The nominees were announced this morning for the 62nd annual Grammy Awards, and once again, at least as far as metal and hard rock go, they don’t make a helluva lot of sense. Tool did get a few nods in the Best Metal Performance and Best Rock Song categories, but considering that the prog titans’ most recent album, Fear Inoculum, was the biggest rock record — metal, hard rock and beyond — in over a year, its exclusion from the Best Rock Album category is pretty mystifying. Also, Tony Iommi is the riff master of riff masters, but his song with Candlemass? Really?
If you care to find out who among this seemingly random assortment of nominees take home the trophies, the awards will be handed out at the Grammys awards ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on January 26th.
Best Metal Performance:
- Candlemass & Tony Iommi – “Astorolus – The Great Octopus”
- Death Angel – “Humanicide”
- I Prevail – “Bow Down”
- Killswitch Engage – “Unleashed”
- Tool – “7empest”
Best Rock Performance:
- Bones UK – “Pretty Waste”
- Gary Clark Jr. – “This Land”
- Brittany Howard – “History Repeats”
- Karen O & Danger Mouse – “Woman”
- Rival Sons – “Too Bad”
Best Rock Song:
- Tool – “Fear Inoculum”
- The 1975 – “Give Yourself A Try”
- Vampire Weekend – “Harmony Hall”
- Brittany Howard – “History Repeats”
- Gary Clark Jr. – “This Land”
Best Rock Album:
- Bring Me the Horizon – amo
- Cage the Elephant – Social Cues
- The Cranberries – In the End
- I Prevail – Trauma
- Rival Sons – Feral Roots
Additionally, late Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell’s posthumous self-titled best-of album received a nomination in the Best Recording package category.
