The heavy music that defined 2021 will be revealed next month, with the return of The Hardest 100.

The annual heavy music countdown will take place on March 5, with voting now open to the public via hardest100.com.au to determine last year’s best tracks (you have until midnight AEDT on February 27 to have your say).

A series of official countdown parties will also take place on March 5, across Sydney (Crowbar), Melbourne (Black Rabbit) and Brisbane, the latter of which will feature events at both Netherworld and The Triffid.

And for those wanting to kick on, a series of afterparties have also been confirmed, featuring Stepson performing in Brisbane, while Redhook DJs and KILA do DJ sets in Sydney and Marcus Bridge (Northlane) and Jack Bergin (Void of Vision) in do DJ sets in Melbourne.

Here’s when the countdown kicks off in each state:

THE HARDEST 100

Saturday 5 March

9:00 AM AWST in WA

11:00 AM AEST in QLD

11:30 AM ACDT in SA & NT

Midday AEDT in NSW, ACT, VIC & TAS

2:00 PM NZDT in New Zealand

This year’s countdown will be hosted by Amazon Music Senior Music Programmer and curator of Amazon Music playlist Rock Scene, as well as regular alt, rock and scene radio host on Amazing Radio in the UK, Elise Cobain.

The 2020 Hardest 100 was topped by UK heavyweights Architects, who took out the #1 spot with Animals.

They were followed by Alpha Wolf, Polaris, Bring Me The Horizon and Eskimo Callboy in the top five.

For more details and to vote, click here.