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America’s first-ever hard rock and heavy metal music awards show is back! The second annual REVOLVER GOLDEN GODS AWARDS presented by Epiphone will take place Thursday, April 8, returning to Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles. The show will later be televised on VH1 Classic Saturday, May 22 (air time TBA). Tickets go on sale this Friday, February 19 via Ticketmaster.

This year, hosting duties for the Golden Gods will be shared between musician, activist and entrepreneur Andrew W.K. and lead singer of FOZZY, professional WWE wrestling superstar, actor and author Chris Jericho. The nominees in nine different categories--plus the recipients of this year’s prestigious Golden God Award and the Revolver Golden Gods Lifetime Achievement Award--were revealed today at a press conference held at The Rainbow Bar & Grill on the world famous Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Both hosts were on hand, along with Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead), Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne), Vinnie Paul (Hellyeah, Pantera), Chuck Billy (Testament) and Kat Von D (“LA Ink”), along with Marc Columbo and Cory Proctor (Free Reign, NFL Dallas Cowboys) to announce the nominees.

New for this year, fans everywhere can cast their vote beginning today to choose who will take home the awards for “Best Guitarist,” “Best Drummer,” “Best Vocalist,” “Album of the Year,” “Best Live Band,” “Best Underground Band,” “Most Metal Athlete,” “Hottest Chick(s) in Metal” and “Comeback Of The Year.” Voting starts today at: www.revolvermag.com/goldengods and ends on Wednesday, March 31. The complete list of nominees in each category are listed below.

The Revolver Golden God Award is given to one special honoree a year who embodies all that is metal. This year, the accolade will go to Judas Priest frontman and Metal God Rob Halford, and it will be presented to him by last year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner, the legendary Ozzy Osbourne. (Last year Revolver honored metal legend Dave Mustaine of Megadeth with the Golden God Award.) This year’s recipient of the Revolver Golden Gods Lifetime Achievement Award is none other than hard rock icon Lemmy Kilmister. Lemmy has fronted Motörhead, the loudest band on the planet, for 35 years, and his background includes being Jimi Hendrix’s roadie in the ‘60s before joining Hawkwind. Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Them Crooked Vultures) will do the honor of presenting Lemmy with his Revolver Golden Gods Lifetime Achievement Award.

Adding to the celebration of all that is best in metal this year, the GOLDEN GODS AWARDS will also include hard rocking musical numbers by Rob Zombie, Fear Factory (who will make their first LA appearance ever with their new line-up), As I Lay Dying, The Devil Wears Prada and last year’s host Brian Posehn’s all-star band featuring Scott Ian, Brendon Small, John Tempesta and Joey Vera, with a special performance by Zakk Wylde. More performers will be announced in the coming weeks.

"As a diehard fan of hard rock and metal who still can’t quite figure out how he ended up as the editor-in-chief of Revolver magazine, I am beyond stoked to attend the 2010 Golden Gods, let alone work on it behind the scenes,” states Revolver’s Editor in Chief Brandon Geist. “An award show celebrating the true power and artistry of this most overlooked, vilified, and misunderstood form of music has been long overdue. But award shows can be lame, self-congratulating affairs, which is why I’m particularly excited that most of this year’s winners will be picked not by some mysterious panel of snotty critics or the incestuous members of whatever ‘academy,’ but by the fans. Metal has always been all about the fans; it’s music for diehard fans by diehard fans. So power to the people, and may the best maniacs win!"

The nominees for the 2010 REVOLVER GOLDEN GODS AWARDS presented by Epiphone are:

BEST GUITARIST

• Kirk Hammett (Metallica)
• Tony Iommi (Heaven & Hell)
• Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Street Sweeper Social Club)
• Dave Mustaine (Megadeth)
• Slash
• Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society)

• Chris Adler (Lamb of God)
• Brann Dailor (Mastodon)
• Dave Grohl (Them Crooked Vultures)
• Gene Hoglan (Dethklok, Fear Factory)
• Dave Lombardo (Slayer)
• Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan (Avenged Sevenfold)

• Jonathan Davis (Korn)
• Ronnie James Dio (Heaven & Hell)
• Neil Fallon (Clutch)
• Lzzy Hale (Halestorm)
• Serj Tankian (Serj Tankian, System Of A Down)
• Corey Taylor (Slipknot, Stone Sour)

• Alice in Chains, Black Gives Way to Blue
• Heaven & Hell, The Devil You Know
• Mastodon, Crack the Skye
• Megadeth, Endgame
• Slayer, World Painted Blood
• Them Crooked Vultures, Them Crooked Vultures

• The Devil Wears Prada
• Lamb of God
• Metallica
• Motörhead
• Rob Zombie
• Slayer

• Behemoth
• Between the Buried and Me
• The Black Dahlia Murder
• Converge
• The Dillinger Escape Plan
• Obituary

• Josh Barnett (MMA fighting)
• Marc Colombo, Cory Procter, and Leonard Davis (NFL football)
• Chris Jericho (WWE wrestling)
• Mike Piazza (MLB baseball)
• Jason Ellis (Pro skateboarding)
• Jolene Van Vugt (Pro motocrosser)

• Pearl Aday (Pearl)
• Maria Brink (In This Moment)
• Lzzy Hale (Halestorm)
• Lacey Mosley (Flyleaf)
• Alexia & Anissa Rodriguez (Eyes Set to Kill)
• Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil)

• AC/DC
• Alice in Chains
• Anvil
• Fear Factory
• Heaven & Hell
• KISS