The ARIA Music Award for Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), an organisation whose aim is "to advance the interests of the Australian record industry." To be eligible, the recording must be an album in the hard rock or heavy metal genres, and cannot be entered in other genre categories. The accolade is voted for by a judging school, which comprises between 40 and 100 members of representatives experienced in this genre, and is given to a solo artist or group who is either from Australia or an Australian resident.
The award for Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album was first presented to Parkway Drive in 2010, for Deep Blue; they won the award again in 2018 for Reverence. The Amity Affliction (2010, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2023 and 2025) have received the most nominations in this category, with a total of 7 nominations, though they have never won. Northlane has the most awards in this category with 3 awards from 4 nominations.ARIA Award previous winners.
Winners and nominees In the following table, the winner is highlighted in a separate colour, and in boldface; the nominees are those that are not highlighted or in boldface.
Year Winner(s) Album/single title 2010(24th) Parkway Drive Deep Blue Airbourne No Guts. No Glory. The Amity Affliction Youngbloods Dead Letter Circus This Is the Warning Violent Soho Violent Soho 2011(25th) Front End Loader Ritardando Coerce Ethereal Surrogate Saviour Cosmic Psychos Glorious Basterds Dream On, Dreamer Heartbound Floating Me Floating Me 2012(26th) DZ Deathrays Bloodstreams Buried in Verona Notorious Frenzal Rhomb Smoko at the Pet Food Factory sleepmakeswaves ... and so we destroyed everything House vs. Hurricane Crooked Teeth 2013(27th) Karnivool Asymmetry Airbourne Black Dog Barking Northlane Singularity The Amity Affliction Chasing Ghosts Thy Art Is Murder Hate 2014(28th) DZ Deathrays Black Rat High Tension Death Beat Shihad FVEY sleepmakeswaves Love of Cartography The Amity Affliction Let the Ocean Take Me 2015(29th) Northlane Node Born Lion Final Words In Hearts Wake Skydancer King Parrot Dead Set Thy Art Is Murder Holy War 2016 King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Nonagon Infinity Hellions Opera Oblivia Parkway Drive Ire The Amity Affliction This Could Be Heartbreak Twelve Foot Ninja Outlier 2017 Northlane Mesmer Airbourne Breakin' Outta Hell Frenzal Rhomb Hi-Vis High Tea King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Murder of the Universe sleepmakeswaves Made of Breath Only 2018 Parkway Drive Reverence DZ Deathrays Bloody Lovely King Parrot Ugly Produce Polaris The Mortal Coil West Thebarton Different Beings Being Different 2019 Northlane Alien Clowns Nature/Nurture Dead Letter Circus Dead Letter Circus DZ Deathrays Positive Rising: Part 1 King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Infest the Rats' Nest 2020 King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Chunky Shrapnel Parkway Drive Viva the Underdogs Polaris The Death of Me The Amity Affliction Everyone Loves You... Once You Leave Them The Chats High Risk Behaviour 2021 Tropical Fuck Storm Deep States A. Swayze & the Ghosts Paid Salvation Alpha Wolf A Quiet Place to Die Psychedelic Porn Crumpets Shyga! The Sunlight Mound Yours Truly Self Care 2022 The Chats Get Fucked Dune Rats Real Rare Whale Northlane Obsidian Shihad Old Gods Thornhill Heroine 2023 Parkway Drive Darker Still DZ Deathrays R.I.F.F King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth... The Amity Affliction Not Without My Ghosts These New South Whales TNSW 2024 Speed Only One Mode C.O.F.F.I.N Australia Stops Dune Rats If It Sucks, Turn It Up Polaris Fatalism Teenage Jones The Rot That Grows Inside My Chest 2025 Thornhill Bodies Civic Chrome Dipped Press Club To All The Ones That I Love RedHook Mutation The Amity Affliction Let the Ocean Take Me Down (Redux)
Artists with multiple wins 3 wins Northlane
2 wins DZ Deathrays King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Parkway Drive
Artists with multiple nominations 7 nominations The Amity Affliction
5 nominations DZ Deathrays King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Northlane Parkway Drive
3 nominations Airbourne Polaris sleepmakeswaves
2 nominations
References
External links The ARIA Awards Official website