Toxic Holocaust & Earache?- err nah.

Question: How come earache didnt sign toxic holocaust in the end? I know it seems a silly question but from the outside it looked like it was going to happen being as he was like municipal waste\'s running buddy for ages. was it because of line up problems etc etc. Was this simply a case of people assuming because of who was friends with whom. From:

Answer: Y'know I never made any approaches to Toxic Holocaust (apart from our comp- Joel kindly agreed one song on our Thrashing Like A Maniac comp) cos back in 2006 or so, the Toxic Holocaust line up was pretty unstable and also the songs seemed just too basic generic punky-thrash for our tastes.I also got the impression Joel preferred other labels to Earache, our outlooks differ a lot, and we're just not on his wavelength somehow.The band ended up on Relapse which is a great home for them. I do admire Joels long-term dedication to the cause and immense appetite for touring tho.Being incredibly picky as usual about bands for the label, I would say I like a bit more metallic meat on my thrash really, simple D-beat punky thrash doesnt float my boat much, probably because I am an old bastard who can recall the original bands -Discharge, Venom, Sacrilege- from the 80's, its almost too nostalgic for me.
Recently however Joel recruited the ex-members of the finest Canadian proto-thrash band ever- the mighty and much missed RAMMER. If you don't know RAMMER, Earache loved them from afar for years,but again, never made an official offer.Get a taste of this incredible band with "Uprising Of Death":

Carcass Bookshelf box - Free if you buy 5 Dualdiscs

Question: What does the Carcass box look like? i applied to the adress in the Symphonies Cd, but nothing arrived. from: steven.pryor34@hotmail.com

Answer:Yes the FREE bookshelf box to house all 5 of the Carcass UK edition dualdiscs was finally sent out yesterday, November 27.The actual idea was suggested by a reader of this very blog..so thank them for the concept!
So if you applied via the email addy concealed in the UK Symphonies of sickness CD/Dualdisc, then look out for it, and thank you for buying all 5--we think this box should make you stand out from the other Carcass collectors out there, and is our way to say thanks!
American fans do have to be more patient because this slipcase box is sized to only fit the UK editions which were dualdiscs.The USA fans will have to apply for a different box which is sized to fit the USA editions which were fatter/thicker as they contained a CD and seperate DVD.
SYMPHONIES OF SICKNESS IS RELEASED IN USA on Jan 20 2009. Look for info about the special USA BOX in the packaging.

80's Anarcho-Punk band Sedition?

Question: what was the project that earache was undergoing with Sedition that got shelved? id never heard of it before until i saw it mentioned on wikipedia. From:

Answer: It's vaguely possible but I don't honestly recall too much about this band.According to the bands wikipedia entry, they were an 80's anarcho-punk band, which is a scene I was a massive fan of - so I guess its very likely we were in touch.The wiki says they toured with Government Issue and Antisect, both bands I was heavily into at the time, so we certainly must have crossed paths.
For some reason, the actual timelines dont add up tho-Earache did'nt really get going until 1987 and didnt make a compilation till 1989's GRINDCRUSHER and by then Sedition had long split up.
I can only assume it was idle chat on my part during the mid 80's when I was going to tons of gigs, and planning -more like dreaming- of doing a label, but never had the means or money or confidence to actually do it.

Earache offices- what they look like..

Question: Hi earache, ive always wondered what your offices look like, do you have any photos? thanks - andy From: couchslouch_@hotmail.com

Answer: heres a guided tour of our NEW YORK OFFICE.Heres a pic of Nottingham UK office aswell, its basically the same deal- a bunch of folks at desks/macs but we're way messier here in UK,with posters hanging off the walls, and piles upon piles of Cds everywhere, and lacking that Manhattan skyline view.

Musicians we wanna work with?

