Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pagan metal and death metal records, the label moved on to releasing albums of avant-garde metal, gothic metal and punk bands as well. Season of Mist is widely respected as one of the top labels in the extreme metal scene. The label has two offices, one in Marseille, France and one in Philadelphia, U.S.
From the beginning, Season of Mist focused on releasing more extreme metal records by stylistically diverse bands like Oxiplegatz, Bethzaida and Kampfar. With the signing of Norwegian legends Mayhem in 1999 the label's profile clearly shifted towards black metal and attracted internationally renowned artists like Carpathian Forest, Rotting Christ, Arcturus and Solefald, with the latter two representing a marked progressive and avant-garde side to Season of Mist.
While staying close to its black metal roots with the creation of the Season of Mist Underground Activists division in 2007, the label widened its musical range and added to its black, death, doom and thrash metal roster bands playing progressive death metal (Morbid Angel, Cynic, Atheist, Gnostic, Gonin-ish), sludge (Kylesa, Outlaw Order), industrial metal (Genitorturers, The CNK, Punish Yourself), hard rock (Ace Frehley), gothic rock (Christian Death), mathcore (The Dillinger Escape Plan, Psykup), garage rock (1969 Was Fine), modern metal (Dagoba, Eths, Trepalium, Black Comedy) and metalcore (Eyeless, The Arrs).
In the year 2002 Season of Mist also started out as a distributor for the French territory, which meanwhile includes other metal labels like Metal Blade Records, Spinefarm Records or Napalm Records on their roster.
Season of Mist's name originates from "A Midsummer Night's Dream", the play by William Shakespeare, and the Sandman comic book "Season of Mists". You can also read that phrase in the first line of John Keats' "To Autumn" ode.
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