Nuclear Blast is a record label. It was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. At first, it released hardcore punk records. After a while, they started releasing albums by melodic death metal, grindcore, power metal and black metal bands. Their most successful artists include Blind Guardian, Soilwork, In Flames, Meshuggah, Therion, Dimmu Borgir, Nile, Death, HammerFall, Sonata Arctica, Epica, Wintersun, and Nightwish.