Question: Youve said before that you would liked to have worked before with chuck from death. My question is which other artist or artists would you have liked to have worked with but missed out on? I know you narrowly missed mike patton twice both with naked city and dillinger escape plan. From:

Answer: Earache likes to work with creative, innovative musicians, ideally big selling ones aswell..but strangely, the 2 do not always mix.Over the years we have worked with many many of the best, most credible extreme metal musicians- and i've often said on this blog that Chuck Schuldiner of Death is pretty much the one person we badly regret missing out on working with, simply because the chances never came up, and after his passing, the legendary status of Chuck is unsurpassable in extreme metal.
Nowadays its not like we are kicking ourselves for not working with anyone at all- we're pretty relaxed about it- mainly because artists these days are no longer tied into lengthy recording contracts, the musicians seem to move around from label to label a lot more than they did even in the recent past, so it seems quite likely that Earache could end up working with anyone- even Mike Patton- at some stage.I personaly wouldn't mind working with Serj from System of a Down and Dino ex Fear Factory- both are good friends of the label and it could easily happen sometime in the future that one or both record stuff for Earache.Time will tell.

Heres a clip of DEATH doing PULL THE PLUG in 1988, the other musicians in the line up- Rick, Bill and Terry formed Massacre who did an album "From Beyond" on Earache.

Hexenhaus Vs Morbid Angel artwork?

Question: Are you aware Morbid Angel used the same artwotk as Hexenhaus with their \'BATS\' album? From:


Answer: yes its pure co-incidence that Swedish thrash band Hexenhaus used the Artwork on their album "Tribute to Insanity" in 1988, and then a good 3 years afterwards, in 1991 Morbid Angel chose the same painting for the cover of Blessed are The Sick. At the time we were aware that it had been used beforehand,and showed the band the album- but it didnt deter Morbid from requesting it.In actual fact when we contacted the museum which held the rights for use of the painting - 1895's Tresor de Satan By Jean Delville- they told us that no other band had requested the image.So we know Hexenhaus did not officially seek to use the image from the rights owner, just copied it from a book we expect. For this reason Morbid Angel had the moral superiority, and indeed legal right to use it, as granted by the museum.I guess its fitting that Hexenhaus LP is no longer in print but Morbid's version has been in constant printing for 17 years now.Funny how two different acts came across the same art eh?

Fake Earache A&R guys?

Question: Hi!Jus ot a call from someone who said he was from your company interested in my band the wake here in dublin now i dont know what as p with it if it was a scam or not and i cant remeber the email contact he gave me but one part was \"the george...\"i would be greatful if you could get back to me and put me back in touch with the person if it is lagitimate.Thankss! From: brianbear123@yahoo.o.uk

Answer: It's not legitimate dude, and i'm afraid the person approaching you is a scammer of some kind.Earache does approach bands out-of-the-blue but via a myspace message from our myspace.com/earacherecords or direct email from an email addy ending @earache.com, thats how you can tell its legit.We have no "George" working here, never have.
We are hearing about a few folks now, who are approaching bands pretending to be from Earache, and they usually promise to help the band get a deal, because most new bands are seemingly desperate to get signed, it sounds like they are being helpful- cept one problem, they dont have any contact with Earache..the yarn they spin is a complete lie, and we think it stinks.
In the past we have heard of Earache bands tour managers or merch sellers talking to bands about signing- because they travel around a lot, they meet a ton of hopeful bands face to face, and often collect the demo CDs on the road- again these guys are not Earache A&R guys, their connection is simply they are working for an Earache band on the road, nothing more.

Origin of Carcass' 'Symphonies' Sleeve?

Question: Hi guys, and first up, thanks for the Carcass re-issues! I\'m sure you\'ve heard it all before but the packaging is just fantastic and the bonus tracks and DVD extras make for a formidible collection. I\'ve been collecting them all as they have been released and just recently completed the collection with Symphonies of Sickness, which brings me to my question - I\'m curious about the cover that appears on the Symphonies reissue. I\'d never seen it before the reissue, and although it states on the website that the cover is the original - unused since the first release - I was hoping to find a bit more information about it in the package, perhaps a bit in the DVD, but the mystery remains. So, could you please give a bit of info about the origin of the cover, why it was withdrawn/replaced, and why it has dissapeared for nearly 20 years? Thanks! From: XXXXXXXXXXXXX@hotmail.com


