Announcing the Winners of Our 1st Annual Readers Choice Awards!

Thanks once again to everyone who voted in our 1st Annual Readers Choice Awards! Over 1,100 votes were cast and 46 albums nominated!

Our original plan was to feature the top 10 vote-getting albums. However, due to a three-way tie for the last spot, we have 12 albums instead! Let’s see if you can identify the albums in the collage below!

Thanks very much to Mimi of the UtF staff for putting this image together!

So, now you see the covers of the honored albums.  Here is a more detailed list of the winners:

1. Modified – Modified
2. Dama – Eirwen
3. (tie) Stream of Passion – Darker Days
3. (tie) Echoterra – Land of the Midnight Sun
5. Crysalys – The Awakening of Gaia
6. Nemesea – The Quiet Resistance
7. Amaranthe – Amaranthe
8. Only Fate Remains – Breathe
9. Benedictum – Dominion
10. (tie) Cassandra Syndrome – Satire X
10. (tie) Draconian – A Rose for the Apocalypse
10. (tie) Noctura – Surrender the Sun

Once again, thanks to everyone who voted this year!  The Awards were a great success – so let’s have it again next year, shall we?

Our December 2011 Band of the Month Is…

Devilskin

Sometimes, we have a fight to the finish between two – or three – bands for this title. Other times, one band takes a huge early lead and no one is able to catch up. The latter scenario is what happened this month for Devilskin. Shortly after we launched our Band of the Month Poll for November 2011, fans of this quartet from Hamilton, New Zealand stormed the poll and helped Devilskin leapfrog over the other nominees.  Good enough to win the title? You bet! By the way, a fact for you: Devilskin is our first Band of the Month from an island nation.

Click here for Devilskin’s Band of the Month page.

Here are the official results of last month’s poll:

1. Devilskin – 327 votes (56.09%)
2. Adrana – 115 votes (19.73%)
3. Nemesea – 63 votes (10.81%)
4. Trillium – 52 votes (8.92%)
5. Cardamon – 26 votes (4.46%)

And now, it’s time for our January 2012 Band of the Month Poll! Our staff still feels the thrills of this year’s Flight of the Valkyries Festival. (The show was held at Sonar in Baltimore, Maryland USA on November 19.) So, how about we give our new poll a FotV 5 theme? Here is this year’s line-up, and your choices for our first Band of the Month for 2012:

• Benedictum, a heavy metal band from San Diego, California, and this year’s headliner at Flight of the Valkyries
• Brave, a progressive rock/metal band from Washington, DC
• Cassandra Syndrome, an operatic metal band from Frederick, Maryland
• DesDemon, a symphonic power metal band from New York City, New York
• Echoterra, a symphonic metal band from Minneapolis, Minnesota featuring Melissa Ferlaak (ex-Visions of Atlantis, ex-Aesma Daeva) on lead vocals
• Flames of Fury, a power / heavy metal band with members that live in the states of New York and New Jersey
• Serpent Witch, a doom metal band from Bethesda, Maryland

You know the rules by now. Visit our WordPress site and scroll down to find the poll on the right-hand sidebar. Vote once a day through New Years Eve (Saturday, December 31st)!

Which bands would you like to see featured in our next Band of the Month Poll? Let us know by sending an email to unleashthefuriesmetal@gmail.com.

~ Sara

June BotM Poll Ends; July Poll Begins!

Our Band of the Month for June 2011 is…

Regardless Of Me

Death metal fans came out swinging for this poll. Amaranthe took a whopping lead early on, but halfway through the month Regardless Of Me made a charge for the top. In the end, the Swedes couldn’t hold off the Italians. So, Regardless of Me is Unleash the Furies’ new Band of the Month!

Click here to visit of Band of the Month page on Regardless Of Me.

Thanks to fans and readers, our second Band of the Month Poll was an even bigger hit than our first! Over 550 votes were cast by the end of the month. Here are the final results:

1. Regardless Of Me: 271 votes (49.18%)
2. Amaranthe: 146 votes (26.5%)
3. Whyzdom: 54 votes (9.8%)
4. ReVamp: 53 votes (9.62%)
5. Solsikk: 27 votes (4.9%)

And now, here are our nominees for Band of the Month Poll for July 2011:

• Benedictum, a heavy metal band from San Diego, California. Benedictum recently released its third album, Dominion, on Frontiers Records and will make its second appearance at Metal Female Voices Festival later this year.
• Kells, a symphonic nu metal band based in Lyon, France.  Kells has toured extensively with Tarja Turunen in Europe this year. The band’s third album is due for release via Season of Mist later this summer.
• Skeptical Minds, an electro rock/metal band from Brussels, Belgium.  Last October, Skeptical Minds released its third album, Skepticalized, which is its first album with Polish-born singer Karolina vel Death.
• Stream of Passion, a symphonic progressive metal band based in The Netherlands and led by Mexican vocalist Marcela Bovio. Stream of Passion will release their third album, Darker Days, in late June via Napalm Records.
• Visions of Atlantis, a symphonic power metal band from Styria, Austria. Visions of Atlantis is currently touring to promote its fourth album, Delta, which is the band’s first album with Greek singer Maxi Nil (formerly of Elysion).

To cast your vote, visit our WordPress site and scroll down to find the poll on the right-hand sidebar. Voting closes on Thursday, June 30^th, and you can vote once a day!

Which bands would you like to see featured in our next Band of the Month Poll? Let us know by sending an email to unleashthefuriesmetal@gmail.com!

~ Sara