LIBERATION

Aiming at getting Brazilian hardcore music enthusiasts exposed to information on the international scene, Liberation started out as a fanzine in 92. At that time very few local people had access to North American or European hardcore/punk or metal publications and the vast majority of them also had problems due to the language barrier. Even though there were only four issues of our fanzine, which was fully written in Portuguese, it remained active for almost five years, becoming really well known in the Brazilian hardcore circles. In 96, Liberation became a record label, as an attempt to document our local scene as well as to do records with bands that had influenced us somehow. Our first two releases can be an accurate illustration of the main motivations behind the label in the beginning: a compilation CD called Voices A Portrait of São Paulo Hardcore and a CD by Belgiums early 90s highlights Nations on Fire . While the compilation captured and documented some of the most intense years of the core of our local scene, from which bands like Newspeak (some current I Shot Cyrus members) and Point of No Return emerged, the Nations on Fire CD was our first attempt to unblock the communication among the South American and the North American and European scenes. After more than 13 years down the road, Liberation became a true reference worldwide as regards to South American hardcore. Our domestic bands were the first South American acts to be able to tour territories like Europe successfully, becoming a constant presence at traditional annual independent hardcore festivals such as Ieper Fest (Belgium) and Fluff Fest (Tchech Republic). Besides, our emerging company has had the chance to work with a wide spectrum of highly acclaimed international bands (Madball, Terror, Walls of Jericho, Killswitch Engage, etc) and record companies, such as Trustkill, Lifeforce, Ferret Music, Century Media, Thorp Records, GSR Music, Catalyst Records, etc. In April, 2005, after having put out over forty strong releases by both international and domestic acts, from Liberation mushroomed a brand new record company: Artery Music, which was created to appeal to a more diverse and bigger crowd.