Revelation Records is an independent record label focusing originally and primarily on hardcore punk. The label is known for its role in the evolution of hardcore and metallic post-hardcore with important releases by bands such as Youth of Today, Warzone, Sick of It All, Quicksand, Side By Side, Chain of Strength, Shelter, Judge, and No For An Answer.
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. To date, 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". 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", 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 and to start 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, 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.
Revelation Records logo
Jordan Cooper explains; "We used stars on the first few releases as a background which was Ray's idea. He liked how Dangerhouse Records had black and yellow bars as their background on the labels so he wanted us to have something to identify Rev with like that. We got a Letraset sheet of stars and used it on the first three records we put out. The fourth record was going to be the Gorilla Biscuits 7" and their friend (who would later join the band as a second guitar player), Alex Brown offered to do the layout for them. Alex took the star concept and put the letter "r" in a star and had the label name under it inside a box. Ray, Alex and Porcell all lived together in Brooklyn at the time so Ray saw the artwork before I did. He really liked the idea and called me to tell me about it. From his description over the phone I re-created it. That was the logo we ended up using because we had already used it on a few things (probably flyers, catalogs and ads). We used it on the GB 7" and the Side By Side and No For An Answer records and repressings of the Sick of It All 7" too. Then we were working with Dave Bett at our main distributor Important on the layout for the New York City Hardcore - The Way It Is compilation and he offered to clean it up for us. He did and that's basically the logo we've been using ever since."
- REV 001 - Warzone - Lower East Side Crew 7" EP (1987)
- REV 002 - New York City Hardcore:Together compilation 7" EP (1987)
- REV 003 - Sick of It All - self-titled 7" EP (1987)
- REV 004 - Gorilla Biscuits - self-titled 7" EP (1987)
- REV 005 - Side by Side - You're Only Young Once... 7" (1988)
- REV 006 - No For An Answer - You Laugh 7" EP (1988)
- REV 007 - New York City Hardcore:The Way It Is compilation CD (1988)
- REV 008 - Youth of Today - Break Down The Walls LP (1988)
- REV 009 - Bold - Speak Out LP (1988)
- REV 010 - Chain of Strength - The One Thing That Still Holds True LP
- REV 011 - Bold - Looking Back LP (1989)
- REV 012 - Gorilla Biscuits - Start Today LP (1989)
- REV 013 - Slipknot - self-titled 7" EP (1989)
- REV 014 - Judge - New York Crew 7"(1989)
- REV 015 - Judge - Bringin' it Down 12"(1989)
- REV 016 - Shelter - Perfection of Desire 12" (1990)
- REV 017 - Youth of Today - self-titled 12" (1990)
- REV 018 - Quicksand - self-titled 7" EP (1990)
- REV 019 - Inside Out - No Spiritual Surrender 7" EP (1990)
- REV 020 - Judge - The Storm 7" EP (1990)
- REV 021 - Supertouch - The Earth is Flat 12" (1990)
- REV 020 - Burn - self-titled 7" (1990)
- REV 021 - Ray & Porcell - self-titled 7" (1991)
- REV 022 - Into Another - self-titled 12" (1991)
- REV 023 - Farside - Rochambeau 12" (1992)
- REV 024 - Into Another - Creepy Eepy EP 12" (1993)
- REV 025 - Iceburn - Hephaestus 12" (1993)
- REV 026 - Underdog - Demos 12" (1993)
- REV 027 - Statue - Filter The Infection 12" (1993)
- REV 028 - Mike Judge & Old Smoke - Sights 12" (1993)
- REV 029 - Orange 9mm - self-titled 12" (1994)
- REV 030 - Sense Field - Killed For Less 12" (1994)
- REV 031 - Farside - Rigged 12" (1994)
- REV 032 - Iceburn/Engine Kid - Split 12" (1994)
- REV 033 - Into Another - Ignaurus 12" (1994)
- REV 034 - Iceburn - Poetry of Fire 12" (1994)
- REV 035 - Sense Field - self-titled 12" (1994)
- REV 036 - Engine Kid - Angel Wings 12" (1995)
- REV 037 - Whirlpool - self-titled 12" (1995)
- REV 038 - Shades Apart - Save It 12" (1995)
- REV 039 - CIV - Set Your Goals 12" (1996)
- REV 040 - CIV - Can't Wait One More Minute 7" (1995)
- REV 041 - CIV - All Twisted 7" (1995)
- REV 042 - Into Another - Poison Fingers 7" (1995)
- REV 043 - Quicksand - Manic Compression 12" (1995)
- REV 044 - State of the Nation self-titled 12" (1995)
- REV 045 - Farside - self-titled 7" (1995)
- REV 046 - Sense Field - Building 12" (1996)
- REV 047 - Texas Is the Reason - self-titled 7" (1995)
- REV 048 - Into Another - Seemless 12" (1996)
- REV 049 - Iceburn Collective - Meditavolutions 12" (1996)
- REV 050 - In-Flight Program compilation CD (1997)
- REV 051 - Texas Is the Reason - Do You Know Who You Are? 12" (1997)
- REV 052 - Whirlpool - Liquid Glass 12" (1997)
- REV 053 - Good Riddance / Ignite - Split 12" (1997)
- REV 054 - Ignite - Past Our Means 12" (1997)
- REV 055 - CIV - Social Climber 12" (1997)
- REV 056 - Rage Against the Machine - People of the Sun (1997)
- REV 057 - Shades Apart - Seeing Things (1997)
- REV 058 - Kiss it Goodbye - She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not 12" (1997)
- REV 059 - Youth of Today - We're Not in This Alone (1997)
- REV 060 - Better Than A Thousand - Just One 12" (1997)
- REV 087 - Himsa - Ground Breaking Ceremony CD (Nov. 2nd, 1999)
- REV 100 - Revelation 100: 15 Year Retrospective of Rare Recordings compilation CD
- REV 110 - Revelation Records 2004 Collection compilation CD (2004)
- REV 112 - Since By Man - We Sing the Body Electric CD/LP (2003)
- REV 115 - Shai Hulud - That Within Blood Ill-Tempered (2003)
- Reached position #39 on the Billboard Independent Album chart.
- REV 126 - Curl Up And Die - "The One Above All, The End Of All That Is" (2005)
- REV 130 - Generations: A Hardcore Compilation compilation CD
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