Why are albums always released in Europe before the U.S.?

[Steven]

Is it simply because metal is more popular in Europe (parts of it, anyway) and so is accorded 'favored status' by labels?
Even American bands signed to American labels like Relapse or Metal Blade seem to release albums in Europe first.
Odd, no?

Lee, with your firsthand experience of metal labeldom, perhaps you could shed some light on this puzzling phenomenon?

 

[Lee_B]

It's to do with the way the press work in the US. The lead-in time to make sure the reviews are out at the same time as the album's release is a lot longer. In Europe we could usually get away with sending the promo Cds to the magazines 6-8 weeks in advance. In the US it's at least 12 weeks. Quite why or how it's ended up like that I don't know for sure, but that's the problem.

It can be triesome and troublesome to try and exactly match the release dates between territories, so there's usually a gap.