Metal Blade Records

Metal Blade Records is a heavy metal independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by RED Distribution, and in Canada 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.

Metal Blade artists that have appeared on the Billboard 200 chart include the 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, 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.

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. On August 29, 2017, BMG Rights Management will publish 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.

Current

 * Abnormality
 * Act of Defiance
 * Aeon
 * Allegaeon
 * Amon Amarth
 * Anaal Nathrakh
 * Anima
 * Arch/Matheos
 * Armored Saint
 * Barn Burner
 * Battlecross
 * Behemoth
 * Beverly Hellfire
 * Beyond the Shore
 * Beyond the Sixth Seal
 * Bitch
 * The Black Dahlia Murder
 * Bloodclot
 * Blood Stain Child
 * Bolt Thrower
 * Brainstorm
 * Byzantine
 * Candiria
 * Cannibal Corpse
 * Cataract
 * 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
 * Dew-Scented
 * Disillusion
 * Don Jamieson
 * Downfall of Gaia
 * Ensiferum
 * Exumer
 * Facebreaker
 * Falconer
 * Fleshcrawl
 * Fleshwrought
 * Flotsam and Jetsam
 * Gehennah
 * Goatwhore
 * God Dethroned
 * GWAR
 * Gypsyhawk
 * Hail of Bullets
 * Hammers of Misfortune
 * Hate Eternal
 * House of Heavy
 * If These Trees Could Talk
 * Igorrr
 * In Solitude
 * Intensus
 * Jim Breuer and The Loud & Rowdy
 * Jim Florentine
 * Job for a Cowboy
 * Killswitch Engage
 * King Diamond
 * King of Asgard
 * Lay Down Rotten
 * Lightning Swords of Death
 * Lizzy Borden
 * Malefice
 * Mercyful Fate
 * Mother Feather
 * Mount Salem
 * Native Construct
 * Neaera
 * Negligence
 * The Ocean Collective
 * One-Way Mirror
 * OSI
 * Overcast
 * Paths of Possession
 * Pentagram
 * Pilgrim
 * Poison Headache
 * Polluted Inheritance
 * Primordial
 * Psyopus
 * RAM
 * Razor of Occam
 * The Red Chord
 * Return to Earth
 * Revocation
 * Rivers of Nihil
 * Rose Funeral
 * Sacrifice
 * Satan's Wrath
 * Serpentine Dominion
 * Shai Hulud
 * Sister
 * Six Feet Under
 * Skyforger
 * Slough Feg
 * Soilent Green
 * System Divide
 * Theories
 * Tommy Giles Rogers
 * Transatlantic
 * Tombs
 * Trioscapes
 * Twitching Tongues
 * Týr
 * Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats
 * Visigoth
 * Vomitory
 * Whitechapel
 * Wovenwar

Former

 * 3
 * Abiotic
 * The Absence
 * Across the Sun
 * A Love Ends Suicide (disbanded 2006)
 * Aeternam (active)
 * Aletheian
 * Anacrusis (active)
 * Ancient (active)
 * Anterior (disbanded 2012)
 * Anvil (active)
 * Angel Witch
 * Angel Blake (active, with Dynamic Arts Records)
 * The Arcane Order
 * John Arch (inactive)
 * Artch (active)
 * As I Lay Dying
 * As You Drown
 * Austrian Death Machine (on hiatus)
 * Awaits Her Death (inactive)
 * Autumn
 * Believer (active, Independent)
 * Between the Buried and Me (active, with Sumerian)
 * Beyond the Embrace (inactive)
 * Bison B.C.
 * Bitter End (disbanded 1992)
 * Born from Pain
 * Brain Drill
 * Callenish Circle (disbanded 2007)
 * Cellador
 * Chemlab (active)
 * Cirith Ungol (disbanded 1992; reformed 2016)
 * Civilian Terrorists
 * Cradle of Filth (active, with Nuclear Blast)
 * The Crimson Armada (disbanded 2012)
 * Dance Club Massacre
 * Dark Funeral
 * Darkness Dynamite
 * Demiricous (active)
 * Diabulus in Musica
 * Dr. Know (active)
 * Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (active)
 * Eidolon (on hiatus)
 * Element Ethan (active, with Roadrunner Records)
 * Enthroned
 * Epicurean
 * Epidemic
 * Evergreen Terrace (active, with Rise Records)
 * Eryn Non Dae
 * Fate (disbanded 2009)
 * Fates Warning (active, Inside Out Music)
 * Forever in Terror (active, with In-Demand Records)
 * Flotsam and Jetsam (active, Driven Music Group)
 * Fragments of Unbecoming
 * Fueled by Fire (active)
 * Galactic Cowboys (disbanded 2000)
 * Gaza
 * Glorior Belli (active, with Agonia Records)
 * Goo Goo Dolls (active, with Warner Bros. Records)
 * Hades (U.S.)
 * Hatchet
 * 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 (active, with Epitaph Records)
 * If Hope Dies
 * Impious
 * In Battle (active, with Nocturnal Art Production/Candlelight Records)
 * In Ruins (inactive)
 * Incapacity (active, with RAHW Productions)
 * Into the Moat
 * Jacobs Dream
 * Junk Monkeys (disbanded 2003)
 * King's X (active, with Inside Out Music)
 * Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (disbanded 2010)
 * Lazarus A.D. (disbanded 2015 )
 * Liege Lord (disbanded 1990) (reformed 2013)
 * Lord Belial (disbanded, then reactivated)
 * Loss For Words (inactive)
 * Manowar (active, with Magic Circle Music)
 * Machinemade God (disbanded 2008)
 * Mentors (active)
 * Molotov Solution (on hiatus)
 * Mourn Thy Passing (disbanded 1996)
 * Omen (active, with DSN Music)
 * Phoenix Mourning (disbanded 2008)
 * Powerwolf (active, now signed to Napalm Records)
 * Predator (disbanded 1988)
 * Pyrithion
 * Ravage
 * The Red Death
 * Rigor Mortis
 * The Rotted
 * Those Who Lie Beneath (active)
 * Sacred Reich (active, with Hollywood Records)
 * Sacrifice (active)
 * Shining Fury (active, independent)
 * Since the Flood (disbanded 2008)
 * Slayer (active, with Nuclear Blast)
 * Sonic Reign
 * Spock's Beard (active, independent)
 * Starwood (Status Unknown)
 * Symphorce (disbanded 2011)
 * Tactics (disbanded 1999)
 * Talas (inactive)
 * Taramis (disbanded 1993)
 * This Ending
 * Thought Industry
 * Torchbearer (active, with Vic Records)
 * Torture Killer (active, with Dynamic Art Records)
 * Tourniquet, (active, with Pathogenic Records)
 * Trigger the Bloodshed
 * Trouble (active, with Century Media Records)
 * Unearth
 * Vader (active, with Nuclear Blast)
 * Viking (disbanded 1990, reformed 2011, currently unsigned)
 * Voivod (active, with Century Media Records)
 * We are the End
 * Winter Solstice (disbanded 2006)
 * Woe of Tyrants
 * Yob (active, with Profound Lore Records)