05/06/2019
Damn the Machine - The Story of Noise Records, the tale of Europe's most groundbreaking - and important - heavy metal record company of the 1980s. The creation of a German anarchist Karl Ulrich-Walterbach, Noise’s early releases - including the seminal 1984 Death Metal compilation - would lay the groundwork for future European metal mainstays such as Grave Digger, Hellhammer (who became Celtic Frost), Helloween, Kreator, Rage, Running Wild, and Tankard. These acts would become Noise's bedrock outfits, leading the charge in heavy metal innovation via death metal (Celtic Frost), power metal (Helloween), and thrash metal (Kreator).
In spite of this success, Walterbach would become unwillingly consumed with the treacherous grind of the music industry, one that typically swallowed up independent labels like Noise and spat them out. Walterbach went toe-to-toe with many of the era's biggest labels (EMI, RCA, CBS) in a battle of the independent spirit versus corporate exploitation, each of whom grossly underestimated his business acumen and negotiating tactics. Iron Maiden's Sanctuary Management also got into the mix, effectively stealing Helloween from Noise via fax on Christmas Eve, 1989. However, Helloween's ill-fated deal with Sanctuary resulted in a protracted legal battle that left the band broke, and Noise victorious. The anarchist had defeated the suits.
As the Berlin Wall fell in late 1989, the music scene and political landscape underwent radical changes. By then, Noise’s worldwide distribution setup covered 43 countries, boasting a highly-profitable back catalog and lasting viability in territories like Japan, thus ensuring the label’s survival even as the genre of metal struggled with diminishing sales and negative public perception. The close of the 90s may have ushered in a successful new era for Noise via bands like Floridian melodic metallers Kamelot and Finnish power metal sensation Stratovarius, but it also signaled the end of the road for Walterbach, who saw the upcoming digital music revolution as writing on the wall and sold Noise to coincidentally, Sanctuary Music in 2001.
Walterbach - who took an extended leave from the industry after the sale to Sanctuary - has since returned in the capacity of band management. Yet, ultimately, the story of Noise, its bands, assembled characters, and various industry movers and shakers is a time-honored one: Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. (And, an underground metal band attempting a commercialized hair metal album in 1988 is a really, really bad idea.)
