Candlelight Records is a British record label based in London, England, founded by former Extreme Noise Terror bass guitarist Lee Barrett in 1993. The record label originally specialized in black metal, but quickly expanded to various other forms of heavy metal, extreme metal and hard rock, including death metal and melodic death metal, thrash metal, symphonic metal, metalcore, gothic rock, post-rock and post-metal. Some of the company's flagship bands include Emperor, 1349, Blut Aus Nord, Ihsahn, Opeth, Christian Death, Orange Goblin, Burning The Oppressor, Winterfylleth, Zyklon, Abigail Williams, Insomnium, Havok, Obituary, Nachtmystium and Limbonic Art.
In January 2001, Candlelight Records launched an American division, Candlelight Records USA, which is headquartered in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, and is administered by Paula Hogan. In 2002, Barrett sold Candlelight Records to Edward Christie and Steve Beatty, and went on to form the Earache Records imprint Elitist Records (which only lasted three years, folding in 2005). In 2004, the company setup a licensing deal with Back on Black Records (also owned by Beatty) to release its titles on vinyl in the United Kingdom, and later (in 2006), in North America.
In December 2003, Candlelight Records USA signed a licensing deal to handle the North American manufacturing, distribution and sales of Dutch record label Karmageddon Media. Similar licensing and distribution agreements were later signed with American record label Arctic Music Group in February 2004, Norwegian record label Tabu Recordings in March 2004, Swedish record label Threeman Recordings in April 2004, English record label Rise Above Records and French record label Appease Me Records (owned by members of Blut Aus Nord), both in November 2004, Swedish record label Regain Records in February 2005, Norwegian record label Nocturnal Art Productions (for worldwide distribution) in May 2005, German record label AFM Records in June 2005, and American record label Willowtip Records (for European distribution) in August 2007.
In January 2016, Christie and Beatty sold Candlelight Records' assets to Finnish company Spinefarm Music Group (which also houses Spinefarm Records, Spikefarm Records and Snakefarm Records), which itself has been owned by Universal Music Group since 2002. As such, Candlelight Records became an affiliate of Universal Music Group, and has since been managed by Spinefarm Records' Dante Bonutto. In December 2022, Universal Music Group announced that all Spinefarm Music Group record labels would be distributed worldwide by PIAS Group, starting January 2023.
Artists
Candlelight UK
1349
Abaddon Incarnate
Abduction
Abigail Williams
The Atlas Moth
Age of Silence
Anaal Nathrakh
Averse Sefira
Blut Aus Nord
Burning the Oppressor
Carnal Forge
Crionics
Crowbar
Dam
Daylight Dies
Defiance
Emperor
Epoch of Unlight
Forest Stream
Grimfist
Ihsahn
Illdisposed
Imperial Vengeance
Insomnium
Kaamos
Lost Eden
Manes
Myrkskog
Nebelhexe
Novembers Doom
Nuclear
Octavia Sperati
October File
Omnium Gatherum
Onslaught
Pantheon I
PSOTY
Sear Bliss
Saturnian Mist
Savage Messiah
Sigh
Starkweather
Stonegard
Subterranean Masquerade
Thine Eyes Bleed
To-Mera
Voices
Whitechapel
Winterfylleth
Wodensthrone
Wolverine
Xerath
Zyklon
Candlelight USA
See for Candlelight UK, but also: Absu Aeternus Amoral Audrey Horne Bal-Sagoth Battered Bronx Casket Co. Candlemass Centinex Dark Funeral Demonic Resurrection Destruction Dismember Electric Wizard Elvenking Attila Csihar Enslaved Entombed Fear Factory (2009-2012) Firebird Gorgoroth Grand Magus Havok Hevein Jorn Keep of Kalessin Khold Kotipelto Krieg Lord Belial Marduk Masterplan Morbid Angel Necrophobic Obituary Odious Mortem Opeth Overmars Pro-Pain The Project Hate MCMXCIX Ram-Zet Rob Rock Sahg Sarah Jezebel Deva Satariel SCUM Setherial Seven Witches Shakra sHEAVY Sothis Sinister Sourvein Spektr Susperia Taint Theatre of Tragedy Thyrane Thyrfing Time Requiem U.D.O. Vader Vision of Disorder Vreid Windir Witchcraft