Juno Award for Heavy Metal Album of the Year

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 Devin Townsend Project	^[3]
2013	Woods of Ypres	Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light	Dead Set on Living – Cancer Bats Blacklands – Castle 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 Morgöth Tales	^[15]

References

^ "Bang your head: Junos to add heavy metal category". CTV News, September 28, 2011.
^ "42nd Annual Juno Awards: 2016 CARAS Quick Reference Guide to the Submission Process" (PDF). JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
^ "Yearly summary: 2012". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved February 20, 2013.
^ "Yearly summary: 2013". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved February 20, 2013.
^ "Yearly summary: 2014". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on May 28, 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
^ "Yearly summary: 2015". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
^ "Yearly summary: 2016". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
^ "Here Is the Full List of 2017 Juno Winners". Exclaim!. April 2, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
^ "Junos 2018: the complete list of winners". cbc.ca. March 25, 2018. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
^ "Junos 2019: the complete list of winners". CBC.ca. March 16, 2019. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
^ Melody Lau, "Alessia Cara and Tory Lanez lead the 2020 Juno nominations". CBC Music, January 28, 2019.
^ Holly Gordon and Andrea Warner, "Here are the 2021 Juno Award winners". CBC Music, June 4, 2021.
^ "Gala des prix JUNO 2022 | Charlotte Cardin devance Justin Bieber et The Weeknd dans les nominations!". sorstu.ca, March 1, 2022.
^ Jenna Benchetrit and Arti Patel, "The Weeknd picks up 4 wins on Junos 2023 opening night". CBC News, March 11, 2023.
^ "Junos 2024: full list of winners". CBC Music, March 23, 2024.

[1] "Bang your head: Junos to add heavy metal category". CTV News, September 28, 2011.

[2] "42nd Annual Juno Awards: 2016 CARAS Quick Reference Guide to the Submission Process" (PDF). JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2016.

[3] "Yearly summary: 2012". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved February 20, 2013.

[4] "Yearly summary: 2013". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved February 20, 2013.

[5] "Yearly summary: 2014". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on May 28, 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2014.

[6] "Yearly summary: 2015". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved March 18, 2015.

[7] "Yearly summary: 2016". JunoAwards.ca. Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved October 23, 2016.

[8] "Here Is the Full List of 2017 Juno Winners". Exclaim!. April 2, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2023.

[9] "Junos 2018: the complete list of winners". cbc.ca. March 25, 2018. Retrieved August 11, 2023.

[10] "Junos 2019: the complete list of winners". CBC.ca. March 16, 2019. Retrieved 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] "Gala des prix JUNO 2022 | Charlotte Cardin devance Justin Bieber et The Weeknd dans les nominations!". sorstu.ca, March 1, 2022.

[14] Jenna Benchetrit and Arti Patel, "The Weeknd picks up 4 wins on Junos 2023 opening night". CBC News, March 11, 2023.

[15] "Junos 2024: full list of winners". CBC Music, March 23, 2024.

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Juno Awards
Awards to individuals	Artist of the Year Fan Choice Group of the Year Breakthrough Artist of the Year Breakthrough Group of the Year Producer Recording Engineer Songwriter
Awards for recordings	Album of the Year Adult Alternative Adult Contemporary Alternative Blues Children's Comedy Classical – Large Ensemble Classical – Small Ensemble Classical – Solo Classical Composition CCM/Gospel Contemporary Indigenous Artist Contemporary R&B/Soul Contemporary Roots Country Dance Electronic Francophone Global Music Heavy Metal Instrumental International Jazz – Solo Jazz – Group Jazz – Vocal Pop Rap Album/EP Rap Single Reggae Rock Single of the Year Traditional Indigenous Artist Traditional R&B/Soul Traditional Roots Underground Dance
Awards for technicality	Music DVD Recording Package Video
Discontinued categories	Classical Album of the Year (1977–1985) Classical – Solo or Chamber Ensemble (1985–2021) Classical – Vocal or Choral Performance (1994–2021) Indigenous Artist or Group (1994–2021) Jazz Album (1977–1993) Jazz – Contemporary (1994–2014) Jazz – Traditional (1994–2014) Rap Recording (1991–2021) R&B/Soul Recording (1985–2020) Roots and Traditional Album (1989–1995) Roots & Traditional Album – Solo (1996–2015) Roots & Traditional Album – Group (1996–2015)
Special awards	Canadian Music Hall of Fame Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award Juno Humanitarian Award
Years	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1989¹ 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Leadership	Walt Grealis Stan Klees Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
Notes	¹ Due to the rescheduling of the ceremony from late fall to early spring, no ceremony was held in 1988.
See also Music of Canada Polaris Music Prize Much Music Video Awards Félix Awards East Coast Music Awards Western Canadian Music Awards