Tag Archives: record labels

Introducing Blue Grape Music

blue grape music logo, blue grape music, record label logos

The Press Release:
In 2022, industry veterans David Rath, former head of A&R at the esteemed Roadrunner Records, and Cees Wessels, founder of Roadrunner Records, formed Blue Grape Music. The name will be familiar to rock music fans, as it was the merchandise company also launched by Wessels.

With a rich history of working with bands such as Nickelback, Slipknot, Type O Negative, Killswitch Engage, Fear Factory, Sepultura, Turnstile, and more — bands that truly broke ground and went on to have long, successful, platinum-plus careers — Rath and Wessels are bringing their wealth of expertise to a new era of bands and a new era of the music industry.
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EMP Label Group Announces The Relaunch Of Combat Records

The Press Release:
David Ellefson of Megadeth, via his label EMP LABEL GROUP, has announced the relaunch of *COMBAT RECORDS*, the seminal Punk/Thrash label that started *Megadeth’s* career.

Most will remember Combat Records as one of the seminal thrash labels of the 1980s, their most prominent artist being, of course, Megadeth. Combat was also home to Helstar, Circle Jerks, Exodus, Nuclear Assault, and many of the most influential Metal and Punk bands of all time.

After a handful of ownership changes and attempted reboots, COMBAT went dormant in the mid-2000s, the catalog got absorbed by SONY, and the label itself ceased to exist. In 2016, David Ellefson, with his partner Thom Hazaert from EMP Label Group, did the due diligence to research and acquire the intellectual property for the COMBAT RECORDS brand, and bring it home to the EMP family.

With the utmost respect to the legacy of the past, COMBAT will relaunch in 2018 as an imprint of EMP LABEL GROUP, releasing not only new releases from classic Thrash and Metal artists, but as a home for new and up and coming artists as well. The first tentative COMBAT releases in 2018 will be the North American release of the upcoming studio album from legendary NWOBHM titans RAVEN, a limited edition classic B-sides release from HELSTAR, (both original COMBAT artists) and new releases from CT Hardcore/Metal staples *Dead By Wednesday* and 80’s progressive thrash favorites WRATH.
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Happy Heavy 25th Anniversary To Earache Records (1987-2012)

This is a great year of anniversaries for some truly awesome Rock and Metal bands as we find the big 25th for artists like Whitesnake, Anthrax, Testament and really far too many others to mention celebrating that milestone on a bit of some seminal recorded work. Stuff like Whitesnake’s self titled, and “Fighting The World” by Manowar and “Among The Living” by Anthrax. You get the point right? Well, in this narrative I wanted to raise a glass and a high pair of horns for the Earache Records label who are also celebrating their own 25th Year in the business.

logo-earache-records

If you love all things Extreme Metal then Earache Records is the place to be for your listening pleasure because they were the label to find bands like Napalm Death, Deicide, Decapitated and the mighty Carcass for many of their releases. Now I should admit that I wasn’t really following any of these bands before I decided to focus my creative time on being a music journalist but once I started I began studying from their books even though I am a huge latecomer to their offerings. I aim at supporting what I can when I can and there are honestly a lot of bands that I like on the label. It’s a true lesson in that which is heavy and not easily handled by those who refuse to step outside of their own Metal box. I know that I still have quite the investigative journey ahead based on their artist roster both past and present. You can learn what that roster is and a whole lot more about the company by clicking the Official Wiki entry below. I tend to just offer up my own thoughts in these Milestones as opposed to reprinting other peoples words. I am looking forward to hearing and witnessing in concert the next groups that the label will be dishing out and you should to. Happy 25th Earache Records, and here is to the next 25 🙂 Fans that enjoy the labels output already are encouraged to leave us some comments in the space below. It will be great to hear what you think about this one. To see our reviews of some releases that came to us under the Earache Records brand click HERE. The screen will showcase the whole batch. See you next time.

Official Wikipedia Entry for Earache Records: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earache_Records