Juno Award for Heavy Metal Album of the Year explained

The Juno Award for Heavy Metal Album of the Year is an annual award, presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) to honour the year's best album by a Canadian artist in the genres of heavy metal. The album is open to all subgenres of heavy metal. Rock, punk, crossover and hardcore artists are not eligible for this category.

The award was introduced by the Juno Awards in September 2011,^[1] and was presented for the first time at the 2012 Juno Awards. The five nominees and winner in the category are chosen by a panel of judges selected from the Canadian music industry. The award was named "Juno Award for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year" from 2011 to 2015, and it was renamed for the 2016 ceremony "in order to more clearly define the category criteria".^[2]

Recipients

Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year (2012–2015)

Year	Winner	Album	Nominees	Ref.
2012	KEN Mode	Venerable	Juggernaut of Justice – Anvil Burning Fortune – Cauldron Die Miserable – Fuck the Facts Deconstruction – Devin Townsend Project	^[3]
2013	Woods of Ypres		Dead Set on Living – Cancer Bats Blacklands – Castle Epicloud – Devin Townsend Project Caligvla – Ex Deo	^[4]
2014	Protest the Hero	Volition	Heart of Oak – Anciients Colored Sands – Gorguts Entrench – KEN Mode Dead Language – The Flatliners	^[5]
2015	Devin Townsend Project	Z²	Waiting for the End to Come – Kataklysm Brotherhood of the Ram – Shooting Guns Negative Qualities – Single Mothers Chasing the Dream – Skull Fist	^[6]

Heavy Metal Album of the Year (2016–present)

Year	Winner	Album	Nominees	Ref.
2016	Kataklysm	Of Ghosts and Gods	Searching for Zero – Cancer Bats Never Wanna Die – Diemonds Desire Will Rot – Fuck the Facts Success – KEN Mode	^[7]
2017	Mandroid Echostar	Coral Throne	Transcendence – Devin Townsend Project Pacific Myth – Protest the Hero Beast – Despised Icon Suicide Society – Annihilator	^[8]
2018	Anciients	Voice of the Void	Relentless Mutation – Archspire II: Vanishing – Longhouse Strange Peace - METZ Striker – Striker	^[9]
2019	Voivod	The Wake	Algorythm – Beyond Creation The Spark That Moves – Cancer Bats Loved – KEN Mode Prevail II – Kobra and the Lotus	^[10]
2020	Striker	Play to Win	Orphans – The Agonist Evolution – Kobra and the Lotus Martyr – Lindsay Schoolcraft Through a Wall – Single Mothers	^[11]
2021	Unleash the Archers	Abyss	Ballistic, Sadistic — Annihilator Unconquered — Kataklysm Palimpsest — Protest the Hero Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm	— Vile Creature	^[12]
2022	Archspire	Bleed the Future	Days Before the World Wept — The Agonist Eternal Blue — Spiritbox Lifeblood — Brand of Sacrifice Power Trio — Danko Jones	^[13]
2023	Voivod	Synchro Anarchy	Merciless Destruction — Get the Shot Paid in Full — Skull Fist Psychic Jailbreak — Cancer Bats Thought Form Descent — Wake	^[14]
2024	Cryptopsy	As Gomorrah Burns	Danko Jones, Electric Sounds Kataklysm, Goliath KEN Mode, Void Voivod, Morgöth Tales	^[15]

Notes and References

1. https://www.ctvnews.ca/bang-your-head-junos-to-add-heavy-metal-category-1.704136 "Bang your head: Junos to add heavy metal category"
2. Web site: 42nd Annual Juno Awards: 2016 CARAS Quick Reference Guide to the Submission Process . JunoAwards.ca . . 2016 . February 2, 2016 . February 3, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160203065157/http://junoawards.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2016-Submissions-Guide1.pdf . dead .
3. Web site: Yearly summary: 2012 . JunoAwards.ca . Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences . February 20, 2013 .
4. Web site: Yearly summary: 2013 . JunoAwards.ca . Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences . February 20, 2013 .
5. Web site: Yearly summary: 2014 . JunoAwards.ca . Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences . March 30, 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150528200522/http://junoawards.ca/awards/yearly-summary/?group_id=207&category_ids=207&from_year=2014&to_year=2014&submit=Search . May 28, 2015 .
6. Web site: Yearly summary: 2015 . JunoAwards.ca . Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences . March 18, 2015 .
7. Web site: Yearly summary: 2016 . JunoAwards.ca . Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences . October 23, 2016 .
8. News: April 2, 2017 . Here Is the Full List of 2017 Juno Winners . . August 11, 2023.
9. News: March 25, 2018 . Junos 2018: the complete list of winners . . August 11, 2023.
10. News: March 16, 2019 . Junos 2019: the complete list of winners . . August 11, 2023.
11. Melody Lau, "Alessia Cara and Tory Lanez lead the 2020 Juno nominations". CBC Music, January 28, 2019.
12. Holly Gordon and Andrea Warner, "Here are the 2021 Juno Award winners". CBC Music, June 4, 2021.
13. https://sorstu.ca/gala-des-prix-juno-2022-charlotte-cardin-devance-justin-bieber-et-the-weeknd-dans-les-nominations/ "Gala des prix JUNO 2022 | Charlotte Cardin devance Justin Bieber et The Weeknd dans les nominations!"
14. Jenna Benchetrit and Arti Patel, "The Weeknd picks up 4 wins on Junos 2023 opening night". CBC News, March 11, 2023.
15. https://www.cbc.ca/music/junos/juno-awards-2024-full-list-winners-1.7149545 "Junos 2024: full list of winners"