Metal Blade Records continues its 40th anniversary celebration in 2022 with a slew of new events and a kickass exhibit. The fiercely independent label that launched Metallica, Slayer, Armored Saint, Cannibal Corpse, Amon Amarth, and dozens more iconic heavy metal bands, invites fans to live shows in Brooklyn, New York, and Las Vegas, Nevada, home to the Metal Blade Museum.
Technical death metal merchants Rivers Of Nihil headline the first Metal Blade Records 40th show on August 6 at Brooklyn's famed St. Vitus venue, with a DJ set from Revocation's Dave Davidson.
Sacred Reich, an integral part of the thrash movement still churning out classics on Metal Blade, tops the bill on September 17 at The Space in Las Vegas. A Metal Blade Records 40th show at the Las Vegas House Of Blues on October 5 will feature a major headlining act to be announced later this summer.
At each of these events celebrating the label's history, Metal Blade will raffle 40th anniversary swag bags. Fans can purchase celebratory shirts and other merchandise, including the "decade" themed tees launched alongside the Metal Blade 40th Playlists, collected here.
Las Vegas is the site of the Metal Blade Museum, a specially curated exhibit stocked with timeless memorabilia and artifacts spanning the label's history, from 1982 through the present day. Check out Part 1 of a special video tour of the Metal Blade Museum below:
The Metal Blade Records 40th anniversary celebration kicked off earlier this year with a flurry of activity centered around the label and the extreme music community it represents. Earlier this month, Metal Blade Records was the main sponsor at Decibel Magazine's Metal and Beer Fest in Philadelphia, headlined by one of the most important death metal bands in history, Metal Blade's own Cannibal Corpse.
A 40th anniversary edition of the Metal Massacre compilation, featuring all of the songs from the original first and second pressings, quickly sold out 2000 copies on clear vinyl through the Metallica website. A Ruby Red-colored vinyl variant, limited to 5000 copies, is available here.
The '80s and '90s-themed shirts can be found here. New shirts celebrating the following two decades will be announced later this year.
