Metal Blade Records

Metal Blade Records is identified in the book through civil litigation over claims that music by Deicide and Cannibal Corpse influenced youths involved in a deadly convenience-store attack. The label was one of the principal defendants, but the account reports no finding that its music caused the crime or that the company accepted responsibility.

The Lawsuits

The civil suits were brought by a surviving store employee and the family of the employee who was killed. Their claims connected the youths’ conduct to the music of Deicide and Cannibal Corpse. A police-interrogation recording was cited in which one of the youths associated the crime with the bands’ musicians; the book also reports that the youths had allegedly listened to Deicide shortly before the attack.

Items seized from the youths’ homes—including CDs, T-shirts, band photographs, and material described as Satanic literature—were entered into evidence. The legal claims focused mainly on the labels Roadrunner Records and Metal Blade Records, placing the companies within a wider dispute over whether music and its associated imagery could be linked to violent conduct.

Settlement and Significance

The cases were settled out of court. Roadrunner Records and Metal Blade Records paid substantial sums, while expressly not admitting guilt. The account therefore establishes the label’s role as a defendant in a consequential dispute, not as a party found legally responsible for the attack. Its significance here lies in the collision between claims about musical influence and the limits of what the litigation ultimately established.