Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions is an underground metal label and distro based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its releases include CDs, vinyl and cassettes.

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Interview with Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

Mike, HPGD has been putting out extreme metal — death, sludge, grind, black — for close to two decades from Philadelphia. What's the origin story: what pulled you from being a fan of the genre into running the label side of it?

I've always been a big fan of underground metal, playing in local bands and also going to metal shows in Philly growing up. Back in the 90's I used to take horror movie clips and edit them to metal music using two VCR's and a portable CD player.

When I graduated college back in 2005 I revived this concept and release 4 DVD's called Horror Pain Gore Death: The Essential Horror Movie collection. I began to trade these DVD's with various record labels, which ended up with HPGD turning into a distro. In 2008 a few bands I was friends with wanted a place to release their music and one thing led to another quickly.

The metal scene has its own record shops, its own labels, and a fiercely loyal customer base that a general-interest vinyl shop rarely gets. What role does HPGD play in that scene now, and who's actually ordering from you — collectors, working touring bands, kids finding the genre for the first time?

HPGD has always taken in pride in trying to maximize the exposure of underground bands to the masses. It's very important that we keep our prices low, especially in this economy. Our fan base is very loyal and varies by age depending on the release, definitely collectors and die hards. We don't target any specific audience and often work with very young bands so lots of young fans as well as old heads

You've had bands like Sanguisugabogg, Squelching, Master, Revenge Ritual and dozens of others come through the roster. When a demo lands in your inbox, what makes it an easy yes for HPGD — the tell-tales that separate a record you'll release from one you'll pass on?

The #1 thing that is needed for any releases is for me to actually be a fan and enjoy the music. I never want to compromise HPGD and have never released that will sell well if I am not a fan. Genre wise I am very open minded and have done some very unique releases.

Physical media is central to what HPGD sells — vinyl, CDs, cassettes. In extreme metal, which format is genuinely doing the numbers for you right now, and what's the split between collectors buying every variant and fans buying one copy to actually listen to?

CD's are 100% our main focus and our audience is very receptive to buying them. A $10 CD is a much easier sell than a $25 LP in this economy, and while people request vinyl for a lot of titles, in the end CD's still sell much more for us. This is also becoming a common trend with other labels right now as well. Personally I love vinyl and when we do vinyl releases we try to make them special with extras, limited variants, etc.

There's a big secondary market for out-of-print HPGD releases, some going for real money on Discogs. Is that something you pay attention to when you plan pressings and repress runs, or is it a completely separate world from what you're doing?

Right now we have so many releases in the queue and a limited amount of space, but eventually will go through the back catalog and reissue some hidden gems. HPGD has grown quite a bit since the early days so the first few years had a lot that was missed by most fans.

Running a label means shipping fragile vinyl worldwide, and metal fans notice a bent sleeve. What have you learned over the years about grading, packaging, and mailer choice — the stuff most sellers of records only figure out after a customer complaint?

For shipping I have learned that it's more the service that delivers that is at fault than the type of box or mailer. I learned early on how to ship properly with no movement and protection, it's actually been a few years without any damages reported

What's the wildest thing that's come out of running HPGD — the release you didn't think would go anywhere and did, the fan story that stuck with you, the band that turned into something bigger than anyone expected?

Getting to work with bands that I loved growing up first getting into metal is wild. Working with Chris from Autopsy with Abscess, Eat My Fuk and Violation Wound, King from Deceased and also Paul Speckmann from Master are two that really stand out. They are both incredible people who are supported HPGD when we first beginning. Coffins is a great example of a band that I started working with in 2009 and have continued to solidify themselves as leaders of the underground

HPGD started as a fan of extreme metal deciding to put records out and grew into an actual label with a full roster. For someone thinking about starting their own label — metal, punk, ambient, whatever — what did you learn in the first few years that you wish someone had told you?

I wish someone would have suggested starting the label out right when I was fresh out of high school. The landscape now is much more difficult because of the oversaturation of labels, shift to digital music and production costs.

Last updated: 2026-09-05

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