Metal Blade Records

"They won’t hire somebody unless they’re into metal. They take pride in what they do and genuinely love metal."

"This may come as a surprise to young music fans, but there once was a time when there was no such thing as record labels specializing in heavy metal -- not until the early 1980s, anyway, at which point a handful of enterprising independents started rearing their iron fists into the air, including Los Angeles’ proudly named Metal Blade. But one of the things that set Metal Blade apart, even then, is that it was one of the first labels launched for metalheads, BY metalheads -- a young man named Brian Slagel, to be more specific, after taking it upon himself to promote some of his favorite bands on the first of many Metal Massacre compilation albums."