BEST METAL BAND/ARTIST

Novocaine

With this category voters took a lot of leeway, voting for several bands not quite in the “metal music” genre, but the closest with the most-est votes was Novocaine. The band’s selfdescription includes the styles of modern rock, grunge, post-grunge and pop doing covers from the ’90s and 2000s, while members Albert Capati (lead vocals), William Richards (lead guitar, vocals), Ed Tinsley (bass, vocals), Jerry Osborne (drums, vocals) and Tony Harris (guitar, vocals) claim Springfield and Mt. Auburn as hometowns. Together since 2012, this year the band played at the Illinois State Fair Miller Tent and regularly perform at all the local clubs, rocking the house and grunge-ing the grounds. Other bands getting considerable votes were the defunct Scott Blacula, Grim, Broken Stone and Midnight Dreary. Runner-up: NIL8