Relapse Records is a renowned independent music label based in the United States, currently making final arrangements to celebrate its 25th anniversary throughout 2015 in a millstone manner. The record company has been originally spawned by Matthew Jacobson in August, 1990 and has been growing since as one of the most celebrated and extremely influential metal record companies presently reigning in the heavy metal industry.
It is not often that a record company valiantly survives for so long, especially when confronted with nowadays’ economic recession; although brave Relapse Records have no plans to downstream as they are at hands with a monumental anniversary celebration offering numerous special releases and events. and securing a few business partnerships all year long. Definitely set for uprising yet keeping a neverending positive posture, Relapse Records prime for their true dedication and given importance towards the underground.
[blockquote cite=”Matthew Jacobson”]In 1990 I started Relapse as a teenager in my parents’ basement. It was a dream with a simple mission: to share the music that I was so passionate about with as many people as possible. Over the course of 25 years we have had the honor of working with a diverse array of amazing artists and releasing a vast catalog of incredible records that includes numerous influential and genre defining albums. We are very proud that we have been able to bring the music that we love to a global audience.[/blockquote]
Relapse Records debuted with two releases of 7-inch singles by the acts Velcro Overdose and Face Of Decline, closely followed by three death metal bands that soon would become among the biggest ever released by the record label, namely Suffocation, Deceased, and Incantation.
First and foremost, Relapse Records will be reissuing a significant amount of underground classics that reflect the magnificent long route the record company has taken over the years, on deluxe vinyl editions. Reissues includes Mastodon, Nile, Dillinger Escape Plan, Neurosis, Amorphis, Incantation, Human Remains are amongst plenty of others that will be obtaining a reworked treatment after so many years out of print and never before released on vinyl.
Relapse Records plan to celebrate their silver years at next year’s infamous Maryland Deathfest alongside with current and former label artists.
Finnish melodic epic-progressive metallers Amorphis will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their highly-acclaimed 1994 magnificent and mesmerizing release ‘Tales From The Thousand Lakes’ in its entirety. Besides their appearance scheduled for the Maryland Deathfest, Amorphis is currently gearing up to perform a short tour in December. Their support act will be Swedish metallers Avatarium.
United States, Florida-based old-school death metal veterans Obituary, have been streaming a re-recorded version of ‘Bloodsoaked’, a song originally taken from their lobotomized album ‘Slowly We Rot’. It is now featured as a bonus song in the special edition of their latest and widespread killing studio release, entitled ‘Inked In Blood’, which has been released this past October 28th in North America via Relapse Records. The critically acclaimed album charted higher than any previous album of theirs.
Other confirmed bands to partake in Maryland Deathfest, therefore celebrating the 25th anniversary outblast of Relapse Records are; Neurosis (not to be confused with the Colombian band by the same name), Suffocation, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Cephalic Carnage, Primitive Man, YOB, Tombs, Devourment, Origin, Skinless, Inverloch, Inter Arma, Serpentine Path, and finally Noisear.
Additionally, there will be a very special silver colored limited edition on vinyl format of every single record ever released and reissued by Relapse Records during 2015, exclusively available through their online store.
In recent news, Relapse Records released a free odds-on extremely lengthy twenty-six tracks annual sampler, which is available for download via their official Bandcamp. The sampler consists of a collection of songs taken from their latest label releases in the course of this year, as well as upcoming ones. It is indeed a solid mixture of metal genres offered in a very communal manner. The sampler is also available for download via Amazon MP3.
‘Relapse Sampler 2014’ showcases the label’s eclectic roster across all realms of extreme darkened metal toward the more brutalizing and torturing sounds of grinding death metal. Amidst both genres, there is a mixture of different subgenres, ranging from thrash metal, stoner rock, shoegaze, drone to the evilness of frostbitten black metal and the nostalgic motion of sludge doom metal, transmorphing into vibrant tunes with hints of Hardcore craziness and dronic, far experimental industrial music.
- Obituary – ‘Violence’
- Abysmal Dawn – ‘The Inevitable Return To Darkness’
- Iron Reagan – ‘Four More Years’
- Myrkur – ‘Latvian Feguro’
- Death – ‘Pull The Plug’ [Remastered version]
- Gruesome – ‘Closed Casket’ [Demo version]
- Nothing – ‘Get Well’
- Atriarch – ‘Atriarch’
- Tombs – ‘Thanatos’
- Indian – ‘Directional’
- Usnea – ‘Healing Through Death’
- Ringworm – ‘Psychic Vampire’
- Mortals – ‘Anchored In Time’
- Black Anvil – ‘Eventide’
- Serpentine Path – ‘Disfigured Colossus’
- Primitive Man – ‘Loathe’
- The Drip – ‘Rise To Failure’
- UltraMantis Black – ‘West Siberian Plain’
- Pyrrhon – ‘Implant Fever’
- Columns – ‘Bear Molester’
- Broughton’s Rules – ‘Umbra’
- Nux Vomica – ‘Reeling’
- Cripple Bastards – ‘Malato Terminale’
- Culted – ‘Illuminati’
- Publicist UK – ‘Never Gone To School’
- Ecstatic Vision – ‘Journey To…’
The Relapse Records sampler is also available for free streaming via all major streaming providers such as Spotify. Additionally, it contains three demos from recently signed artists including Gruesome, Publicist UK, and Ecstatic Vision.
