And the winner is...
FRANCE - GOJIRA 'Our Time is Now'
The French tech death metal legends take out our 2023 crown with their standalone single from October 2022. They were heavily favoured coming in and appeared on the most number of eligible votes, scoring a total of 236 points to win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76u8h0gjd-Y
Second place was taken by Swedish melodeath veterans In Flames with 'State of Slow Decay'. They were neck and neck with Gojira for much of the final three days. It marked the second top 3 finish for Sweden after Ghost performed strongly in our 2022 edition.
Third was a surprisingly strong finish for goth icon Ville Vallo from Finland. His tune 'Neon Noir' actually scored the most first-place votes (5 points) but not enough minor point placings to trouble the top 2. The top 5 are rounded out by UK metalcore heroes Architects with the industrial flavoured 'tear gas' and surprisingly strong finishers Epica, whose collaboration with Charlotte Wessells and Myrkur overtook Poland's Behemoth.
Thank you to everyone who voted this year - we surpassed the total number of voters from last year. There is a heap of great bands across Europe and looking forward to finding new contestants for 2024.
Word: KJ Draven (Twitter and Instagram).
Full results below.
SongTotal pointsFrance - Gojira ‘Our Time is Now’236Sweden - In Flames ‘State of Slow Decay’228Finland - Ville Vallo ‘Neon Noir’199England - Architects ‘tear gas’170Netherlands - Epica ‘Sirens - Of Blood and Water’ (ft. Charlotte Wessels & Myrkur)166Poland - Behemoth ‘Ov My Herculean Exile’133Germany - Lord of the Lost ‘Blood & Glitter’124Norway - Darkthrone ‘Impeccable Caverns of Satan’112Ukraine - Defiant ‘Final Stand’99Scotland - Hellripper ‘The Nuckelavee’85Italy - Frozen Crown ‘Fire in the Sky’63Greece - Planet of Zeus ‘Sworn to Avenge’43Austria - Oceans ‘Home’31Spain - Rancor ‘Bury the World’28Belgium - Brutus ‘Brave’28Denmark - Cabal ‘Magno Interitus’ (ft Joe Bad)19Czech Republic - Alkehol ‘Lehce nad věcí’17
