2026 Metal Academy Awards Discussion - The North Edition

With Ben busy beavering away on developing the new site, I thought I would instigate the threads for the "Metal Academy Releases of the Year Awards" and begin them early in the hope of drumming up some interest in the concept and in promoting new releases.

There will be a "Release of the Year" for each clan and I will also compile a Top 10 for the site as a whole. In addition there will be an award for the "Cover of the Year" for each clan. These will be determined by the site rating for each release, based on a to-be-determined minimum number of ratings. It is necessary to implement a minimum number of ratings as it seems unfair for a release with, for example, one 5 star rating to be placed above a release with a 4.5 average from 5 ratings. This minimum number of ratings may be different for each clan as the participation levels vary so significantly, but I would expect the final minimum to be whatever meaningful number returns a reasonable quantity of contenders, say at least five, for each clan. In the event of there being a tie for clan winner the release with the highest number of ratings wins out.

Please use this thread to post recommendations for any North releases from 2026 that you think deserve a shot at ROTY for the clan and hopefully a bit of exposure will get folks rating it. Any suggestions and/or comments about the concept more generally are also more than welcome.

The early pace setters in the North for Release of the Year are:

1. Kaatayra - Caminhos de água [4.50]

2= Fire Magic - Memories of Fire [3.63]

2= Fuath III [3.63]

4. Ruins of Beverast, The Tempelschlaf [3.60]

5. Archvile King Aux Heures Désespérées [3.50]

6. Misotheist De Pinte [3.17]

7= Gorrch Stillamentum [3.00]

7= Woe Legacies of Human Frailty [3.00]

Other highly rated releases that haven't accumulated enough ratings yet are:

Transilvania - Magia posthuma

Hellripper - Coronach

Panopticon - Det hjemsøkte hjertet

Saidan - Fangdriller: Scars Beneath Memory's Wrist

Unverkalt - Héréditaire

Worm - Necropalace 

Mayhem (NOR) - Liturgy of Death