Complaining about 2016 is so 2016. New year, new leaf, and other foliage-related clichés. But if your optimism apparatus is broken, we brought in Philadelphia-based record label/distro Horror Pain Gore Death Productions to celebrate the metric shit-ton of killer music released last year. Below, you can sink your fangs into a free 23-track HPGD sampler so you can taste-test the label’s 2016 releases with a song from each record. Picture tapas, but instead of modestly-sized portions of food they’re rancid cuts of death metal and scorched servings of blackened thrash.
Maybe your resolution is to punk a friend and convince them Pungent Stench has new music (Devoured Fate). Perhaps your resolution is to listen to more of Chris Reifert drunk on the blood of G.G. Allin (Violation Wound). Or maybe your resolution involves completely eradicating your sexual inhibitions, like the death-grind libertines in Pink Mass. But really, the label’s diverse roster represents everything from cavernous sludge (Beldam) to napalm-breathed thrash (Dead War), so if your resolution is simply to listen to more of [insert extreme genre here], you’ll find it on the sampler.
Stream the HPGD showcase below. Then stick around for label boss Mike Juliano’s top 10 and what 2017 holds for Horror Pain Gore Death Productions.
How did 2016 treat Horror Pain Gore Death?
Juliano: 2016 was a classic year for HPGD. Lots of variety on the label this time around, but also a return to focus on old school Death Metal. As the label grows so do the amount of bands out there, and I’ve received more demo submissions in the past year than any year before. I also went to as many local shows that I could this past year, and can tell you that the scene is a high-point right now with support and turnouts.
Outside of your own roster, what were some of your favorite releases of 2016?
Juliano: Aside from HPGD, as a music fan I think that 2016 was a very solid year with lots of great releases:
Blood Incantation – Starspawn
Crowbar – The Serpent Only Lies
Darkthrone – Arctic Thunder
Gehennah – Too Loud To Live, Too Drunk To Die
Ghoul – Dungeon Bastards
Hobbs Angel Of Death – Heaven Bled
Interment – Scent Of The Buried
John Carpenter – Lost Themes 2
Perturbator – The Uncanny Valley
Savage Master – With Whips And Chains
Do you have any resolutions or goals for 2017?
Juliano: Personally, 2016 was a resolution year and I’m pretty much at the point I’d like to be at from a personal standpoint. More focus and drive, no fuss or bullshit. For HPGD, I would like to press some more vinyl this year, work with more underground legends, and also help a few HPGD acts move on to larger label. P.S. Cheers to Druid Lord for signing with Hells Headbangers!
I’d also like to thank everyone who has supported HPGD and kept the label going for 8 years now. Cheers to you!
Visit the Horror Pain Gore Death website HERE or scoot over to Facebook to follow breaking news on each of their bands.
