In one of the most poignant moments in rock history, Black Sabbath and Heaven & Hell legend Tony Iommi presented Sir Christopher Lee with the ‘Spirit of Hammer’ award at last night’s Metal Hammer Golden God awards ceremony.
Having recently released a new metal album, aged 88-years-old, Sir Christopher Lee made an emotional speech as he collected his award in front of 1500 jubilant metal fans. The eighth annual Metal Hammer Golden Gods in partnership with Kawasaki also honoured Zakk Wylde with the coveted ‘Golden God’ award, the most prestigious award of the night.
Elsewhere in the awards, Tony Iommi headed back to the podium to collect the Best Album award for last year’s critically-acclaimed album, ‘The Devil You Know‘ while guitar legend Joe Perry picked up the Riff Lord award following his band Aerosmith’s show stopping turn at Download Festival at the weekend.
Relative newbies and mates of MTV’s Bam Margera, Five Finger Death Punch picked up two awards in the form of ‘Breakthrough Artist’ and the Dimebag Darrell ‘Shredder’ award for guitarist Zoltan Bathory while Bullet For My Valentine picked up the Best UK Band award.
In recognition of the triumphant campaign to get Rage Against The Machine the Christmas number one slot last December, Jon and Tracey Morter was presented with the ‘Defenders Of The Faith’ award while Celtic Frost legend Tom G Warrior was honoured with the Inspiration Award that was presented to him by Lee Dorian, formerly of Napalm Death. Previous Golden God award-winners Lamb Of God picked up the ‘Best International Band’ award.
The full winners list from the eighth annual Metal Hammer Golden Gods is as follows:
• Best New Band sponsored by ADA – Rise To Remain
• Best Underground Band sponsored by Earache – Immortal
• Best Drummer sponsored by SPV – Mike Portnoy of Avenged Sevenfold
• Global Metal Award sponsored by Sonisphere Festival – Demonic Resurrection (India)
• Defender of the Faith Award sponsored by m:flow – Jon & Tracey Morter for the Rage Against The Machine Christmas number one campaign
• Spirit of Hammer Award sponsored by Jagermeister – Sir Christopher Lee
• Metal As F*ck Award sponsored by Splatterhouse – Evile
• Dimebag Darrel Shredder Award sponsored by Jackson Guitars – Zoltan Bathory (Five Finger Death Punch)
• Breakthrough Artist Award sponsored by Blackstar Amps – Five Finger Death Punch
• Best UK Band sponsored by Roadrunner Records – Bullet For My Valentine
• Best Album sponsored by EMP – “The Devil You Know” by Heaven & Hell
• Inspiration Award – Tom G Warrior of Celtic Frost
• Best International Band sponsored by Nuclear Blast – Lamb of God
• Riff Lord sponsored by Marshall Amps – Joe Perry of Aerosmith
• Golden God sponsored by Kawasaki – Zakk Wylde
Metal Hammer publisher Chris Ingham commented: “To be able to capture the moment when a legend of film is presented an award by a legend of music will always be one of the highlights of my career. To still be releasing metal albums at 88 years old is an amazing achievement and a testament to Sir Christopher Lee’s ability. I was incredibly proud to be able to recognise this incredible man’s achievements in such a fantastic way. It’s been another vintage year for rock and metal and the Golden Gods continues to recognise this. ”
For more information visit the official Metal Hammer website.
