Slipknot

Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic... death metal, grindcore, power metal and black metal bands, as well as tribute albums. Nuclear Blast is widely respected as the top label for the death metal scene, along with fellow non-RIAA label Century Media. The label's main office is in Donzdorf, Göppingen. Nuclear Blast America and Century Media work together as a strategic partnership between the two independent metal labels. They are distributed through Caroline/EMI. At their inception, Nuclear Blast focused on releasing hardcore records by bands like Agnostic Front, Attitude and Stark Raving Mad. They progressed toward metal in 1990, however, currently signing and distributing dozens of artists such as Dimmu Borgir and Hypocrisy. They have also released a series of compilation albums called "Death Is Just the Beginning".
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Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and in the... United States. With roots in blues rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are generally associated with masculinity and machismo. The first heavy metal bands, such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple, eventually attracted large audiences, though many were critically reviled , a status common throughout the history of the genre. In the mid-1970s Judas Priest helped spur the genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence; Motörhead introduced a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. Bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal such as Iron Maiden followed in a similar vein. Before the end of the decade, heavy metal fans became known as "metalheads" or "headbangers".
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