The FemMetal Awards return this year for their 8th edition, celebrating the achievements of women in metal and rock throughout 2025. Across fourteen categories, we honor the women who brought us joy, excitement, strength, and inspiration over the past year; artists whose work empowered us to fight, create, and achieve.

Three months ago, we invited colleagues and friends from the press, music industry, promotion circles, and the musician community to take part in nominating and voting for the acts, musicians, and releases they felt truly deserved recognition at the FemMetal Awards 2025.

We are thrilled to announce this year’s nominees. But first, as many of our loyal followers know, the FemMetal Awards are about more than awards alone. Each edition is guided by a theme, one that carries a message of feminism and empowerment, whether drawn from mythology, real-life heroes, or other meaningful sources.

So before we reveal the nominees, let’s take a moment to explore this year’s theme.

The Theme

After exploring the Greek pantheon in our first edition, diving into tales of horror in the second, and honoring real-life heroines, female pioneers in science, folklore, Egyptian goddesses, and Roman goddesses in the editions that followed, FemMetal Awards 2025 now turns toward the world of superheroes.

If you’ve been following our social media pages, you may have noticed recent posts unfolding a short, comic book–style story. These posts introduce two groups of superheroes, the Iron Circle and The Carbon Order, fighting a villain known as Avaris Frax. This ongoing narrative forms the theme of the FemMetal Awards 2025.

The full story, its symbolism, and the message behind it, along with further details, will be published soon. We would also like to sincerely thank fine arts student Dana Hayik for her work on the character design and for helping bring these comic-inspired visuals to life.

The Nominees

And now, without further ado, we present the nominees for each category of the FemMetal Awards 2025.

Iron Circle Award: Best Metal Act

• Admire the Grim
• Anaria
• Battle Beast
• Blackbriar
• Burning Witches
• Edge of Paradise
• Eluveitie
• Enemy Inside
• Epica
• Exiled Hope
• Hell In The Club
• Jinjer
• Lacuna Coil
• Moonlight Haze
• Passengers In Panic
• Secret Rule
• Sicksense
• Spiritbox

Carbon Order Award: Best Alt Metal & Rock Act

• Absinthe Green
• Auri
• Calva Louise
• Cassidy Paris
• Elinborg
• GG Magree
• Halestorm
• Haloo Helsinki!
• Leah Martin-Brown
• Liv Kristine
• Living Dead Girl
• ODC
• Ols
• RØRY
• Stellvris
• Sumo Cyco
• The Violent Hour
• Traversus

RS Intrepid Award: Best Album

• Absinthe Green – “Of Love and Pain”
• Anaria – “Between Loving and Dying”
• Battle Beast – “Steelbound”
• Cassidy Paris – “Bittersweet”
• Eluveitie – “Ànv”
• Enemy Inside – “Venom”
• Epica – “Aspiral”
• Exiled Hope – “Apocrypha”
• GG Magree – “Spit Love”
• Halestorm – “Everest”
• Jinjer – “Duél”
• Lacuna Coil – “Sleepless Empire”
• ODC – “Twisted Love”
• Ols – “Poświaty”
• Passengers In Panic – “Amnesia”
• RØRY – “Restoration”
• Secret Rule – “X”
• Sicksense – “Cross Me Twice”
• Spiritbox – “Tsunami Sea”
• Sumo Cyco – “Neon Void”

Blazeblade Award: Best Release Artwork

• Anaria – “Between Loving and Dying”
• Battle Beast – “Steelbound”
• Epica – “Aspiral”
• Exiled Hope – “Apocrypha”
• GG Magree – “Spit Love”
• Halestorm – “Everest”
• Jinjer – “Duél”
• Ols – “Poświaty”
• Passengers In Panic – “Amnesia”
• RØRY – “Restoration”

