Back in December of 2009, Roadrunner Records had signed Baptized In Blood. Signing the Canadian thrash group was a hopeful sign to many that Roadrunner would continue to work with “heavier”/ non-mainstream acts (a fear caused by the success of Nickelback). However, in an interview that the London (Ontario) Free Press published last week, guitarist Josh Torrance revealed that the label opted out of releasing their second album.
The news comes just a week after it was revealed that WMG was laying off many of Roadrunner’s employees around the world (even founder and CEO Cees Wessels has stepped down). Of course, Baptized In Blood most likely got dropped well before the layoffs even occurred, and the split shouldn’t come as an enormous shocker. After all, Baptized In Blood’s self-titled debut didn’t exactly set the world or charts ablaze. However, the dropping along with the massive layoffs do highlight a potential new era for Roadrunner.
Most likely, Roadrunner from here on out will be focusing on already established metal groups or easy to digest/ Nickelback sounding groups. In other words, the chances for an up and coming metal group like Baptized In Blood to get signed by Roadrunner are less likely now. Of course, there’s always a chance that Roadrunner could prove us wrong. But given all of the layoffs that took place last week, we wouldn’t expect them to.
Once again, we’d like to take a moment to express our sadness for all of the Roadrunner employees affected by the layoffs. Our thoughts are with them during this difficult time.
[via Metal Sucks]
