UNFD

UNFD
Parent company	UNIFIED Music Group
Founded	2011
Founder	Jaddan Comerford
Distributor(s)	The Orchard
Genre	Metalcore, punk rock, progressive metal, alternative rock
Country of origin	Australia
Location	Melbourne, Victoria
Official website	unfdcentral.com

UNFD (pronounced as an initialism [ /ˈjuːˈenˈefˈdiː/ ]) is an independent record label based in Melbourne, Australia. The label is home to a number of Australian artists including Thornhill, Ocean Grove, Hellions and In Hearts Wake, and international artists ERRA, Stray From the Path, Silverstein, Invent Animate, and more. The label has offices in London and Los Angeles.

UNFD is part of the UNIFIED Music Group, owned by Jaddan Comerford.^[1] Genres that the label lean towards include, but are not limited to; metalcore, electronicore, progressive metal and djent.

Overview

UNFD's first release was Dream On, Dreamer's Heartbound on 5 August 2011. The album debuted at No. 38 on the ARIA Charts and was nominated for Best Heavy Rock Album of the Year at the ARIA Music Awards.

In April 2013, the label released Northlane's hit album Singularity via a marketing campaign that was critically acclaimed across Australian media.^[2] The album debuted at No. 3 on the ARIA Charts.^[3] Shortly after, UNFD announced the signing of Gold Record artist Dead Letter Circus,^[4] and also announced that The Amity Affliction's albums Youngbloods and Chasing Ghosts album had been certified gold in Australia.^[5]

In August 2013, the label had major success with Dead Letter Circus' album The Catalyst Fire reaching No. 2 on the ARIA charts.^[6] Following from this success, the label announced the return of Bodyjar with a new album to be released 4 October.^[7]

In July 2015, UNFD had its first #1 Australian album with the release of Northlane's third studio album Node. The label also had its first ever ARIA award win that same year, also with Northlane's Node. That same year, the label had a total of 4 ARIA Award nominations: Northlane's Node, Thy Art Is Murder's Holy War, and In Hearts Wake's Skydancer all in the Hard Rock category, as well as Dead Letter Circus' Aesthesis in the Rock category.

In 2017, the label released Mesmer, the fourth album from Northlane, via a surprise release. The album debuted at #3 on the ARIA chart in a very competitive week and took the band's fans completely by surprise.^[8] The release was not only critically acclaimed, but the release process itself was covered heavily by the media. Northlane went on to win their second ARIA Award in the Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal category.^[9]

The label was nominated for Best Independent Label at the 2017 AIR Awards, and Hellions' Opera Oblivia was nominated for Best Hard Rock Album.^{[citation needed]}

Throughout 2017 and 2018, UNFD broadened its artist base, with artists such as Tonight Alive, Dream State, Woes, Thornhill, LIMBS, Slowly Slowly and more. The label was again nominated for Best Independent Label at the 2018 AIR Awards.^{[citation needed]}

In March 2019, UNFD announced the worldwide signing of Frank Iero, former guitarist of My Chemical Romance, and his band The Future Violents.^[10]

In September 2019, UNFD announced the worldwide signing of Like Moths to Flames.

Current artist roster

• Alienist (Australia)
• Banks Arcade (New Zealand originally, now in Australia)
• Crossfaith (Japan)
• ERRA (United States)
• Frank Iero (United States)
• Ghost Atlas (United States)
• Grove Street (United Kingdom)
• Hellions (Australia)
• Hollow Front (United States)
• HourHouse (United States)
• In Hearts Wake (Australia)
• Invent Animate (United States)
• Like Moths to Flames (United States)
• Moodring (United States)
• Ocean Grove (Australia)
• Reece Young (United States)
• Short Stack (Australia)
• Silverstein (Canada)
• SiM (Japan)
• Stray from the Path (United States)
• The Xcerts (United Kingdom)
• Thornhill (Australia)
• Tropic Gold (United Kingdom)
• Void of Vision (Australia)
• Yours Truly (Australia)

Former artists

• After Touch
• Antagonist A.D. (on Greyscale Records)
• Architects (on Epitaph Records)
• The Amity Affliction (on Pure Noise Records)
• Balance and Composure (inactive)
• Beartooth (on Red Bull Records)
• Bodyjar (on Pile of Sand Records)
• The Brave
• The Bride (inactive)
• Buried in Verona (disbanded)
• Columbus
• Cursed Earth
• Dead Letter Circus (on Warner Music Australia)
• D at Sea
• Deez Nuts
• Dream On, Dreamer
• Dream State
• Drown This City (disbanded)
• The Getaway Plan
• Hacktivist
• Hand of Mercy (disbanded)
• Hands Like Houses
• House Vs. Hurricane
• I Am Zero (inactive)
• I Killed the Prom Queen (disbanded)
• Introvert
• LIMBS
• Make Believe Me
• Northlane (Independent)
• October Ends
• PhaseOne (Sounds of Mayhem Recordings)
• Saviour (on Greyscale Records)
• Silent Planet (on Solid State Records)
• Sleep Talk
• Sleep Waker (disbanded)
• Slowly Slowly
• Stories (disbanded)
• Storm the Sky (disbanded)
• Thy Art Is Murder (on Nuclear Blast Records)
• Tonight Alive
• Trade Wind
• Up Late
• Vatican (disbanded)
• We Came as Romans (on SharpTone Records)
• While She Sleeps (on Sleeps Brothers)
• Woes

Discography

References