ROCK THE NATION & NOISEART RECORDS have recently announced that Dannish thrash metallers ESSENCE are the winners of the ROCK THE NATION AWARD 2012.
ROCK THE NATION & NOISEART RECORDS stated the following:
“The winner band of the ROCK THE NATION AWARD 2012 has been picked! Before we announce the name of the band in a moment, we would like to thank all the bands that took part, all the users for their voting, and of course this years presenters of the award NOIZELETTER, METALNEWS.de, STORMBRINGER.at and ROCK HARD Italy.
The ROCK THE NATION AWARD was launched 2009 for the very first time and is happening this year for the third time already. 2009, STEELWING and SUICIDAL ANGELS won the award, 2010 Heavy Metal shooting stars SKULL FIST had been voted the lucky winner! SUICIDAL ANGELS and STEELWING both have been releasing very successful albums and were touring with well-known bands all over Europe as well as playint at several big European festivals. SKULL FIST released their highly-acclaimed debut album „Head öf the Pack“ and hit the road alongside Sabaton, Grave Digger and Powerwolf on the Power of Metal tour, this year they played the METALFEST Open Air series, were voted „Newcomer of the Year“ by TERRORIZER UK and are about to be one of metal´s biggest names in the near future!
Last year two bands could claim the RTN award for themselves: KRAMPUS hailing from Italy and NEXUS INFERIS from the UK. KRAMPUS are about to release their debut album „Survival of The Fittest“ on August 24, they´ll also play METALCAMP and are confirmed for the HEIDENFEST Tour with Wintersun and Korpiklaani. NEXUS INFERIS unleashed „A Vision of the Final Earth“ in January this year and went out on the Full of Hate tour w/ Behemoth, Cannibal Corpse and Legion of the Damned and also played Metalfest as well as Extremefest 2012.“
ESSENCE commented about winning the award:
“We are extremely proud and honored to have been chosen as winners of the Rock the Nation Award! In our eyes, Rock The Nation and NoiseArt Records are the best in the business and for several years we dreamed of becoming a part of their rosters. They treat their bands brilliantly and are highly professional in their work – everything we value in our partners. Though an immense honor has been given to us, we know that the hard work has only just begun and we will treat this award and co-operation with respect and humbleness. We send our heaviest of devil horns to all the great bands who was nominated!“
ESSENCE has already shared the stages with acts like IN FLAMES, ENTOMBED, and VADER within the last years and they`ve played the Danish Roskilde Festival and the Vagos Open Air in Portugal among others. The new ESSENCE album, which has been recorded, engineered and produced with Mastermind Peter Tägtgren (Pain, Hypocrisy, Immortal, Children of Bodom, Dimmu Borgir etc.) in his Abyss Studio, will be out early 2013 via NoiseArt Records.
The winners benefit is:
1) a record deal with NOISE ART records – with worldwide distribution
2) a worldwide booking contract with one of the leading metal agencies/management companies ROCK THE NATION which is the home of bands such as KREATOR, BEHEMOTH, SABATON, KATAKLYSM, LEGION OF THE DAMNED, ELUVEITIE, FINNTROLL, WINTERSUN and many more…
3) touring Europe in 2013 – Rock The Nation books highly successful festival tours these days, like FULL OF HATE, NECKBREAKERS BALL, HEIDENFEST, PAGANFEST, THRASHFEST .
4) guaranteed summer festival appearances in 2013
5) plus many more festivals and future tours…
6) presentation through Europe’s premiere metal magazines who present the RTN award – followed by a huge European wide campaign.
Danish thrash metal band ESSENCE are currently touring Europe supporting the legendary HYPOCRISY and have just recently posted a brand new trailer for their album “Last Night Of Solace”. The album was released on March 29 via NoiseArt Records and is available as limited CD in slipcase incl. bonus track! 
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 