Answer: Thanks for the kind word Gareth and cheers for collecting them..we had fun making them.It's the original b/w image which did indeed adorn the front cover (pic above) of the original edition of Symphonies Of Sickness LP, released in UK around october 1989 from memory.Unlike the debut LP "Reek of Putrefaction" which revelled in the gory sleeve, and for that reason never appeared for sale in a UK mainstream/chain record store, this one was more subtle,the gore was on the inside of the gatefold so that store buyers could not be offended by the sleeve and the store would therefore stock it and rack it.It was the first Carcass 'sell out' if ya like- minor alteration to the bands mindset to acheive a career.The label had done 16 releases up to that point and was begininng to suss how important the main retail outlets were to acheiving big sales numbers, so it was decided the outer sleeve had to be 'toned down' to acheive that aim.The sleeve was meant to resemble a funeral service condolences card -black, sombre, simple- the swirly writing of the title and song listing was meant to allude to classical symphonic orchestras.The image itself looks like a bunch of dots, but conceals a sinister secret which I'll now reveal.It is best viewed upside down,at arms length, and if you squint your eyes you can make out a murder victim.The 2 white dots in the carcass logo are the lapel buttons of a young woman's coat- the dead woman in questions face and top of skull has been axed/bludgeoned repeatedly in the middle.
Ironically, when the record was released a year or two later in USA on Earache/Combat the gore was deemed less a problem for sales and was even racked in CD long-boxes which had gore aplenty.

No Hardcore bands on Earache? Cept SSS?

Question: Is there any reason why earache has avoided the hardcore revival that seems to have sprung up as of late? bands like gallows, the bronx, fucked up, the horror, ghost of a thousand etc seem to be getting loads of media attention(on different levels obviously) and selling records. Im just wondering is earache avoiding the scene because you were a hardcore label to begin with or you just aint found the right band? the closest you have to the scene is SSS who have supported both gallows and fucked up but im wondering why earache havent got their own band of this style. From:

Answer: Sorry dude I have to disagree with you on that one, I beleive you have answered the question, in your question.SSS is a Liverpool-based hardcore crossover-skate-punk band who have played tours with Gallows and Fucked up and are on Earache.SSS is that band you think we dont have! In fact I don't see how you can call them anything other than hardcore, when compared to say the NME cover stars Fucked Up or the Warners label signed Gallows.By comparison, SSS are 1000% for real, true to the roots, lovin' the old school DIY/Indie style HC mate,albeit with a thrashy/skate edge.Beleive me, I know.. I've checked their record collections.

Worldwide Metal 5CD+Game mega-value box

Question: Hi Dig (and the rest of ya), I\'m loving the new compilation boxsets that you guys have been releasing (can\'t wait for Worldwide Metal next week), and I was just wondering who in the office gets to compile them? Also, I was wondering if there were any plans on releasing a compilation album with nothing but exclusive tracks from your current signed bands? That would be something us die-hard Earache fans could really get our teeth into! Cheers, Mark. From: mumblinorange@hotmail.com


Answer: Thanks Mark, glad you like the boxsets, they are undeniably top value eh?I buy similar boxsets myself all the time-like 7CD PUNK on Cherry Red- simply because its easy to feed my ipod with 100 tracks of punk, easier than downloading anyways
The concept for this one came from me, I think sublimally I was influenced by the Olympic Games coverage over the summer!Or the Global Metal film?
The actual sequence was chosen by Dan Tobin the label manager. This one does have unreleased demo tracks by Oceano, The Boy Will Drown and Ignominious Incarceration, you gotta buy it just to hear Oceano on Cd for the first time, they are redefining the term HEAVY dude.
Wherever you look it seems that compilations are given away FREE everywhere- they are attached to every music magazine in WH Smiths, and in Metal Hammer mag sometimes 2 or 3 discs fall out with the mag every month- for this reason we had to really try hard to cram in the content to compete.
Plus the full game Earache Extreme Metal Racing is included - this is currently on sale for £19.99 as PS2, its included for free as a PC game in the box.

