THE ROCK REALMS AWARDS 2010

The second annual awards from Rock Realms is finally here. As a whole 2010 wasn't quite as good as 2009 for great albums or numbers of individually brilliant tracks, but there were still plenty of stunning moments hidden amongst the weaker releases.

Rather than rabbiting on here about are favourite moments here, have a read through the awards to get a flavour of what we did and didn't like.

2011 promises to be a good year for reasons which will hopefully become obvious as time moves on, so here's to a brilliant next 12 months!

We have numerous awards ready to dish out, but we'll only give 'em if we think at least one track or album is worthy. Some releases are so good we'll invent an award just for them, but you didn't hear us say that!

We haven't had time to listen to every single release this year unfortunately so, if there's something that you love missing from here, we either didn't hear it or we didn't like it.

Some of the awards on this page are single honours, some lead to other lists. We're sure you can work it out...

THE INDIVIDUAL SONG AWARDS - LISTS
HEAVY, HARD & MELODIC ROCK:

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BALLADS:

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THE INDIVIDUAL SONG AWARDS - OTHER
CHILLOUT (ROCK): Strangeways - 'Time'

This is an absolutely stunning song, almost too mellow to be rock, but there's just enough oomph in those magical vocals to find a place here.
CLASSIC (ROCK): Marseille - 'I Believe'

As cheesy as saying this surely sounds, you'll "believe in the rock 'n' roll dream" once you hear this track. Magnificent.
ALT (ROCK): The Glitterati - 'Too Many Girls'

The Glitterati were massive, then they disappeared, then they came back with this masterpiece. This is too close to perfection for words.
ALT (METAL): Marya Roxx - 'Nothing Going On'

To be honest this award could equally have gone to Marya's other tracks 'Oh Yeah' and 'Strong', but this one just about fended them off.
BLUESY (ROCK): Loveblast - 'Goodbye My Darling'

A band that deserves some serious attention. This arguably isn't even the best track on the album.
SOUTHERN (ROCK): Preacher Stone - 'You Can't Keep A Good Man Down'

They were amongst the awards last year, and here they are again. You can't keep a good band down.
SYMPHONIC (ROCK): The Murder Of My Sweet - 'Kiss Of Death'

This song is the size of a small planet. In fact make that a large planet.
FEELGOOD (ROCK): Philip Sayce - 'Anymore'

We almost didn't hear this album. Fortunately we did. And that's why this song is here.
WESTCOAST (ROCK): Stage Dolls - 'Always'

It's like the late 1980s never ended. Richard Marx would be proud. Well, in fact he probably is.
PROG (CLASSIC ROCK): Asia - 'Finger On The Trigger'

It's just like all those years in between didn't happen, and Asia are still pumping out songs from their debut. This is that good.
PROG (HARD ROCK): Phenomena - 'Blind Faith'

Rob Moratti was here with Saga last year, now he's here guesting on and creating the best song for this "various musicians" album.
PROG (METAL): Halcyon Way - 'Rise To Revise'

THAT guitar sound. THAT rhythm section. Listen and learn.
FUNK (ROCK): Philip Sayce - 'Scars'

Mr. Sayce is here again. It would be fair to see his album had plenty of variety on it, and here it out-funks Jeff Scott Soto and Glenn Hughes with ease.
MODERN (SOFT ROCK): TAG - 'Fly'

Quite an understated song, but that chorus makes it all worthwhile.
MODERN (HARD ROCK): Brian Howe - 'Life’s Mystery'

Brian Howe has been around forever, but he still sounds like a spunky 18 year old. We don't know what he eats/drinks/smokes, but we need to get some here. Now.
DUET: Kiske - Somerville - 'One Night Burning'

The rest of the album was a bit of a miss-produced mess, but on this track it all came together in a VERY big way.
INSTRUMENTAL (METAL): Stratosphere - 'Rendezvous'

Joe Satriani released a brand new instrumental album this year. One second of this track is better than his entire album. So there.
POWER (METAL): Dream Evil - 'In The Night'

Turn your speakers to max, sit back, and prepare for arguably the finest power metal track of all time. A big claim, but that's just the way it is.
THRASH (METAL): Overkill - 'Ironbound'

The masters return with a very nice album, and the title track is easily the cream of this year's thrashers.
FEMALE FRONTED (METAL): Sister Sin - 'Better Than Them'

Lead singer of Sister Sin Liv is far too good looking to sound this good and this lairy. Fortunately, no one told her that.
EPIC (METAL): Empires Of Eden - 'Total Devastation'

Is it heavy metal? Is it speed metal? No, it's simply too huge. That's why this song wins the EPIC METAL section. It's louder than all the other tracks this year put together.
HEAVY (METAL): Demonica - 'Palace Of Glass'

A fine lesson in how to make metal both inaccessible and catchy all at once. It'll draw you in and chop you into little pieces. Just how we like it.
SPEED (METAL): Helstar - 'Pandemonium'

