Metal Blade Records

History

Metal Blade Records was founded in 1982 by Brian Slagel alongside its first release, Metal Massacre. Slagel was an employee of Los Angeles record store Oz Records and had launched a metal fanzine known as The New Heavy Metal Revue. He was a fan of New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM)and was dedicated to the local heavy metal scene in California, but was also drawn to an underground strain of metal strongly influenced by NWOBHM like Raven and Venom which placed more emphasis on "heaviness" than melodic hooks and "anthem-like choruses". He saw that rock bands with a European influence began increasing in number around Southern California. Inspired by popular NWOBM compilations such as Metal for Muthas, he reached out to several local bands regarding contributing to a compilation that he envisioned as a showcase of "the best metal Los Angeles had to offer." Slagel purchased records for the compilation and contacted distributors who accepted the deal. Slagel received a call from Lars Ulrich—who had not formed a band yet—who asked if he could record a song for the album, which he accepted. Using borrowed money from his friends and family, Slagel pressed either 2,500 or 5,000 copies of Metal Massacre. The first pressing sold out almost immediately, credited to Slagel's work at Oz Records, where the store's independent distributors—Gem, Important, and Green World—purchasing them immediately. Slagel told Billboard that one of the distributors told him if he could provide them records, they would handle the manufacturing and distribution, resulting in Metal Blade's founding. He established a distribution deal with Green World, later known as Enigma, after a short-lived manufacturing and distribution deal with Metalworks. Metal Blade would later be considered as the first label to fully focus on heavy metal.

In April 1987, Metal Blade and Enigma Records signed a long-term distribution and development deal, with Enigma promoting and distributing Metal Blade Records artists' records along with distribution through CEMA, a record-label distribution branch of Capitol-EMI.

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. Slagel was inducted by special guest Kerry King of Slayer. 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.

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.

References

Citations

Works cited

References

1. Waksman, Steve. (2009). "This Ain't the Summer of Love: Conflict and Crossover in Heavy Metal and Punk". University of California Press.
2. Marshall, Clay. (20 April 2002). "From One Man's Dream—And Out of His Parents' Garage—Grew The Biggest Independent Metal Label of The Past Two Decades".
3. (17 November 2022). "Death Metal". [[Bloomsbury Publishing]].
4. (7 May 1988). "Heavy Metal '88: Major Madness". [[Penske Media Corporation]].
5. Legaspi, Legaspi. (December 22, 2016). "Scorpions Among Nominees for Hall of Heavy Metal History". [[Rolling Stone]].
6. Bell, Sadie. (26 June 2017). "BMG Will Release a Book on Metal Blade Records on Their Iconic History Later This Summer".
7. (1 October 2019). "Metal Blade Records opens store in Las Vegas, NV – rare and out-of-print items now for sale!". Metal Blade Records.