Metal Blade Records Explained

Metal Blade Records
Founder:	Brian Slagel
Status:	Independent
Distributor:	The Orchard (United States) Sony Music (International)
Genre:	Heavy metal, extreme metal
Country:	United States
Location:	Pendleton Oaks, California, U.S.

Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Sherman Oaks, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label currently is distributed in the US by The Orchard, and internationally by Sony Music Entertainment. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Records in the United States from 1988 to 1993.

History

Metal Blade Records was founded by Brian Slagel, who at the time was a record store employee in suburban Los Angeles, as a way to increase the recognition of local metal bands. The label's first release was a compilation album called The New Heavy Metal Revue presents Metal Massacre, and included Metallica, Ratt, and Black 'n Blue.^[1]

Metal Blade artists that have appeared on the Billboard 200 chart include Goo Goo Dolls, Amon Amarth, Trouble, As I Lay Dying, Behemoth, the Black Dahlia Murder, Cannibal Corpse, Fates Warning (the first Metal Blade band to have achieved this), Lizzy Borden, Anvil, Gwar, King Diamond, Job for a Cowboy, Whitechapel, Armored Saint, The Red Chord, Unearth, Between the Buried and Me, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, Corrosion of Conformity and Cattle Decapitation.

From 1985 to 1998, Metal Blade had a sublabel called Death Records, which released recordings by, and signed bands like D.R.I., Corrosion of Conformity, Civilian Terrorists, Mission of Christ, School of Violence, Cryptic Slaughter, The Mentors, Cannibal Corpse, Atheist, Angkor Wat, Loss for Words, Dr. Know, Beyond Possession, and Dark Funeral.^[2]

In 2010 Metal Blade Records joined the RIAA.

IronClad Recordings is an imprint.

On January 18, 2017 Metal Blade Records was inducted into the Hall of Heavy Metal History for their large contribution to the Heavy Metal library. Brian was inducted by special guest Kerry King of Slayer.^[3] On August 29, 2017, BMG Rights Management published The Sake of Heaviness: the History of Metal Blade Records, a book on the label's history, co-written by Mark Eglington and the label's founder Brian Slagel.^[4]

In 2019 Metal Blade Records opened a store in Las Vegas, Nevada that sold rare and out-of-print items from them and their artists.^[5]

Notable artists

Current

• Abnormality
• Act of Defiance
• Aeon
• Allegaeon
• Amon Amarth
• Anaal Nathrakh
• Anima
• Arch/Matheos
• Armored Saint
• As I Lay Dying
• Battlecross
• Behemoth
• Beyond the Sixth Seal
• Bitch
• The Black Dahlia Murder
• Blood Stain Child
• Brainstorm
• Byzantine
• Candiria
• Cannibal Corpse
• Cataract
• Category 7
• Cattle Decapitation
• Charred Walls of the Damned
• Church of Misery
• The Crown
• Cult of Luna
• Cut Up
• Dawn of Ashes
• Desaster
• Destrage
• The Devil's Blood
• Disillusion
• Don Jamieson
• Downfall of Gaia
• DragonForce
• Entheos
• Ensiferum
• Exumer
• Fates Warning^[6]
• Fleshcrawl
• Fleshwrought
• Flotsam and Jetsam
• Goatwhore
• God Dethroned
• Gwar
• Hail of Bullets
• Hammers of Misfortune
• Harms Way^[7]
• Hate
• If These Trees Could Talk
• Igorrr
• In Solitude
• Ingested
• Intronaut
• Jim Breuer
• Jim Florentine
• Job for a Cowboy
• Killswitch Engage^[8]
• King Diamond
• King's X
• King of Asgard
• Lightning Swords of Death
• Lizzy Borden
• Malefice
• Mercyful Fate
• Mother Feather
• Neaera
• Negligence
• The Ocean Collective
• OSI
• Paths of Possession
• Pentagram
• Poison Headache
• Primordial
• The Red Chord
• Revocation
• Rivers of Nihil
• Sacrifice
• Satan
• Serpentine Dominion
• Shai Hulud
• Six Feet Under
• Skyforger
• Slough Feg
• Soilent Green
• System Divide
• Transatlantic
• Tombs
• Twitching Tongues
• Týr
• Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats
• Vio-lence
• Vomitory
• Whitechapel
• Wovenwar^[9]
• The Zenith Passage