How fast? Imagine shoving a rocket engine up a peregrine falcon's fudge tunnel. You'd only be halfway there.
EXTREME (METAL): The Burning - 'Flames Be Your Friend'

HEAVY! This is what the music in hell sounds like. Apparently.
COVER (ROCK): Shylock - 'Rumours'

This was originally recorded by "Timex Social Club". Never heard of 'em, but this version is so good you never need to.
COVER (HARD ROCK): Vince Neil - 'Viva Las Vegas'

ZZ Top did a fine job of covering this Elvis song in the early 1990s. Vince's version is better again.
COVER (METAL): Kyrbgrinder - 'Heart Shaped Box'

Nirvana wrote some good songs, but they themselves were kind of annoying. Get some nice chaps like Kyrbgrinder to cover them and they all make sense.
COVER (BALLAD): Serpentine - 'Unbreak My Heart'

Two rock bands inexplicably covered this song this year. This one was by far the best.
THE ALBUM AWARDS - LISTS
HEAVY, HARD & MELODIC ROCK:

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THE ALBUM AWARDS - OTHER
ALT (ROCK): Philip Sayce - 'Innerevolution'

The album flips between modern, blues, funk, soft and hard rock...so we split the difference and put it here. Can't recommend this release enough.
ALT (METAL): Kyrbgrinder - 'Cold War Technology'

Didn't expect this to be this good. But it is. And then some.
MODERN (ROCK): Brian Howe - 'Circus Bar'

Thought this may be a classic bluesy rock album, but it turned out to be a superb selection of fresh modern tracks that would do a bunch of twenty year olds justice.
FEMALE FRONTED (ROCK): Issa - 'Sign Of Angels'

I got the impression this album was being flogged on the looks of the singer, not the quality of the music. Shame, because the music is breathtakingly good.
FEMALE FRONTED (METAL): Marya Roxx - 'Payback Time'

She may be known as the bass player in Vanilla Ninja, but this ain't no rocked up Euro pop. This album totally kicks ass. With a sledgehammer.
BLUES (ROCK): Black Country Communion - 'S/T'

As far as supergroups go, this is pretty damn super indeed.
SOUTHERN (ROCK): Logan - 'The Great Unknown'

A Scottish band producing the best Southern U.S. rock album of the year? Yep, afraid so!
SOFT (ROCK): Stage Dolls - 'Always'

Some moaned this album was a trifle soft. Well, yes, it was, but as far as soft albums go it was bloody good!
CLASSIC (ROCK): Marseille - 'Unfinished Business'

This is exactly what the interior of every "Live Music Pub" across the land should sound like. Apparently they are quite good at art too, but that's another story.
PROG (ROCK): Asia - 'Omega'

This is what is called getting back on form. End of story.
PROG (METAL): Third Eye - 'Recipe For Disaster'

This album is totally mad and makes no sense whatsoever, but it's so moorish it could have populated Southern Spain several hundred years ago.
INDIE (ROCK): The Universal - 'S/T'

Sounds just like Paul Weller. Well, that's enough really isn't it?
HEAVY (METAL): Helstar - 'Glory Of Chaos'

Imagine a crash between Slayer, Judas Priest and Testament. With some chocolate sprinkles on top. Mmmm, good!
EXTREME (METAL): Demonica - 'Demonstrous'

The album's title says it all. Demonica will give you the horn, and not just in your pants.
POWER (METAL): Dream Evil - 'In The Night'

The title track alone could win it this award. Fortunately the rest of the album provides ample back-up.
INSTRUMENTAL (ROCK): Senes - 'De-Evolution Of Theory'

Came from nowhere. Took the title. Job done. Will probably do the same next time he releases an album too.
INSTRUMENTAL (METAL): Constantine - 'Shredcore'

It's like the best power metal, minus the singing. And it's arguably even better because of it.
LIVE: Halford - 'Live In Anaheim'

One of the world's finest vocalists in his natural setting. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, nothing actually.
THRASH (METAL): Annihilator - 'S/T'

Jeff and co. come back with their finest album in ages. His hair's a bit short these days, but the music still kicks ass in a big way.
THE BEST OF THE BEST AWARDS: SONG OF THE YEAR
SONG OF THE YEAR (WINNER): Last Autumn's Dream - 'Jenny's Eyes'

Jenny is a real person, and she really does have very nice eyes (we've seen the photos). This song totally does them justice. Best ballad for years? Quite possibly.
SONG OF THE YEAR (2ND): Solution .45 - 'Lethean Tears'

Bonkers but awesome. We need more songs about worms!
SONG OF THE YEAR (3RD): Dream Evil - 'In The Night'

The ballads may have edged it...but this power metal track is soooo amazing it very nearly came first.
SONG OF THE YEAR (4TH): Treat - 'Paper Tiger'

Maybe not as dangerous as a real tiger, but it made for an extraordinary song.
SONG OF THE YEAR (5TH): Brian Howe - 'There's This girl'

A true demonstration of how to work in the industry for years and still be utterly relevant.
THE BEST OF THE BEST AWARDS: ALBUM OF THE YEAR
ALBUM OF THE YEAR (WINNER): Crazy Lixx - 'New Religion'

