The ESP Guitar Company

Looking through this year’s nominees for Metal Hammer’s “Golden Gods” awards, you might see some familiar faces. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the 2015 nominee list is chock full of ESP players. Let’s take a look through the categories where you’ll find ESP rockers.

Best New Band: Beartooth, We Are Harlot
We love having up-and-coming ESP players in the Best New Band category. Beartooth includes ESP player Kamron Bradbury, while We Are Harlot features the inimitable Jeff George.

Best International Band: Machine Head, Nightwish
A newcomer to the ESP family, bassist Jared MacEachern, is lending his talents to Machine Head, while guitarist Emppu Vuorinen is a founding member of nominated band Nightwish.

Breakthrough: The Amity Affliction
Although they’ve been around since 2003, it appears that 2015 is predicted to be a big year for Aussie band The Amity Affliction, with ESP player Dan Brown.

Best Live Band: Killer Be Killed, Of Mice & Men, Parkway Drive
If having three out of the five groups nominated for “Best Live Band” featuring ESP players doesn’t say something, we don’t know what will. ESP and LTD guitars are found on stages around the world, all year through. Hats off to Killer Be Killed, who is fronted by ESP legend Max Cavalera, Of Mice & Men which includes ESP players Alan Ashby and Phil Manansala, and Parkway Drive with features ESP players Luke Kilpatrick and Jeff Ling.

Dimebag Darrell Shredder: Josh Middleton
This is a very special award that several ESP players have been honored with since the Golden Gods first began. For 2015, we’re proud of Josh Middleton of Sylosis, who fully merits this distinction.

Best Video: Motionless In White, Suicide Silence
While playing an ESP might not be the biggest contributing factor to winning a “Best Video” award, we can say that your ESP or LTD might help you look so great in your video, so it might be worth consideration regardless. Congrats to Motionless In White which includes ESP player Ryan Sitkowski, and Suicide Silence with ESP players Mark Heylmun and Dan Kenny for their nominations.

There’s still plenty of time to vote for these great bands that feature ESP artists. Head over to the Golden Gods site and vote now!