Welcome to the first-ever Loudwire Music Awards. We will be unveiling the categories and nominees throughout the week, starting right here with the 2011 Rock Song of the Year.

Our nominees in this category range from a song off an album that was released in 2010 to a tune from an album that will be released in 2012, and everything in between. What does matter is that all of these songs made a big impact in 2011.

Avenged Sevenfold's 'Nightmare' dropped last year, but its latest single 'Buried Alive' only recently hit radio, and it's one of the band's most ambitious tracks to date.

Evanescence gave fans a taste of their self-titled comeback album this past summer with the release of its energetic first single 'What You Want.'

Lacuna Coil are set to drop their newest full-length effort, 'Dark Adrenaline,' in January 2012, but the band has already got fans excited with the disc's first single 'Trip the Darkness.'

Seether had two massive rock hits this year, but it's 'Country Song,' the first single off the band's 'Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray,' that gets the nod in this category.

And finally, Sixx: A.M.'s 'This Is Gonna Hurt,' the title track off their latest album and the No. 1 tune on Loudwire's Top 10 Rock Songs of 2011, completes the list of nominees.

Cast your vote for Rock Song of the Year below. Voting ends Jan. 1, 2012 at 11:59PM ET.

 

 

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