Your votes have been counted, and we're thrilled to reveal that the winner of this year's alternative to the Mercury Prize is CWFEN.

They join the likes of Self Esteem, Floating Points and many more in topping our Neptune Prize poll of 12

"Who?" you may be wondering, here's our Emma Wilkes with a quick reminder:

Shoegaze, doom and goth coalesce into what can only be black magic across Cwfen’s debut album. As darkly enchanting as it sounds on the surface, they’ve fished into a well of bigger, deeper ideas which gives their sorcerous output extra dimensions. Profoundly anti-fascist, they weave a queer love story through the smoky balladry of Embers, while the pounding Rite’s howled verses is punctured by a gauzy chorus calling for the legalisation of assisted dying. It’s a truly haunting record, one which once again calls into question why the other prize looks the other way when it comes to the wealth of incredible metal from this country.

You can hear and procure the album by these Scottish goths over on Bandcamp,

You can read their recent interview with Kerrang! here:

Cwfen: “I have no interest in being some ‘sexy’ frontperson. I’d much…
Cwfen have quickly established themselves as one of the UK’s most excitingly atmospheric new bands. The Glasgow doomgaze collective explain how they’re…

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