Highlights from just a few of Metal Blade's 2012 releases! These albums and more are available at http://www.indiemerch.com/metalbladerecords for North America, http://play.com/ in the UK, http://www.emp.de/ in Europe, and on iTunes worldwide!

Metal Blade Records: 2012 Highlights

Goatwhore

my tunes

Black metal & other metal

jammin

First 'un

Metal

Metallll

so as locas

I'm hugely in love with the sound of this bass and pedal as a combination - so much clarity, aggression and power. I recorded the main riff from "Icarus Lives!" and overlaid it over the album track to demonstrate.

Dingwall Afterburner ABXXX + Darkglass B7K test

"Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult" from the album "A Haunting Curse".

Alchemy Of The Black Sun Cult

"Forever Consumed Oblivion" from the album "A Haunting Curse".

Forever Consumed Oblivion

Order the issue containing this flexi disc here:
http://store.decibelmagazine.com/collections/back-issues/products/december-2011-086

Recorded at The Riff Room (New Orleans, LA) by Stephen Berrigan
Mixed and mastered by Brian Elliott at Mana Recording Studios (St. Petersburg, FL)

Written by Philip Taylor, Edward Clarke, Ian Kilmister
Published by Intertrax Music Obo Motor Music Ltd.

Metal Blade Records

Goatwhore "(Don't Need) Religion" (originally by Motörhead) (dB012)

"Testicular Manslaughter" from "To Serve Man".

Cattle Decapitation "Testicular Manslaughter"

Cattle Decapitation "Humanure"

"Success Is... (Hanging By The Neck)" from "Karma.Bloody.Karma".

Cattle Decapitation "Success Is... (Hanging By The Neck)"

"Stripped, Raped, And Strangled" from "The Bleeding".

Cannibal Corpse "Stripped, Raped, And Strangled"

Cattle Decapitation "A Body Farm"

"Collapse In Eternal Worth" from the album "Blood for the Master".

Collapse in Eternal Worth

Cannibal Corpse "Demented Aggression" from the album "Torture"

Cannibal Corpse "Demented Aggression"

"Quake Meat" from the album "The Black Chord".

Astra "Quake Meat"

"When Steel and Bone Meet" from "Blood for the Master".

Goatwhore "When Steel and Bone Meet"

"Dead Sea Scrolls" from the album "As Above, So Below".

Angel Witch "Dead Sea Scrolls"

Job for a Cowboy "Nourishment Through Bloodshed" from "Demonocracy"

Job for a Cowboy "Nourishment Through Bloodshed"

Horisont "Second Assault" from the album "Second Assault"

Horisont "Second Assault"

Cattle Decapitation "A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat" from the album "Monolith of Inhumanity"

Cattle Decapitation "A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat"

Six Feet Under "Formaldehyde" from "Undead"

Six Feet Under "Formaldehyde"

"Like the Oar Strikes the Water" from "Iron Will".

Grand Magus "Like the Oar Strikes the Water"

A Brief Introduction On Dubstep Production (Dubba Johnny)

Whitechapel "Hate Creation" from the album "Whitechapel"

Whitechapel "Hate Creation"

King of Asgard "The Nine Worlds Burn" from "...to North"

King of Asgard "The Nine Worlds Burn"

"In an Obscure Eternity" from "Near Death Experience".

Darkness by Oath "In an Obscure Eternity"

As I Lay Dying "Cauterize" from the album "Awakened"

As I Lay Dying "Cauterize"

Between the Buried and Me "Telos" from the album "The Parallax II: Future Sequence"

Between the Buried and Me "Telos"

Evocation "Angel of Torment" from the album "Dead Calm Chaos"

Evocation "Angel of Torment"

"Galaxy Rise" from the album "Revelry & Resilience".

Buy from Metal Blade

Gypsyhawk "Galaxy Rise"

04 Forced Gender Reassignment

some dsbm The Sweet Taste of Betrayal (Vocals) Worthless Life

The Sweet Taste of Betrayal (Vocals)

Lightning Swords of Death "Baphometic Chaosium" from the album "Baphometic Chaosium"

Lightning Swords of Death "Baphometic Chaosium"

This is the signature Ola War amp that is available through purchase in the Positive Grid JamUp pro app. Just click store inside JamUp pro to find it.

JamUp Pro Signature Ola Peace Amp

"Father of the Wolf" from "Deceiver of the Gods."

Amon Amarth "Father of the Wolf"

Download presets at www.olaenglund.com/downloads

Axe Fx 2 - Ola Reacharound presets

Here's a preset of mine based on the Fredrik Thordendal Modern amp model in the new 10.10 Axe Fx 2 firmware.

Download preset here(in the reacharound pack): www.olaenglund.com/downloads

Axe Fx 2 - Ola Reacharound Thord

Metal Blade Records history by Dan Slessor:
Founded upon owner Brian Slagel's enduring drive to find great bands and get their music out to as many people as possible, since 1982 Metal Blade has brought wave after wave of powerful, innovative, and often genre-defining music to the ever-hungry metal masses. It is this ethos that has seen Metal Blade build up a stunning and diverse catalogue, weather the various storms facing any independent label, and in an age of declining record sales boast the most successful years of its existence as it strides into its fourth decade.

What perhaps makes this achievement all the more notable is the fact that Slagel never even intended to start a label. Working in an LA record store and writing for various publications, Slagel was acutely aware that many great bands in the local metal scene were being ignored, and he decided to release a compilation of tracks drawn from these ranks. "There were a lot of really good bands and I was just bummed out that nobody could hear them. It just seemed like I could help them out and have some fun at the same time, and that compilation was the first Metal Massacre," he states. Collating tracks from then unknown bands including Ratt, Bitch, Cirith Ungol, and Metallica amongst others, the compilation sold out immediately. "How important is Metal Blade to our career? They're only the reason we are enjoying the worldwide success we have today," states Metallica's James Hetfield. "Without Brian's openness to some raunchy teens with a crap sounding cassette tape we would be who knows where, and playing who knows what!" With the popularity of the tape spurring Slagel on, the first seeds of Metal Blade were sown. "After the success of those compilations I just started putting out records of bands that I was friends with, but without ever really intending it to be a label at all," he explains. "After I put out four or five releases I started to feel like something was happening, and I decided to quit the record store and quit college and see where it went."

Battling through the first few lean years, when the label consisted solely of Slagel working out of his mom's poorly ventilated garage in the San Fernando Valley, it gradually grew in both revenue and stature. Within a few years Metal Blade would go on to release the debuts of Slayer, Armored Saint, Trouble, and Corrosion Of Conformity amongst others, fanning the flames of the burgeoning metal scene and launching careers of bands that would go onto reap global success. "Without Metal Blade, there is a damn good chance we never would've made it out of L.A," says Slayer's Kerry King. "That was the one bit of luck we needed. You can be the most awesome band on the scene, and if no one notices you, you don't catch on. And Brian Slagel is still one of the biggest metalheads I know!" This genuine love and devotion to metal is central to the relationship many of the artists have with Metal Blade, and King Diamond credits much of its relevance and strength to this passion. "I refer to it as having 'boots on the ground'," the mighty Dane states. "It's not like a major label where some people might be into what you're doing but a lot of them just see it as a job – there's a genuine love for metal there. Through staying true to that and doing their own thing they've carved out a very specific niche that they control, and as an artist it's wonderful to be a part of that."over the years. Clearly without those people we couldn't do what we do, and to everyone out there who has helped us along by being a fan we are so very grateful to you."

Read more: http://www.metalblade.com/us/about-us/