Grindcore 2.0 -time for the return?

Question: Is there a potential grindcore return on the cards? being as youve stuck both the narcosis discography and also the insect warfare cd on the site. However rather than reissuing recently defunct bands surely it would be time better spent getting the active ones eg rotten sound or man must die ( who earache turned down aparently) From:

Answer: We know a thing or two about the genre having signed one or two of the main bands early on, but the grindcore scene in general has never really been away, when a scene has its own festivals like Obscene Extreme and Blastonbury, it can hardly be considered as on the wane.I know what you mean tho, if you look at the label, as far as Earache is concerned, apart from a short-lived licence of Watchmaker, we haven't worked with any new grindcore band for at least a decade, merely contenting ourselves with keeping our old 'classics'(ND/ENT/BT/AC/TZ etc) in print, and then - bang! from out of nowhere-2 newish grind acts appear on our schedule within months.By the way,Insect Warfare is not officially announced as I write this, but will be shortly.
The reason is simply that yeah- we appreciate prime grindcore bands again.Took us a while didn't it? The fact they both split up is co-incidence.As for the reasons we picked these 2 bands and not others like Phobia, Rotten Sound or Man Must Die- we think Narcosis and Insect warfare display the essence of pure grind, they convey the same'feeling' to me, that the original bands did way back.Insect warfare sounds ike the album Napalm Death SHOULD have recorded after FETO,if the line up had remained stable and they hadn't decamped to Florida for a Death metal mission.
To be honest grindcore needs to be shocking, the intensity of playing and feeling needs to take your breath away when the CD goes on,most of the grind bands we hear come across as sped up death metal, while we were expecting armageddon of the ears.So many bands are playing 'grind by numbers', most of them they have the affectations of grind- the short songs etc but many miss the reason, the heart behind it all, which is the sheer unmitigated misery of humankinds existence.

Bolt Thrower single sleeve LP?

Question: hi, i asked a few days before if you released the bolt thrower \"realm of chaos\" album also without foldoutcover. and in what amount?
thanks and regards, chris From: christian.haas@konen.de


Answer: Yes Christian the actual single sleeve version of the Realm OF Chaos LP is made by Earache and is the rarest of the 2 original 1989 editions.Because the album used artwork owned by Games Workshop, and the young growing wargaming company was based in Earache's hometown of Nottingham and staffed by plenty of metalheads, they were very keen to sell masses of copies in their GW stores, so the lavish gatefold edition with 8 page lyric booklet was pressed in about 8000 copies from memory? It was the main edition at the time.As an alterntive a single sleeve version was also released, probably in 1000 copies? By the way, are you buying or selling? All ebay valuations are subject to 5% tax, please me @ Earache by paypal!! ha ha

I'm signed- now what happens?

Question: say if we got signed with your record label what would be the first things we would sort out and set up with you guys? Eg... Tour/photoshoot/recording and album? just wanna know how you guys work it really
Cheers!! From: thrash_till_death@hotmail.co.uk