Consistently good from start to finish. Works just as well as a whole as it does as individual songs. Welcome the new number one!
ALBUM OF THE YEAR (2ND): Issa - 'Sign Of Angels'

Could easily have been a million seller with one of the world-dominating labels behind it. Fortunately, they were blind to her talent so we now get to call her one of our own.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR (3RD): Third Eye - 'Recipe For Disaster'

Still don't understand how this album got here. It should be terrible. But it's bloody brilliant. Madness!
ALBUM OF THE YEAR (4TH): Unruly Child - 'World's Collide'

Would have comfortably taken the top spot save for the relatively iffy production. In isolation the album sounds phenomenal though, and that's enough to put it here.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR (5TH): Marseille - 'Unfinished Business'

Unfinished Business is an album that captures the spirit of rock music back in it's heyday. Listen to this without a small tear in the corner of your eye if you dare.
THE OTHER (OCCASIONALLY SILLY) AWARDS
KEEPING THE QUEENSRŸCHE ALIVE: Ken's Dojo - 'Keeping The Flame Alive'

Okay, Queensrÿche aren't dead but this sounds just like them...and it really is bloody superb.
OUT YNGWIE-ING YNGWIE: Jayce Landberg - 'Invasion'

Sounds just like vintage Yngwie Malmsteen, but is better than anything 'Mr. Unleash The Fury' has put out in years. The track even has Mark Boals singing on it.
SERIOUSLY, 'S CLUB 7'?: Weezer - 'I'm A Robot'

What were they thinking? The album features a load of tracks that didn't make it onto their other albums - most are very good. This one really isn't.
SPONSORED SONG: Chris Laney - 'Rockstar'

Sell out or cunning marketing ploy? Whatever the answer, it's a great song and the man now clearly gets a lot of free energy drink. Everyone's a winner!
FLOGGING THE SAME OLD TRACK: Stan Bush - 'Sam's Theme (The Touch)'

Stan keeps re-recording and re-releasing this track from the original transformers movie. This is arguably the best version yet, but we don't want to encourage this sort of behaviour! :)
WOW, WHO THE HELL IS SHE?: Mark Sweeney - 'Leave It All Behind'

No, not Mark; he's a bloke. We mean the girl he's duetting with here. She's bloody amazing!
WTF BRILLIANCE: Stellar Vector - 'The Not So Hidden Song'

And who is this "Pillow Head" chappy? Find out here! 35 seconds of awesomeness.
WTF STOOPID TITLE: The Prophecy23 - 'Surf Nazis Must Die'

Well, yes, obviously they should, but where have you been seeing them and why are they surfing?
WTF COVER SONG: Revolting Cocks - 'Me So Horny'

So awful it's brilliant and so brilliant it's awful.
DIRTY AC/DC: Big Ball - 'Porna Lisa'

It's like a slutty, filthy, depraved version of AC/DC. And it's actually quite good.
SURPRISINGLY GOOD VOCALS: Elvenking - 'Silence De Mort'

Had to check twice this wasn't Eric Martin from Mr. Big singing. This guy really is that good.
WHY DO I LIKE THIS?: Last Autumn's Dream - 'See My Baby Jive'

Crazy, crazy, 1950s style xmas song; cover of a 1970s song by Wizzard. Stupidly contagious. Why it was on this album isn't clear, but glad it was.
OH NOT AGAIN!: Jorn - 'Sacred Heart'

Actually, ignore the official cover song awards above. This is the best rock cover from 2010, but Jorn won the award last year. In fact he'll probably win the award every year he releases a cover song because he's so damned amazing.
SO AWFUL IT'S GREAT: Poison Sun - 'I'm So Excited'

Not a big fan of Martina Frank's vocals, but there's something about this cover track that demands one more spin.
LET'S PARTY!!!: Kickhunter - 'Shy Shy Shy'

It's like Chas And Dave meets Status Quo meets a bar in the American mid west. Awesome.
JUST GENIUS: Weezer - 'The Odd Couple'

How good must the album have been that this didn't make the cut for? Brilliant.
CHEER UP!: The Rebs - 'Just To See'

This track is a bit moany, but it's utterly stunning so we'll let them off just this once.
SO GOOD IT DESERVED AN AWARD: Envy Of The State - 'Rags To Riches (Riches To Rehab)'

Not quite as good as the song which won the Alt Rock section, but this fine effort from Envy Of The State was so close it would be criminal for it to not win something.
SINGING DRUMMER: Kyrbgrinder - 'My Heart Bleeds'

Just beating Boris Billing from WeaponHead into second place, Johanne James (Threshold's drummer) takes a star turn here and proves how irritatingly talented he is.
GOSH THAT'S BEAUTIFUL: Terry Brock - 'Soldier Falls'

Well, it is.
HOW DID THIS NOT TOP THE CHARTS?: Issa - 'Unbelieveable'

This kicks the seven shades out of every big pop ballad that's been in the chart for years. Go figure.
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