Voltaxe Award: Best Music Video

• Battle Beast – “Last Goodbye”
• Burning Witches – “High Priestess Of The Night”
• Cage Fight – “IHYG”
• Catalyst Crime – “Cursebreaker”
• Elinborg – “Blóð”
• Enemy Inside – “Innocent”
• Epica – “Cross the Divide”
• GG Magree – “Wet Dreams”
• Halestorm – “Darkness Always Wins”
• Hell in the Club – “Magnetars”
• Leah Martin-Brown – “Light Show”
• Living Dead Girl – “We’ll All Be Dead”
• Moonlight Haze – “Awakening”
• Passengers in Panic – “How To Breathe”
• Poppy, Amy Lee, Courtney Laplante – “End of You”
• Reliqa – “Your Touch”
• Secret Rule – “In The Silence”
• Stellvris – “Monster”
• Sumo Cyco – “Stronger Now”
• Traversus – “Maybe In Another Life”

Lyra Award: Best Instrument Player

• Courtney Cox (Guitar – Burning Witches)
• Lea-Sophie Fischer (Violin – Eluveitie)
• Lela Argyri (Guitar – Passengers in Panic)
• Lzzy Hale (Guitar – Halestorm)
• Morrigan (Bass – Abscence)
• Quinn Mitzel (Guitar – Freeze the Fall)
• Romana Kalkuhl (Guitar – Burning Witches)
• Sofia Basili (Bass – Secret Rule)
• Sofia Frasz (Multi – Exiled Hope)
• Thalia Bellazecca (Guitar – Primal Fear)

Shira Award: Best Vocals

• Absinthe Green (Absinthe Green)
• Angela Di Vincenzo (Secret Rule)
• Carla Harvey (The Violent Hour)
• Cassidy Paris
• Celia Do (ODC)
• Elinborg
• Eszter Anna Baumann (Ann My Guard)
• Fabienne Erni (Eluveitie)
• GG Magree
• Jess Allanic (Calva Louise)
• Leah Martin-Brown
• Lzzy Hale (Halestorm)
• Nastassja Giulia (Enemy Inside)
• Noora Louhimo
• RØRY
• Simone Simons (Epica)
• Skye Sweetnam (Sumo Cyco)
• Tezzi Persson (Hell In The Club)
• Yohanna Galani (Passengers in Panic)
• Zora Cock (Blackbriar)

Nyx Award: Best Brutal Vocals

• Alissa White-Gluz
• Carla Harvey (The Violent Hour)
• Laura Guldemond (Burning Witches)
• Lzzy Hale (Halestorm)
• Marion Bascoul (Aephanemer)
• Molly Rennick (Living Dead Girl)
• Skye Sweetnam (Sumo Cyco)
• Sofia Frasz (Exiled Hope)
• Tatiana Shmayluk (Jinjer)
• Vicky Psarakis (Sicksense)

Juna Award: Best Breakthrough Act

• Elinborg
• Freeze the Fall
• GG Magree
• Glasgow Kiss
• Leah Martin-Brown
• ODC
• Orpharion
• Passengers In Panic
• Regina
• RØRY
• Sicksense
• The Violent Hour

Starpiercer Award: Best Release by a Breakthrough Act

• Elinborg – “Í Ævir”
• Freeze the Fall – “The Red Garden”
• GG Magree – “Spit Love”
• Glasgow Kiss – “Down In Flames”
• Leah Martin-Brown – “Love & Other Crimes”
• ODC – “Twsited Love”
• Orpharion – “A Faraway World”
• Passengers In Panic – “Amnesia”
• Regina – “Liminal Space”
• RØRY – “Restoration”
• Stellvris – “Shatter & Bloom”
• The Violent Hour – “The Violent Hour”

Nova Award: Best Rock / Metal Influencer

• Aleksandra Morkerra
• Elizabeth Zharoff
• Emma Mees
• Erica LeAnn
• Grace Giddens
• Irene Blaire
• Jessica Hopper
• Lizzie Von Green
• Moo Smith
• Wiktoria Mędrala

Vox Award: Write-In Musician or Act

No nominees. Voters can choose any act with a 2025 release that we did not nominate.

Auria Award: Write-In Breakthrough Act

No nominees. Voters can choose any breakthrough act with a 2025 release that we did not nominate.

Iva Award: Woman of the Year

• A’ja Wilson
• Eva Green
• Kate, Princess of Wales
• María Corina Machado
• Sanae Takaichi