Answer: Thats quite an hypothetical question, but Ok i'll try to answer you...
Firstly in order to get signed in the first place, Earache, which is a bit different from the other labels,because we firstly have to enjoy and actually like your music, plus we also have to see possible signs of impending 'greatness' within the band.
Once signed- the first bit of advice I'd give to the novice band is- you should know that the expectation level and level of intensity of the competition instantly increases by 500%, I'm not kidding.You unsigned bands have it relatively easy, with your regional battle of the bands and occasional gigs in front of the unswervingly loyal local fans and family - its a walk in the park being unsigned, because the weight of expectation is pretty relaxed.You can have a good gig or a bad gig, its no big deal, really, its not the end of the world.
Once signed, however, the entire Music industry has a stake in your success, everyone starts making judgements, and everyone has an expectation to see you become a highly successful act.
When i say everyone, I mean everyone, from the label employees themselves, to the press/pr department working your press, even the folks toiling at the CD distribution centre, to the newstand metal magazine journalists who hopefully will see you as their 'fave new band' - all will be judging you, and expect you to become the new Led Zeppelin, and in record time.The faith all these folks will bestow on you in the early days, is expected to be repaid by the band having a succesful career.Honestly, I cant even begin to describe the pressure you'll be under to perform well, and be brillant, both onstage and off it, day in day out - its intense.
Frankly speaking, the reason for the pressure is because our actual jobs depend on your success, our lives depend on it, we're not hobbyists here.
You should know that all the big bands who are hero worshipped by fans, and sell massive amounts of records and become stars, all are very driven people, and work incredibly hard- rehearsing and thinking 24/7 on their music, onstage and off it.Some of the public's best known and most loved metal musicians are some of the smartest and downright hardest working people I have ever met in my life- knowing this, you can't grudge them their success.
The old adage that success= 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration applies to music industry as well as other industries.

If you're still interested in being signed, then get ready to work hard, which by and large means touring.Some of the hardest working new bands can play 200 shows in a calendar year, and when they're not playing gigs are in the rehearsal rooms for 4 hours a day, every day writing better material and getting tighter.This is actually really standard.If you read the biographies of AC/DC and KISS- 2 of the biggest rock acts of all time- the early chapters are not filled with memories about amazing photoshoots or long recording sessions,or how it felt to be working with producers etc- instead they recount a life spent in a station wagon criss-crossing Australia playing every small town dotted on the map, for 6 week stints at a time, sleeping in the van, eating junk food at truckstops.Same for KISS in USA.
As you can see, its really all about the attitude the band adopts and what Earache does once your signed is pretty much instill in you the knowledge of whats expected to build your career.

Dominos or Pizza Hut with bands?

Question: Bit of a silly one really but being as youve brokered bands signing to the label before by taking them to pizza palours. The key question is Dominos or Pizza Hut? From:

Answer: Well its traditional that Labels get to know potential new signees over a meal and a few drinks, the convivial conflab that ensues can often clinch the deal.For Earache we are based in the city centre of Nottingham,UK which during the 90's was hardly a culinary capital of the UK, hence our infamous meeting with Varg of Burzum took place in a Bella Pasta- the actual branch is still there, actually.There is no Dominos in Nottingham and we've never been in Pizza Hut either- we have a bit more class than that dude (!)- its Pizza Express all the way- basically being a greedy twat who loves eating, I can vouch for more or less every restuarant in Nottingham, as I've eaten in them all.
A favourite scoffing hole for many years was curry restuarant Mogul E- Azam, which is visible out our office window, so very handy- and also Anilas curry restuarant,which is practically next door to Rock City- I think every band on Earache has eaten there- Shane Embury always went for the Tandorri Fish- I recommend it. Godflesh would order the hottest curry off the menu, and beg the cook to make it even hotter than the hottest - Justin would be sweating buckets and damping his brow, while we discussed the bands future plans.I think he enjoyed it.Back in the 90's we tried to sign a local band Dai Lo, and they insisted on eating an organic vegan menu, we found one place called simply 'Food' in Hockley - we didn't get the band, but I'll always remember the most gorgeous food.We took Evile to Pizza Express recently and Zizzi and Nandos is always a fave with them.Misery loves Co's managers would insist on Oysters at Loch Fyne, seafood place, that was always a damn pricey meeting!
Lately we have been skipping the food and just heading to the pub for beers and vodkas, there are nowadays a ton of bars within 50 metres of the office,mostly around the 'Cornerhouse' building- or the orange tree which is a block away..we met the Boy Will Drown in local metal pub- Speakeasy, again its close to Rock City, a fave watering hole for metallers in the city.

