“We work hard, push harder and go where most bands don’t dare,” exclaims Maynard James Keenan of TOOL, “That is the reason why you’re down there and were up here, accepting awards!”

Maynard was one of the star-studded guest presenters for Epiphone Revolver Golden Gods Awards Show and other big guest presenters who participated were Kerry King and Tom Araya of Slayer, Slipknot, Vinnie Paul, Scott Ian, UFC stars BJ Penn and Hector, Jamey Jasta of Hatbreed and Robb Flynn of Machinehead and Dez Farfara of Devildriver. The who’s who in metal showed up and there were no shortage of rock stars who participated in this event.

Epiphone and Revolver teamed up to bring Los Angeles it’s first metal awards show and it’s about time. Metal has somewhat been a silent killer in the past years, creating top 10 records, breaking new ground and amassing a more huge, mainstream following with new bands coming onto the scene. Although metal awards shows have been happening overseas, L.A. finally got it’s own and it went off with a bang.

Killswitch Engage went to it as first up and treated the crowd with “My Curse,” and “Holy Diver.” In between those songs, Killswitch Furthered their welcome by playing a new song which I might say, is an instant classic, judging from the dynamics and the tenacity of the song. Adam D, as usual, treated the crowd with his onstage antics and joked about the show being a ‘Geezers awards show’ referring to Slayer and the mighty Ozzy in attendance in his little rant.

Winner of “Best New Talent” Suicide Silence slayed the stage and showed the crowd why they were worthy of the award by brutally delivering a 4-song set without mercy. I’m not really all familiar with this group but after their set, was convinced I need to pick up their CD. Suicide Silence also played a new song from their upcoming release which the crowd totally dug.

Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta pumps up the crowd after giving Slipknot their award for “Best Riff” before going backstage to get ready to play. Slipknot gave their thanks and Matt Heafy of Trivium then steps out to introduce the almighty hardcore band, Hatebreed. All hell broke loose after that.

Hatebreed didn’t waste anytime pumping up the crowd and getting the swarm to get rowdy. “Destroy Everything” lit up the place while “We Die Hard” shook Club Nokia to it’s core. Jamey Jasta, always the best metal guy to rile up the crowd, did just that and then marked their signature 3-song set with their classic banger, “I Will Be Heard.” At that moment in time, I was real glad to be part of this experience.

A few more awards were given out before Metalcore heavyweights All That Remains took the stage. sounding a bit off for the night, Phil and Company were honestly not at their best. Be it the soundguy, be it the vocals being way too low, something was just off from their set. New song “Two Weeks” started their set, followed by “Carion” which Phil dedicated to the ‘Hard Ones’ in the crowd. “This Calling” finally came around and ATR finished strong.

Brian Posehn, host of the awards, did best of a job as he could. He did have some moments where it seemed like he didn’t really know what to say or what the hell was going on but he managed just fine. Anyhow, it’s a metal awards show so it couldn’t be perfect or else it would be the Grammy’s, as Brian stated over and over again. I liked the fact that Brian kept pointing out the differences between this metal awards show and other awards shows like people stage diving, people chanting Slayer and boob flashing. Brian’s intro clip with guests Dio, Vinnie Paul and Scott Ian also gave the crowd a good laugh before the melee ensued.

Awards that got the warmest responses came from Ozzy, Slayer, Dave Mustaine, and Slipknot. Ozzy and Dave Mustaine got standing ovations from the crowd as they accepted their award and made their speeches. Slipknot came away with two awards and also got a huge response from the crowd as four out of the nine members stepped onstage to accept theirs. The mighty Slayer, who won two awards for “Best Mind-Blowing Guitarists” (Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King) got second best crowd response and deservingly so, they are Gods of Metal.

Back to the stage.

After a few moments of setting up, lights faltering and blinding my eyes, Megadeth hit the stage. Keep in mind that their 3-song set list was picked by the readers and fans so you knew right away that it was going to be a kick ass 3-song set from the get-go.

Megadeth blasted off with “Peace Sells.” That bass line thumped out and the crowd immediately knew what they were in for. God it sounded great! “Sweating Bullets” followed and Megadeth couldn’t sound any better, especially with Dave being Dave on the microphone. Last song on the list? The song that made my night: “Holy Wars.” Man, it took me back in time when I still had hair, long hair, sporting white tennies, Metallica shirt, jean jacket and bullet belt. I couldn’t have asked for a more proper ending to a night dedicated to metal and it’s fans. Megadeth tore the roof off the place.

There were a few awkward moments with Brian stuttering his own jokes, stage fumblery, and delays but for the most part, the show went off without a hitch. It was real nice to see all sorts of metal heads and stars at the awards and I’m guessing that this is going to be a yearly awards show after this one.

I sure hope so, it was a lot of fun. Nice to see the metal community as one.

Other notable mentions:

- Protest The Hero dressed in Gold and Blue Spandex dancing onstage to accept their award. Strange.
- Vinnie Paul gets the crowd to chant ‘Dimebag’ as he accepted his award, dedicates to brother.
- Steel Panther guitarist kicking ass as intermission music and between breaks…that dude rips!
- Metallica got ‘booed’ for their “Best Metal Album” Award – Metallica, No Show
- Jamey Jasta doign hardcore kicks in the middle of their set…quit it!
- Where was Glenn Danzig?
- Maynard James Keenan sporting an ultra clean white suit, nice!
- Alex Varkatzas of Atreyu booed when presenting
- “Never Surrender” trailer clips, cheese, cheese cheese
- Ken Susi of unearth giving Protest The Hero a beer bong onstage
- Steel Panther asking the crowd “Who wants to Fuck Kat Von D?”

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