Former

• 3
• Abiotic
• The Absence
• Akercocke
• Aletheian
• Anacrusis (active)
• Ancient (active)
• Anterior (disbanded 2012)
• Anvil (active)
• Angel Witch
• John Arch (inactive)
• Artch (active)
• As I Lay Dying (active, with Nuclear Blast)
• Atheist (active)
• Attacker (active)
• Austrian Death Machine (on hiatus)
• Autumn
• Believer (active, Independent)
• Between the Buried and Me (active, with Sumerian)
• Beyond the Embrace (inactive)
• Bison B.C.^[10]
• Bolt Thrower
• Born from Pain
• Brain Drill (disbanded 2019)
• Callenish Circle (disbanded 2007)
• Cellador
• Chemlab (active)
• Cirith Ungol (disbanded 1992; reformed 2016)
• Cradle of Filth (active, with Nuclear Blast)
• The Crimson Armada (disbanded 2012)
• Cycle Sluts from Hell
• Dance Club Massacre
• Dark Funeral
• Darkness Dynamite
• Demiricous (active)
• Dew-Scented
• D.R.I. (active)
• Eidolon (on hiatus)
• Enthroned
• Epidemic
• Evergreen Terrace (active, with Rise Records)
• Falconer
• Flotsam and Jetsam (active, Driven Music Group)
• Fragments of Unbecoming
• Galactic Cowboys (disbanded 2000)
• Goo Goo Dolls (active, with Warner Bros. Records)
• Hatchet
• Hate Eternal
• Haunted Garage
• Hecate Enthroned (active; signed to M-Theory Audio)
• Helstar (active, with AFM Records)
• Hirax (active, with Black Devil Records)
• I Killed the Prom Queen (inactive)
• Impious
• In Battle (active, with Nocturnal Art Production/Candlelight Records)
• Into the Moat
• Jacobs Dream
• King's X (active, with Inside Out Music)
• Lazarus A.D. (disbanded 2015 ^[11])
• Liege Lord (disbanded 1990) (reformed 2013)
• Lord Belial (disbanded, then reactivated)
• Manowar (active, with Magic Circle Music)
• Mentors (active)
• Molotov Solution (on hiatus)
• Mount Salem
• Omen (active, with DSN Music)
• Overcast
• Powerwolf (active, now signed to Napalm Records)
• Psyopus (disbanded 2012)
• Pyrithion
• The Red Death
• Rigor Mortis
• Sacred Reich (active, with Hollywood Records)
• Sacrifice (active)
• Sister (active)
• Slayer (active)
• Sonic Reign
• Spock's Beard (active, independent)
• Symphorce (disbanded 2011)
• Taramis (disbanded 1993)^[12]
• This Ending
• Thought Industry
• Tommy Giles Rogers
• Torture Killer (active, with Dynamic Art Records)
• Tourniquet (active, with Pathogenic Records)
• Trigger the Bloodshed
• Trouble (active, with Century Media Records)
• Unearth (active, with Century Media Records)
• Vader (active, with Nuclear Blast)
• Viking (disbanded 1990, reformed 2011, currently unsigned)
• Voivod (active, with Century Media Records)
• Woe of Tyrants
• Yob (active, with Profound Lore Records)^[13]

See also

• Metal Massacre
• List of record labels
• Megaforce Records

External links

• • Official YouTube Channel

Notes and References

1. Web site: Features . metalupdate.com . August 15, 2012 . November 25, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101125152518/http://metalupdate.com/interviewmetalblade.html . live .
2. Web site: Death Records (3) - CDs and Vinyl at Discogs . discogs . August 15, 2012 . July 1, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230701175552/https://www.discogs.com/label/38294-Death-Records-3 . live .
3. Scorpions Among Nominees for Hall of Heavy Metal History. . December 22, 2016. May 16, 2017.
4. BMG Will Release a Book on Metal Blade Records on Their Iconic History Later This Summer. . June 27, 2017.
5. Metal Blade Records opens store in Las Vegas, NV – rare and out-of-print items now for sale!. . June 6, 2023.
6. Web site: Fates Warning signs worldwide deal with Metal Blade Records . February 4, 2021 . February 9, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210209165647/http://fateswarning.com/2019/03/25/fates-warning-signs-worldwide-deal-with-metal-blade-records/ . live .
7. Web site: Harm's Way Metal Blade Records . February 9, 2020 . August 12, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200812070945/https://www.metalblade.com/us/artists/harms-way/ . live .
8. Web site: Killswitch Engage Metal Blade Records. May 8, 2021. May 9, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210509061950/https://www.metalblade.com/us/artists/killswitch-engage/. live.
9. Web site: Metal Blade Records announce the signing of WOVENWAR featuring members of As I Lay Dying and Oh, Sleeper. . metalblade.com . April 14, 2014 . April 21, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160421000654/http://www.metalblade.com/us/news/metal-blade-records-signs-wovenwar/ . live .
10. Web site: Bison Bc Interview @ Louder Than Hell . February 8, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140106033110/http://louderthanhell.net/bands/canada/bison-bc/interviews/576/band-speaks-out-on-metal-blade-split . January 6, 2014 . dead .
11. Web site: Lazarus A.D. Drummer Ryan Shutler Dies. May 18, 2015. loudwire.com. June 24, 2016. June 13, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160613125251/http://loudwire.com/lazarus-a-d-drummer-ryan-shutler-dead/. live.
12. McFarlane, 'Taramis' entry. Archived from the original on August 3, 2004. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
13. Web site: Artists Metal Blade Records. May 8, 2021. April 29, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210429062659/https://www.metalblade.com/us/artists/. live.