredible sense of unity that came from our scene after these events. Firstly the reactions and support shown after the horrible attacks on the Bataclan in Paris in November, for example the love sent out for Nick Alexander and every other life lost that night, one message that was unavoidable that night was that no matter where in the world you are, whether you’re a musician, a member of a crew, music press or just a fan, if you’re in this scene you are family and we stand together. The other event I want to speak about is the awful bush crash The Ghost Inside and their crew suffered late in November, but more so how so many people pulled together to support them afterwards. The amount of money raised and events that have been put on by bands, industry folk, friends and fans to raise money to support the band and the families of those lost in the crash has been quite simply incredible. Never have I witnessed tragedies hit our scene as hard as those of the last 12 months but neither have I ever witnessed our scene pull together and show such unity to not let these hard times beat us.
8) Band Of The Year: Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes
To put it simply Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes in my eyes are probably the best creation of 2015. It’s safe to say that with a front man such as Frank Carter himself, expectations were high for these guys and it is such a pleasure to say they did not disappoint in the slightest. Despite loving Pure Love myself, I understand they were definitely not everyone’s cup of tea so it is great to see such a colossal following behind Frank Carter again. Frank & The Rattlesnakes have released one of my favourite albums and songs this year as well as putting on a live show that just can’t seemed to be matched, they really have been the band of 2015 in my eyes and I hope this momentum doesn’t slowly and they continue to take over the scene as they have this year.
Very Honorable Mentions: Young Guns
If you want to check out what the other members of staff have had to say in their Rock Sins 2015 End Of Year awards so far, here are the other awards currently published for you to catch up on:
James H – Rock Sins 2015 End Of Year Awards
Jamie G – Rock Sins 2015 End Of Year Awards
