First Trustkill Records started making its comeback by reigniting NJ’s Hellfest and signing new bands like Bayway, and now another core record label of the ‘90s/2000s metalcore boom is back, Ferret Music. In fact, they soft-launched their return at Hellfest this past weekend and now they’ve signed two bands, New York’s BORE and Michigan’s Wounded Touch, and announced a series of reissues (which were available first to Hellfest attendees).
Nora vocalist Carl Severson originally founded the label in 1996, and he’ll head it again moving forward. He’s also continuing to run Good Fight Entertainment, which he launched in 2010 with his business partner, Paul Conroy, after selling the Ferret catalog to Warner. He says, “I started Ferret as a way to be more a part of hardcore. My friends all had talent and were in a band (Endeavor, Ferret 01) and I wanted to do more than carry things to contribute to what they were doing. It was a passion that turned into a life and into a career. For the vast majority of its initial existence I worked with my friends, worked with bands we loved listening to and it was just honestly an adventure. We grew and eventually saw behind the curtain and ventured beyond it. Things changed. My friends didn’t, and we still love listening… So here we are.”
BORE guitarist Danny Kopij adds, “Ferret was a label we always looked up to. From Cult Classic to Hot Damn! to A Great Artist to Versions and so on, the music that Carl, Rick and everyone else curated over the years became intertwined with our musical DNA. So to get to be a part of the Ferret family, let alone to get to be here for the revival is nothing short of the honor of a lifetime. Looking forward to this next chapter of our band and to get to do it Ferret Style.”
Nick Holland, vocalist of Wounded Touch, says, “Any time someone has asked us ‘who would your ideal label be to sign to,’ we always would include Ferret to not only be smartasses, but out of legitimate sincerity as they were always the holy grail label of our youth. Most of our childhoods were shaped by the Ferret catalogue, so we’d have been championing this return out of sheer excitement regardless. But to instead get to be directly involved as boots on the ground for the return of Ferret and count ourselves among the pantheon of genre defining records released under that name is a validation that can’t be bought, traded or diminished. We’ll do everything in our power to earn the privilege of being asked to be a part of it and to be at the forefront of this return.”
The reissues that have been announced, meanwhile, include a 20th anniversary edition of Florida metalcore band Remembering Never‘s 2006 album God Save Us, in honor of late vocalist “Mean Pete” Kowalsky, who passed away in 2023. We have an exclusive “gold/olive/black” vinyl variant, limited to 250 copies and available for pre-order in the BV shop.
Other reissues on the way from Ferret include the vinyl debut of Torn Apart‘s The Fifty-Ninth Session EP, Old Wounds‘ Suffering Spirit, and Racetraitor‘s Creation and the Timeless Order of Things. Stay tuned for more.
BORE released their debut LP Feral last year and Wounded Touch actually just dropped a new EP called They Promised Eden (Vol. 1) this past May. Stream both of those below.