Revelation Records is an independent record label focusing originally and primarily on hardcore punk. The label is known for releases by bands such as Youth of Today, Warzone, Sick of It All, Quicksand, Side By Side, Chain of Strength, Shelter, Judge, No For An Answer, Gorilla Biscuits, and Texas Is the Reason.

Revelation, along with the bands it put out in the late 1980s, is usually credited with creating and cementing the "youth crew" sound as well as New York hardcore, which bridged the gap from the earlier bands of almost a decade before and helped carry the music through the early 1990s. Some of the label's best selling releases have been Gorilla Biscuits' Start Today, Inside Out's No Spiritual Surrender, and the In-Flight Program compilation.

History

Formerly of New Haven, Connecticut, it is now based in Huntington Beach, California. It was founded in 1987 by owner Jordan Cooper, along with Ray Cappo of Youth of Today, with the sole intent of producing the Warzone Lower East Side Crew 7-inch. Within the year, they put out two more releases and a limited 4th pressing of Youth of Today's Can't Close My Eyes 7-inch, which had been originally released on Positive Force Records, just for the two of them to trade for vintage G.I.Joes and other action figures. In the first three years, the label put out 23 releases and pressed approximately 50,000 records, and it has continued to release an average of 7–8 albums a year.

Cappo left the business in 1988, to focus on his band Shelter. He also started his own label Equal Vision Records (which he later sold to Youth of Today roadie, former Revelation employee and friend, Steve Reddy), though his albums were still released by Revelation after that, and he also operated Supersoul Records.

The label put out several definitive hardcore and metalcore records in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with notable releases coming from Damnation A.D., Will Haven, Shai Hulud, Curl Up and Die, and Himsa. However, by the mid-2000s, Revelation Records had seemingly fallen by the wayside, with very few releases between 2004 and 2006. However, the label is returning to its former stature as a premier old-school hardcore label with strong releases from newer bands like Down to Nothing, Shook Ones, and Sinking Ships.

Artists

  • Battery
  • Be Well
  • Big Laugh
  • Birdlegs
  • Bold
  • By a Thread
  • Calling Hours
  • Capital
  • Chain of Strength
  • CIV
  • Cosmic Joke
  • Curl Up and Die
  • Dag Nasty
  • Dare
  • Down To Nothing
  • Drain
  • Drowningman
  • Elliott
  • End of a Year
  • Fall Silent
  • Farside
  • Fell to Low
  • Forced Order
  • Gameface
  • Garrison
  • Gorilla Biscuits
  • Himsa
  • In My Eyes
  • Inside Out
  • Into Another
  • Judge
  • Ignite
  • Kill Holiday
  • Kiss It Goodbye
  • Living Hell
  • Morning Again
  • Mouthpiece
  • The Movielife
  • The Nerve Agents
  • New Found Glory
  • No For An Answer
  • On the Might of Princes
  • Paint It Black
  • Planet on a Chain
  • The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower
  • Praise
  • Primal Rite
  • Quicksand
  • Rage Against The Machine
  • The Rival Mob
  • Self Defense Family
  • Sense Field
  • Shades Apart
  • Shai Hulud
  • Shelter
  • Shook Ones
  • Sick of It All
  • Side by Side
  • Sincebyman
  • Sinking Ships
  • Spaced
  • Speedway
  • Straight Ahead
  • Supertouch
  • Texas Is the Reason
  • Title Fight
  • Turning Point
  • Violent Reaction
  • Warzone
  • Where Fear and Weapons Meet
  • World Be Free
  • Youth of Today

Discography

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Year (First pressing)

!Number

!Artist

!Title

!Ref.

|-

|1989

| -1

|Judge

|Chung King Can Suck It

|

|-

| rowspan="3" |1987

|1

|Warzone

|Lower East Side Crew

|

|-

|2

|Various artists

|Together

|

|-

|3

|Sick Of It All

|Sick Of It All

|

|-

| rowspan="6" |1988

|4

|Gorilla Biscuits

|Gorilla Biscuits

|

|-

|5

|Side By Side

|You're Only Young Once...

|

|-

|6

|No For An Answer

|You Laugh

|

|-

|7

|Various artists

|New York City Hardcore: The Way It Is

|

|-

|8

|Youth of Today

|Break Down the Walls

|

|-

|9

|Bold

|Speak Out

|

|-

| rowspan="6" |1989

|10

|Chain of Strength

|True Till Death

|

|-

|11

|Bold

|Bold

|

|-

|12

|Gorilla Biscuits

|Start Today

|

|-

|13

|Slipknot

|Slipknot

|

|-

|14

| rowspan="2" |Judge

|New York Crew

|

|-

|15

|Bringin' It Down

|

|-

| rowspan="5" |1990

|16

|Shelter

|Perfection of Desire

|

|-

|17

|Youth of Today

|Youth of Today

|

|-

|18

|Quicksand

|Quicksand

|

|-

|19

|Inside Out

|No Spiritual Surrender

|

|-

|20

|Judge

|There Will Be Quiet...

|

|-

|1991

|21

|Supertouch

|The Earth Is Flat

|

|-

|1990

|22

|Burn

|Burn

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |1991

|23

|Ray & Porcell

|Ray & Porcell

|

|-

|24

|Into Another

|Into Another

|

|-

|1992

|25

|Farside

|Rochambeau

|

|-

| rowspan="5" |1993

|26

|Into Another

|Creepy Eepy

|

|-

|27

|Iceburn

|Hephaestus

|

|-

|28

|Underdog

|Demos

|

|-

|29

|Statue

|Filter the Infection

|

|-

|30

|Mike Judge & Old Smoke

|Sights

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |1994

|31

|Orange 9mm

|Orange 9mm

|

|-

|32

|Sense Field

|Killed for Less

|

|}

References

  • Official website
  • The Revelation Records discography
  • The pressing history of most Revelation releases
  • Revelation online music distribution.
  • An Interview with Jordan Cooper
  • An Interview with Jordan Cooper on PMAKid.com
  • True Till Rev website