We asked our readers to nominate who they thought were the best acts in several categories for 2023. The rules were simple: the artists must either be from West Virginia or living in the state, creating original music and they had to have released new music between December 1, 2002 and November 30, 2023.

We were blown away by the number of responses. Our readers came out in force to nominate their favorite act. We were then responsible for sifting through the hundreds of nominations and making sure they matched the criteria. Several nominations were for cover bands or for artists that haven’t released music, which we removed. We also had to make sure they released original new music in that window. The voting in each category will begin on Monday, December 11, 2023. So without further ado here are The Nominees For Best West Virginia Born & Bred Metal Act For 2023.