Nuclear Blast Records is a German

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

with

subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

located in Germany, the United States and Brazil. It was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in

Donzdorf Donzdorf () is a town in the district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located 12 km east of Göppingen, and 13 km south of Schwäbisch Gmünd. The town is home to Nuclear Blast Records, one of the biggest ...

. Originally releasing

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...

records, the label moved on to releasing albums by

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

, grindcore, industrial metal, power metal and black metal bands, as well as tribute albums. It also distributes and promotes post-hardcore/metalcore labels SharpTone Records; another post-hardcore/metalcore label, Arising Empire, was in Nuclear Blast portfolio until its acquirement by Kontor New Media in 2020. In October 2018, French independent label Believe Digital acquired a majority stake in Nuclear Blast.

History

Nuclear Blast was formed in 1987 after founder Markus Staiger traveled throughout the United States for four weeks and saw a gig of his favorite band Blast (American band), BL'AST!. The label's first release was a vinyl compilation called ''Senseless Death'' (NB 001) featuring US hardcore bands like Attitude, Sacred Denial, Impulse Manslaughter and others. Swedish band Meshuggah became the first band in the history of Nuclear Blast Records to crack the ''Billboard'' 200, landing at number 165 with their 2002 album, ''Nothing (Meshuggah album), Nothing''. Meshuggah also became the first Nuclear Blast band to be reviewed in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. In 2004, Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish released ''Once (Nightwish album), Once'' on Nuclear Blast, which rocketed to the top of the charts in multiple countries, including Finland, Germany, Norway, Greece, Sweden, Austria, and more. It became the first release in the company's history to reach number 1 on the German charts. Slayer released the album ''Repentless'' in 2015 which went to number 4 on the Billboard 200 making it the highest charting Nuclear Blast release in the United States. During the 2000s and 2010s, Nuclear Blast signed many veteran

bands including Slayer, Exodus (band), Exodus, Testament (band), Testament, Anthrax (American band), Anthrax, Kreator, Overkill (band), Overkill, Sepultura, Destruction (band), Destruction, Tankard (band), Tankard, Death Angel, and Heathen (band), Heathen. In 2021, Nuclear Blast founder Markus Staiger launched a new record company called Atomic Fire GmbH. In June 2022, Nuclear Blast unveiled a new logo. The logo caused some controversy when the canned water company Liquid Death jokingly noted its similarities with their logo (which also features a melting skull), inadvertedly leading to its designer, Justin Moll, receiving hate mail. Liquid Death quickly apologized for the joke, saying that it was not targeted at Moll but at Nuclear Blast, whose personnel had reportedly raised concerns over the new logo's similarities with Liquid Death's before it was implemented. On 23 August 2022, the video game ''Saints Row (2022 video game), Saints Row'' was released, which features an in-game radio station that includes Nuclear Blast artists.

Blood Blast Distribution

Blood Blast Distribution is a subsidiary of Nuclear Blast that focuses solely on the distribution of extreme music. The company was founded in 2020 by Bryce Lucien, Jerome Riera, Denis Ladegaillerie and Myriam Silberstein.

References

External links

Nuclear Blast Europe
{{Authority control German independent record labels Record labels established in 1987 Heavy metal record labels Hardcore record labels Death metal record labels Black metal record labels Grindcore record labels IFPI members 1987 establishments in Germany

History

Blood Blast Distribution

See also

References

External links