Godflesh 2 CD & DVD mega-value pack

Question: what will be on the DVD of the Godflesh \"Songs of Love and Hate\" re-release? From: umaskzero@gmail.com

Answer:Its a 2CD +DVD mega value pack- retailing around £10.Containing The 1996 Cd of Songs of Love and hate, the CD of Love and Hate in Dub (remixes) and also the DVD "In All Languages" (containing all the promo clips the band ever made..err 4 of them).All the material has been previously released but hasn't been in print for years.Since the demise of the band we notice a steady trickle of interest in GODFLESH back catalog, we assume by newly fledged fans who are possibly getting into Justin's current band Jesu, and then working backwards investigating Justin Broadricks formidable body of work created during the 90's as GODFLESH.Also with the new Guns n Roses album Chinese Democracy finally out this month, featuring Brian 'Brain' Mantia on drums, we figured it would'nt hurt to point out that Brian (pic above) also drummed on Songs Of love and Hate.
If you are a denizen of the Avalanchers forum you can read ridiculous speculation- like 5.1 DVD-Audio surround sound mixes and the such like- but nah its a rather plain and simple mega-value pack.It did occur to us that the DVD portion of the pack is rather scant,so I emailed Justin to see if he'd be up for being filmed for an interview one afternoon,so it had some new bonus material in the form of in person commentary on the albums creation, or something like that, but no reply yet.

Earache & early UK Doom scene

Question: What are your views on the whole British Death/Doom scene, bands like My Dying Bride or Paradise Lost? Where you aware of them when they were up coming, as they went on to become very big bands on an international scale? From: redear16@hotmail.com


Answer: We were well aware of those bands early on, and actively tried to sign Paradise Lost for their debut, because i had a feeling they could be great,but even though Earache was having massive succes at the time with Napalm Death, they chose the much smaller but local-to-them Yorkshire label Peaceville instead.It hit home when PL's Gothic was released and sold incredibly well across Europe and especially in Germany, where the band regularly charted in the National charts.They were quite probably the UK's biggest-selling extreme metal band for a period spannning most of the early-mid 90's, which not many folks realise.We consoled ourselves because at least we had Cathedral and they scored a US major label deal instead.
My Dying Bride I don't remember making any official approaches to, they signed to Hammy's Peaceville also, where they loyally remain to this day, even tho the label has changed ownership in recent years.
Back in the late 80's Earache and Peaceville were the kingpins of the scene, and we had a friendly rivalry going on for the attentions of new bands- Earache didnt always get the bands we wanted.You gotta remember it's a tricky business signing bands, if the band are good then a ton of labels seem to descend en masse at their door or inbox, so other factors come into play.We don't talk to bands in isolation, a lot of the 'art' of signing bands is being on the same wavelength and having common goals and aspirations,but once the creatve concerns are dealt with, it so often crudely comes down to the acts asking "how large is your chequebook?".
By the mid 90's the soon-to-be-juggernaut German metal labels like Nuclear Blast and Century Media joined the fray,and signing the more extreme bands became a whole lot harder as they would often outbid all other labels, often by huge cash amounts..and bands end up signing where the biggest money if offered, 9 times out of 10.

Evile footage from Xmas party 07?

Question: Hey Earache, just wondering what happened to the footage shot at last years Xmas party at the Purple Turtle? I know the Evile set was filmed, possibly for release as a bonus DVD, but nothing seems to have surfaced. Any chance of that footage being released? From: mward45@yahoo.co.uk

Answer: If you were at our Xmas party in december 07 you'll know that Evile played a storming set to the assembled partygoers, and yes we did film the whole gig,including Gama Bomb & Blood Red Throne as we always do.The footage is shelved for now,same as the footage we shot of the band in Liverpool in August (supporting Muni waste).When we played it back the Xmas party footage is pretty dark on stage so its not really up to release standard.Evile do have a new 2hr DVD out right now - it comes FREE with the redux edition of the Enter the Grave CD, and includes various footage from the bands tour with MEGADETH across europe, plus in the studio with Flemming Rasmussen, and in rehearsal, plus various interviews with the band members.

Early Stoner-Rock scene circa 1992?

