Kerrang! Awards nominees announced!

With only two weeks to go until the Kerrang! Awards 2006, the Nominations for the most debauched rock 'n' roll event of the year have been unveiled. Exclusively announced at the Kerrang! Day of Rock on 10 August 2006 at Virgin Megastore (the Official Retail Sponsor of the Kerrang! Awards) on London's Oxford Street, the Nominations have produced some tight, some surprising, and at times controversial, results. A massive 140,000 votes have been cast from the general public for this year's categories - via Kerrang! Magazine and Kerrang.com, as well as Myspace.com.

The Kerrang! Awards are to be held on Thursday 24 August at The Brewery in London's East End, and being Kerrang!'s 25th Anniversary, the Awards will be set to live up to its reputation of being THE party of the year - and one renowned for its bad behaviour and rock star antics. This year will see the strange, the weird and the fantastic, with a "Twisted Carnival" theme - expect the full works!

Storming the nominations and in the running for an massive FIVE trophies are Somerset's finest space-prog-rockers Muse, whose album Black Holes and Revelations has recently hit the streets. Once again headlining The Carling Weekend in Reading/Leeds, the band - Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenhome and Dominic Howard - are up against some close competition for the categories of Best Live Band, Best Single and Best Video (for 'Supermassive Black Hole'), Best Album and Best British Band.

Fighting off stiff competition from Dragonforce and Bullet for My Valentine in the Best Live Band category, Muse are also pitted against the Welsh rock contingency for the honour of Best British Band, with Lostprophets, Funeral for a Friend and Bullet For My Valentine all nominated, along with Hundred Reasons and Fightstar. Only the night will reveal whether voters have gone for the epic sounds of Muse or whether they have preferred straight-up hard rock!

This year's Kerrang! Awards will see some cross-Atlantic battles emerge, with some fiery competition appearing between the pop-punk of Fall Out Boy and the old-school metal of Bullet For My Valentine, who each have four nominations, as well as a close match between Trivium and Lostprophets with three nominations apiece.

Chicago's brightest stars Fall Out Boy will take on Bridgend's Bullet For My Valentine for the trophies for Best Single and Best Album, and are also up for Best Video (for 'Sugar We're Going Down') and the highly anticipated Best Band On The Planet accolade. Trivium and Lostprophets will be vying for the title of Best Single (with 'Dying In Your Arms' and 'Rooftops' respectively). Matt Heafy and co. are then up for Best Live Band and Best Band On The Planet, while Ian Watkin's' crew will be hoping for Best Album (for 'Liberation Transmission') and Best British Band.

Always a nail-biter, the category of Best Band On The Planet sees the likes of My Chemical Romance, Trivium, Avenged Sevenfold, HIM and Lacuna Coil all up against Fall Out Boy. Who will take away the honour on the night - will it be the proto-goth rock of My Chemical Romance, will the voting end up in the favour of the twisted darkness of Avenged Sevenfold, or will Pete Wentz be jumping for joy with a victory for Fall Out Boy?

Editor of Kerrang! magazine Paul Brannigan commented, "The quality of the K! Awards nominees list illustrates the strength of our scene, both internationally and in the UK, in Kerrang! magazine's 25th birthday year. The Kerrang! Awards has a reputation as THE most debauched night in the rock 'n' roll calendar, and regardless of who takes home the much coveted Awards, we can promise that this year's ceremony will be a night that no-one will ever forget!"

See below for the full list of nominees...