The Remaining Metal on eMusic
To resurrect a little used category just in time for Halloween...
When I set out on the brute force search, I didn’t think there were many labels solely dedicated to metal on the site, but that’s simply not true. Along with jazz, metal bands and albums are widely scattered among large catalogs and often show up unexpectedly. I can only provide an incomplete list of examples, and I’ll refrain from commenting on quality at all, since I don’t listen to much these days. I do know that metalheads tend to be more open to international titles and non-English lyrics, and for that I sincerely applaud them and believe that eMusic still has a lot to offer.
Dedicated labels: Art as Catharsis; Art Gates; Bagana Edizioni Musicali SAS; Dusktone; Earache (duly noted as head and shoulders above others); Exia Rock; Heidens Hart; Hibernacula; Immortal Frost; JBC; Magic Cat; Naturmacht Productions; NoEvDiA; Sludgelord; Vanagandr; Visionaire;
Questionable old stuff originally on vinyl: Krescendo; Majestic Rock; Roof Cat Studios; Voice Music;
Hard rock that’s not quite metal: VRS; wiaiwya; Áureo Rex; Corvus Records; Red Red Meat (on Jealous Butcher); El Dromedario; Monstro; Rocksector; Rootsound; RidingEasy; Loner Noise; Deadwave; 3.Stock Entertainment. Metal Mind is a bit of a misnomer, from what I can tell.
Relatively hidden on mixed, non-metal labels:
AMAdea Music leads with Violet Cold, SIMPLEFAST.
defamation has Christgrinder, Kingdom of Deadmen, Cold Hand of Malice, and likely much else in 220+ titles.
Phoenix Music is split with Beshenitar, RavenSkul, Keyvanoth, and Emetic Induction basically on the metal side.
Label Mango Record is a bit of a mine field. Try Alan Malcolm, but the rest is electronic.
The metal selection at Rebore consists of Metatron and maybe Castro’s Beard on the experimental side.
Songkit has exactly 200 titles at the moment, of which Minded Fury, Mark My Way, and EAS round out the metal on the first page.
(Indonesia) Six Thirty has Avhath, Human Autopsy, Jangar, and likely more in a small catalog.
(Latin America/Spain/Portugal) A NEW LABEL has Niobe, Omnia Transit, Natribu, Malleficarum, and a ton more in 263 titles. Santo Grial Producciones makes it pretty easy to find metal among 250 titles with its album covers. Bizarra Locomativa; Noiseast; Forxa;
(Nordic/European) Cosmos Overkill; On Zeitstrafe among mostly punk rock, try Caleya, Escapado; DA Records is small enough to sample the split between metal and punk.
(Pakistani & Indian) Silent Roar has Mizraab, and Sikandar Ka Mandar has no business not being metal with that cover. Trash Talk;
(Poland) MonseArt has The Black Water Panic Project, Korpus, Maszyna. Egoistic;
(Russian) two users have suggested that the presence of Nokturnal Mortum elevates the GMC label. SELF Music Publishing offers Adaen and 7paca, skirting metal and punk borders, likely several others in 60+ titles. Стихия Мьюзик & Чудесаунд and Союз Мьюзик are hard rock.
(Taiwanese) StreetVoice offers albums by Beyond Cure, Chick NOP band, Crescent Lament, Dark Sea, Dark Charybdis, Flesh Juicer, Flight of the Raven, Flux, Ha-Aratz, Head Composer, MenliveN, Morals Abyss, Red Generation, Scarlet Horizon, Tran Di Hua, UNAVEC DEUX, Undo the Dawn, Way of Puzzle, Wayne’s So Sad. Sure to impress someone unfamiliar with Asian metal.
I welcome anyone to compile lists of their ten favorite metal albums still on eMusic. I’m quite incapable of doing so. Apologies for also being unable to parse death, black, speed, grindcore, and other subgenres. Since we don’t hear as much from metal listeners, I wonder if the pinch is being felt as acutely from labels leaving or if you’re still finding enough to stay subscribed. Phrased differently, if you download only or primarily metal, how has 2019 been for you? What label losses have hurt most?
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