Mid to late January is always an exciting time in Southern California as the annual NAMM convention takes over Anaheim at the Convention Center drawing the who’s who of the music industry from artists to equipment manufacturers and also spawns dozens of music industry events throughout the city. On Wednesday night January 22, the ninth annual Metal Hall of Fame Gala was held at The Grand Theater in Anaheim with many rockstars, celebrities and music executives in attendance to honor the 2025 inductees. The Metal Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization that enshrines forever, those Legendary musicians, artists, industry executives who are responsible for making Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music what it is today. This year’s event also doubled as a fundraising telethon to help raise money for displaced families from the ongoing Los Angeles County wildfires.

Hosted by radio legend Eddie Trunk and entertainment personality Cathy Rankin, the open to the public event was also broadcast live via the Metal Hall of Fame Facebook page and featured award presentations as well as live performances. The festivities kicked off at 8:00pm with words from Metal Hall of Fame founder Pat Gesualdo and hosts Eddie Trunk and Cathy Rankin.

Award Winners:

Dimebag Darrell (PANTERA, DAMAGEPLAN)
Burton C Bell (FEAR FACTORY, ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS)|
Alissa White-Gluz (ARCH ENEMY)
DOYLE (MISFITS)
Rikki Rockett (POISON) 
Life of Agony
Cannibal Corpse
KNAC
Dangerous Toys
Tony MacAlpine
Jeff Young

Performances:

Wicked

Photo Credit: Chris Loomis

Jeff Young (EX-MEGADETH/KINGS OF THRASH)

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Kill Devil Hill

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Alibis

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Thumpdrag featuring Chris Poland (EX-MEGADETH)

Photo Credit: Chris Loomis


All-Star Jam

Photo Credit: Chris Loomis

Upstate New York’s Wicked opened the show with a two-song high energy performance that was certainly one of the high points of the night. This band is a cross between KISS and Poison and they put on an extremely entertaining stage show as they deliver some killer power radio rock. From here there was a rotation of award presentations and live performances. The unfortunate aspect of this night was about half of the award recipients were not present at the show and none of the award winners performed any live music (except for Rob Barrett from Cannibal Corpse who played in the all-star jam). Alissa White-Gluz accepted the award for Doyle who was back on the east coast as well as accepting her own award. Rob Barrett accepted the award on behalf of Cannibal Corpse and Burton C. Bell was the most prepared as he gave a very thought out and personal acceptance speech.

Other notable performances were by former Megadeth and current Kings of Thrash guitarist Jeff Young who played a couple songs with his band and he even sang vocals on AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”. Fellow ex-Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland also played with his band Thumpdrag which included Megadeth’s mega-hit “Peace Sells”. Heavy hitters Kill Devil Hill that includes Dewey Bragg on vocals, Maek Zavon on guitar, Matt Snell (former FFDP) on bass and Johnny Kelly on drums (although he was not present for this performance) banged out a couple songs to keep things moving. 

Munsey Ricci of Skateboard Marketing Ltd presented the award to Life of Agony who thanked everyone with a pre-recorded video. Poison’s Rikki Rockett was scheduled to be in attendance but due to the wildfires up in LA County threatening his home, he could not attend. Accepting on his behalf was Sirius XM radio personality Tommy London. The last award of the night was given to Dimebag Darrell that featured a video saluting Dimebag by Phil Anselmo, Zakk Wylde and Nick Bowcott. Rita Haney accepted the award on Dimebag’s behalf and then as a surprise, Rita was also presented with her own award for her never-ending effort to keep the legacy of Dimebag alive and thriving as well as her own contributions to the metal community.

At this point the award ceremony was complete and the All-Star Jam took over to end the show. The Jam included Marc Lopes (Metal Church), Mark Zavon (Kill Devil Hill), Jeff Young, Rob Barrett (Cannibal Corpse), Tory Stoffregen (former Enuff Z Nuff), Matt Snell (Kill Devil Hill), Chris Poland and many others. This bunch jammed out classics from Motorhead, UFO, Ozzy, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden.

Overall, a successful celebration of all things heavy metal and rock n roll and a great opportunity to donate to help all those impacted by the wildfires. That’s a wrap for 2025 and now we all await the 2026 Metal Hall of Fame inductee announcements.

For all things Metal Hall of Fame, check out here.
The live broadcast recording is still available for viewing at this location.

Awards

 

Photo Credit: Chris Loomis

 

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Chris Loomis