Hells Headbangers Records
American record label
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hells Headbangers is an American independent record label focused on extreme metal music,[1][2] based out of Cleveland, Ohio.[3] The label has signed acts such as Blood Feast, Profanatica, Rotting, Mortal Decay, Midnight,[4][5] Blasphemic Cruelty And Perdition Temple.[6]
History
Hells Headbangers Records was formed by brothers Chase, Eric and Justin Horval.[7] Hells co-owner Chase Horval recalled the label's founding was "mostly as a means to curb [their] boredom, discover new bands and build up our [their] vinyl collections." He said: "It started off as an online mail-order distro in 2000 with zero intention on becoming a record label. But in 2002 we were convinced to release the Spawn of Satan/Bloodsick split LP & CD. We felt the name Hells Headbangers united all of the sub-genres of Metal offered in our distro: Death, Black, Thrash, Grind, Heavy, Doom, etc." He also said: "We have run into issues over the years with certain manufacturers not wanting to print some of our albums due to the blasphemous nature of the artwork or song titles. Controversial music is definitely attractive to us!"[1]
Chase Horval stated that their parents were oblivious to their retail activities until the company's inventory began overtaking the family's garage and hallways. According to Chase, their parents "had no concept of what" online shopping was.[8]
In 2017, MetalSucks published an open letter challenging the label to stop releasing albums by National Socialist black metal bands, which the site's writers described as "Nazi propaganda".[9]
Other projects
Co-founder Justin Horval established a YouTube channel during the 2020s, on which he has interviewed several high-profile musicians in the extreme metal scene, such as Glen Benton of Deicide[10][11] and Matti Karki of Dismember.[12]
