Already running one of the baddest Metal labels on the scene in the form of Basick Records, the folks at Invictus Music & Media have just announced the launch of new Rock and Metal imprint DESTROY EVERYTHING. Not ones to take things slowly, they’ve confirmed six new signings already, namely The First, Azriel, Black Dogs, We Are Fiction, I Divide and The Colour Line.
Nathan Barley Phillips, A&R Director for Invictus says he’s “absolutely delighted to be launching DESTROY EVERYTHING and signing so many exciting bands immediately to the roster. The underground Rock and Metal scene has an incredible amount of talent pushing through to the mainstream right now; by partnering up with The Orchard we expand our reach and capabilities, so I’m thrilled to be able to develop and support all of our new and existing acts and play a major part in their early careers.”
What can you expect from DESTROY EVERYTHING? A whole load of awesomeness, mainly. Either see for yourself at the launch party this evening in London (flyer after the jump), or have a listen to The First below:
You’re a legendary Finnish metal band and you want to record a new album. What do you do? If you’re Children of Bodom, you go to a secret, undisclosed location in Helsinki, team up with recording engineer Mikko Karmila (who worked on the Hatebreeder, Follow the Reaper, and Hate Crew Deathroll albums) and producer Peter Tägtgren (Immortal, Marduk, Amon Amarth), and feverishly lay down tracks for your eighth studio album. Yeah, that’s pretty Metal.
The upcoming record will be mixed at Finnvox Studios and a summer release date via Nuclear Blast is expected. You can anticipate some serious mayhem on this album with working song titles including: “All Twisted,” “Slowdance On Nails,” “Moto GP,” “FC Pettymys,” “Kananmuisti-ilmiö” [Chicken Memory Effect] and “Trondheim.” We’re not even going to ask what “Chicken Memory Effect” is about, but it will probably melt plenty of faces in standard COB fashion.
If you’re unfamiliar with these heavy-hitters, the Finnish quintet’s sound spans the gambit of Metal — Death, Power, Thrash, Melodic, Neoclassical — and over their two-decade career they have become one of Finland’s bestselling artists. With three consecutive albums debuting #1 on the Finnish album charts and over 250,000 records sold in their home country alone, the band is no stranger to success. Children of Bodom is led by guitarist / vocalist Alexi Laiho, who was named “Best Metal Guitarist” by the readers of Guitar World, and you can expect to hear more of his dizzying fret work on the upcoming record.
According to the band, bass tracks are already finished up for the as-yet-untitled album as well as the basic guitar tracks and drums. Now, the Metal men from Espoo, Finland are geared up to record the guitar melodies and solos, along with all keyboard and vocal tracks (which will be overseen by producer Peter Tägtgren). Additional updates and videos of the recording process will be available on the official Children of Bodom Facebook page and band website.
The Orchard and Nuclear Blast have been friends a long time, continuously working and innovating together in the Metal genre and New Media for many years. We’re excited to celebrate the label’s 25th milestone this Fall!
Since Nuclear Blast‘s inception in 1987, founder Markus Staiger has developed it into one of the biggest independent labels in the world. Founded in Donzdorf, Germany, Nuclear Blast has launched such artists as Meshuggah, Testament, Nightwish (Europe-only), Children of Bodom, Anthrax (Europe-only), Dimmu Borgir, All Shall Perish, Epica, Exodus and Accept. They are now 150 employees strong and have offices operating in L.A. in addition to their original hometown offices in Donzdorf.
The Orchard began its collaboration with Nuclear Blast in 2006 as their exclusive digital distributor outside of Europe. As our suite of services has expanded, we have been proud to partner with Nuclear Blast to execute some of the most innovative Interactive Marketing campaigns in modern independent music. We’re also thankful that Nuclear Blast is always willing to embark on frontiers that labels of their genre haven’t ventured into before.
Here are some highlights from our solid partnership with Nuclear Blast:
A Mobile Metal First
In May 2009, we launched the first Metal iPhone app with the Nuclear Blast artist Suffocation via our partnership with app developer Mobile Roadie. This was swiftly followed by the Nuclear Blast Radio app, which was the first of its kind in the genre, as well.
The Orchard’s new Catalogue Cuts Series begins with this inside look into the hard and heavy side of our catalogue. Courtesy of Metal connoisseur and proud Orchard-ite Nathan Thompson, “Put The Pedal To The Metal” highlights the best riffs we have.
Get out the air guitar! This playlist includes new releases from enduring thrash godfathers Exodus and Testament (Metallica cites their earliest work as a main influence) to newer metalcore like Soilwork and Dillinger Escape Plan, as well as noteable side projects Kid Gorgeous (featuring members of Every Time I Die), Underminded (featuring members of D.R.U.G.S. and Chiodos) and Of Legends (Luis Dubuc of Secret Handshake, well, technically Secret Handshake is the side project). There’s also our favorite fantasy-metal-viking-quest riff from Blind Guardian and the best riff with the lowest playing time to note ratio, “Bleed” by Meshuggah. If you need to relax, look for a handful of detuned riffs from ISIS.
Enjoy the playlist on Spotify and/or Rdio, or by streaming directly from this blog post:
Pitchfork’s Brandon Stosuy published his Top Twenty Metal Albums last month in his Show No Mercy column, and three of our favorite face-melters of the year made the cut! Weighing in at number six is Enslaved‘s Vertebrae on Nuclear Blast, brilliantly described as, “a smeary, tightly composed collection of progressive psychedelic post-black metal.”
At number ten we have Florida’s tech-minded prog metal elder statesmen, Cynic, with their first album in fifteen years, Traced In Air. Released via French powerhouse Season of Mist, this reunion album is “a jam-packed, carefully orchestrated King Crimson-style tone poem.”
Darkthrone‘s fourteenth long-player Dark Thrones and Black Flags is sitting pretty at lucky number thirteen. Stosuy calls the Peaceville release “one hell of a strange and compelling blackened punk collection.”
Check out the full list, along with many of the artists’ own picks, right here.
