Nighted is the project of guitarist Ivo Henzi (ex-Eluveitie, Cellar Darling, Forest of Fog) and keyboardist Marc Petralito. The duo blend black metal with darkwave and 70s-era snyths to create a Blade Runner-esque soundscape. Their debut album Absence is scheduled to be released later this year.

Pooling the very best of all the heavy music released throughout the month, The Gauntlet gives fans the opportunity to cast their vote for the music videos and bands they like most – pitting them against one another in a unique head-to-head battle for supremacy and bragging rights.

It was a stacked April, with genre mainstays like Rammstein, Meshuggah, Clutch and Kreator trying their luck against the likes of The Halo Effect, Bleed from Within, While She Sleeps, Undeath and more. And, for the first time ever, multiple songs eclipsing 10 minutes entered the fray. White Ward's "Leviathan" (13;17) picked up three knock outs, including against fellow epic "Condemned to a Life of Grief" by Tómarúm (10:36).

Cave In caused the most disrutption in the tournament, registering a whopping eight knock outs. Entering The Gauntlet at #12, "Blood Spiller" cruised through most of the competition to a date in the Final.

However, the combination of modern black metal and analogue snythesizers proved to be too much for the veteran rockers. A last-second voting swing pushed Nighted over the top, and crowned them Gauntlet Champions for the month of April.