Question: would you class earaches involvment with the stoner rock scene of the early to mid 90s as a sucess or a failure? I mean sleep went to london, and there was the aborted signing of clutch? do you think it would have worked better if you concentrated on british bands i mean you had cathedral but maybe you could have expanded the stable maybe by adding acrimony or the then infentile orange goblin! From:


Answer: What Stoner-rock scene are you on about dude? In 1992 when we released CLUTCH and SLEEP the world was in the grip of Grunge Mania...Stoner Rock wasn't a proper named genre, but if there were flagship acts it would have been bands like Kyuss and Nebula and maybe even Monster Magnet=all were mainstream rock bands BUT with a healthy dose of Sabbath-esque heaviness and a stoner-ish mindview.Stoner rock as a scene was more a less a combo of those 2 influences.
Clutch were a Philly based HC band when we signed them, right after their Debut 7inch on Inner Journey records.
SLEEP- again, were formerly HC punkers Asbestos Death, but by the time Al Cisneros approached Earache with their demo (which would became the Holy Mountain CD) they were more or less fully fledged Sabbath worshippers,and heavy stoners aswell. See their letter to me above.From memory we were the first to coin the description Stoner Rock in the press release that accompanied the Sleep CD to journalists. True,that.

Clutch quickly began to see the impact Sleep were having and rather deviously in my view, mutated from a quirky HC band into a grooving Heavy Stoner-ish band aswell- both bands found fame quickly during their short time on Earache and so major label offers poured in.
Clutch left us before we could ink a full album deal, for Atlantic records, while Sleep hired heavyweight manager Lyor Cohen-he's the current boss of Warner Brothers but back then was Rick Rubin's right hand man at Def Jam aswell.The new management removed them from Earache's contract, but at least they had the decency to gave me a cheque as compensation, which was nice- and ended up on London Records, where the resulting album would be shelved for many years.
As for the UK contingent-We had Cathedral throughout the 90's of course, we did the first 7 albums or so.Actually Dorian the singer of Acrimony used to work at Earache for a time, so we knew all about his band- it was decent but we dont sign employees acts usually.Orange Goblin came a lot later in mid 90's I think, and by that time Earache's involvment with 'Stoner-Rock' was over.Labels like Lee Dorrian's Rise Above began to specialise in the more doom-metal scene, and have done it very well, having some measure of success and thriving to this day, by contrast to labels like Hellhound from Germany which also also took up the Doom/Stoner baton, but folded in late 90's.

Reasons for CARCASS reformation?

Question: Was the carcass reunion really inspired by the emperor one? in that mike saw how much emperor made during their reunion jaunt and thought to himself- i want some of that! From:


Answer: Yeah, thats pretty much true I think.I know Jeff Walker kept a close eye on the fees which Emperor made during their short USA reunion jaunt and more relevantly the short-lived Celtic Frost re-union tour of a year or so back.
The gig fees which other reformed 90's extreme metal acts were able to command in recent years is pretty staggering, when compared to the tiny gig fees they could command back in the 90's when the extreme metal scene was pretty much in its infancy.Nowadays the gig and festival circuit is more developed for metal in general and the live circuit and associated industry around it (merchandising/ticketing etc) is hella lucrative.You can't blame the bands for reforming when a fee for a gig in 2008 is 10x the fee the same band could get in 1995- luckily for them, their time away has been kind,and new fans were queuing up to get to see the band, its mainly driven by earache keeping the Cds in print plus the power of the internet and widely file shared mp3's I believe.
I beleive there will be many more acts doing this in the coming months- infact as I write this i'm hearing SLEEP have reformed aswell, for 2 shows at UK alternative festival All Tomorrow's Parties, in May 2009, maybe more gigs at the major Euro festivals will follow, I wouldn't be suprised.
On another note has anyone noticed that 3 of the worlds biggest ever Rock bands - METALLICA, AC/DC & GUNS N' ROSES all have new Cds out within 8 weeks of each other after years- or in some cases decades- without any new material.
Rock is basically back in vogue and in the driving seat of the global music industry right now, driven by the success of RockBand and GUitar hero games etc I don't doubt.