‘Cranium Titanium’ and ‘Irish Metal Archive’ – 2014 Poll Results… Posted: 12/01/2015 by John O'Brien

Cranium Titanium And Irish Metal Archive 2014 Poll Results by Trevormccormack on Mixcloud

Just when you thought all the lists were finally done and dusted!

Well! Trevor McCormack has been tallying up the results for the last three weeks and here are the results as voted by you… the ‘Cranium Titanium’ and ‘Irish Metal Archive’ listening and viewing public. So eager were you all to share your opinions with us that the polling site used reached it’s maximum limit last week. Good, in that it gave Trev some time to get his shit together!

The results were announced on the ‘Cranium Titanium’ show last night, Monday 12th January 2015, along with some tracks from the winners being played which you can listen to in the player above.

So! without any further ado. Whether you like ’em or not… The Results!

IRISH BAND OF THE YEAR?
1st – Primordial
2nd – Enshrined
3rd – Vile Regression
4th – Abaddon Incarnate
5th – Conjuring Fate
6th – Malthusian
7th – Ilenkus
8th – Astralnaut
9th – Cruachan
10th – Corr Mhona

No major surprises here, really! Except for maybe, ENSHRINED landing in second place. But that’s the power of a good fanbase for you. The old stalwarts have made a good showing with ABADDON INCANATE and CRUACHAN featuring and the one and only PRIMORDIAL taking their deserved spot as top-dogs.

Just missing out are COLDWAR, DARKEST ERA, BLACK SVAN and SYPHOR.

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IRISH ALBUM/EP Of The Year?
1st – Vile Regression “Empires”
2nd – Primordial… “Where Greater Men Have Fallen”
3rd – Enshrined… “As Colour Seeps From The World”
4th – Darkest Era… “Severance”
5th – Abaddon Incarnate… “Pessimist”
6Th – Mindriot… “Mindriot”
7th – Astralnaut… “Thieves, Beggars and Swine”
8th – Corr Mhona… “Dair”
9th – Weed Priest… “Worship”
10th – Ilenkus… “The Crossing”

I would have expected PRIMORDIAL to top this one, too! Given that they had just released their highly acclaimed new album towards the end of the 2014. But they’ve been pipped for the top spot and just kept a bay by Dublin Tech Metallers VILE REGRESSION‘s fantastic “Empires”. Not a million miles different from the top ten bands listed previously with a couple of notable exceptions… DARKEST ERA‘s fantastic “Severence” and doomlords WEED PRIEST with their utterly evil “Worship” EP. And Mitchelstown’s Alt/Grunge Rockers MINDRIOT land mid-table too, which is a nice surprise to see among the rest of heaviness!

But sereiously, folks! How in the name of all that is Holy and Unholy in this World, is it that COLDWAR‘s incredible “Panthiest” album isn’t at the top of this list. The album is pure magic from start to finish and blows everything on that list clean out of the water. I’m at loss as to how it hasn’t even made it’s way in to one of the lower spots.

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Irish Newcomer Of The Year?
1st – Stereo Nasty
2nd – Vircolac
3rd – Mindriot
4th – Enshrined
5th – Wild Rocket / Malthusian

This one could have gone any way at all! But I’m delighted to see STEREO NASTY top this list. Their demo from early in the year has been spinning weekly in my gaff, car and at work. New Dublin Death Metallers VIRCOLAC also make this list. No surprise there either, given the players involved and the buzz that they have generated since their live debut at the last Redemption Fest and the release of their “Codex Perfida” EP soon after.

MINDRIOT make their presence known again! OK… So maybe ‘newcomer’ is a bit of stretch for this band, but they’ve stopped and started again a few times over the years. But it’s fair to say that the band have made a completely new and fresh start in 2014, after many years absence. So we’ll give them this!

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Best Album Art Work Of The Year?
1st – Corr Mhóna… “Dair”
2nd – Conjuring Fate… “House on Haunted Hill”
3rd – Vile Regression… “Empires”
4th – Primordial… “Where Greater Men have Fallen”
5th – Putrefy… “Knelt Upon The Sarcophagus Of Humanity”

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Promoter Of The Year?
1st – D.M.E
2nd – MCD
3rd – Distortion Project
4th – EHT Promotions/Bad Reputation
5th – Dead End Music/Hexenhaus/JD Metal Promotions

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Festival Of The Year?
1st – Siege of Limerick
2nd – Hellfest
3rd – Unleashed/Bloodstock
4th – Monsters Of Rot
5th – Wacken