Artist: Various Artists
Title: “Century Media Covers Century Media”
Label: Century Media Records
Release Date: 10/14/2008
Genre: Heavy Metal
Rating: 3.5/5

If you are one of those Metal heads that listens to bands like Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquillity and Mercenary and the various others on the Century Media Records family of artists you are in good company since many of these bands deliver the Metal in the most crushing of fashions. The question remains is are you one of those listeners who from time to time wonders just how a particular bands songs would sound if they had been delivered by someone else? In this I mean do you listen to Arch Enemy and wonder how it would come across if Dark Tranquillity did it or if God Forbid did some Merauder tunes and so on and so on. If this sounds like something that you do then have I got a release for you. “Century Media Covers Century” is an album that celebrates the record labels 20th Anniversary and what they released to honor the occasion is a double CD set of music that we have loved from their bands since the labels inception but instead of this being a straight of “here is our cream of the crop” they have done it with a slightly different twist – these greatest hits are performed by a different Century Media artist than the one who recorded the tune originally. It’s a great idea and it showcases the talents of the label roster a little more vividly and can easily find it become a release that makes some new fans for the bands that are involved.

It’s hard to actually line out this release because each reader will have his or her own favorites that make this a battle of opinions but I had to say that I enjoyed more of this than I did not. The album finds both new and older label bands offering up the material which I liked because that made this a lot more interesting. Yes it’s cool to hear Arch Enemy do a Dream Evil song and Cryptopsy do a little Strapping Young Lad, but I felt that the new bands to the roster like Warbringer and The Agonist along with In This Moment were bands that I really wanted to hear from since I enjoy what they are doing with their own stuff. I am confident that if you are a fan of any of the players involved on this one that you will easily sink your teeth into their interpretations of some of these other greats but again it all falls down to personal preference. I know what I like, and cannot be certain about what floats your boat 100%. In any event, this is a really heavy release that accomplishes the task that it set out to do which is celebrate the labels anniversary. The album comes as two CD’s and the run time is just over 2 hours for the thirty two songs and that’s a great deal of Metal to absorb. I found it incredibly hard to skip around as every note became a new curiosity for me since I was hearing it through different people’s talents even after knowing the tune for so long. There is a booklet included that presents which band performed what track and where the song originally came from and why it was done in the first place. I found this very informative and I instruct all who snare a copy of this one to play it loud. Celebrate the Metal, celebrate 20 years of Century Media Records……congratulations guys, here is to the next 20.

Artist Listing:
1. Arch Enemy
2. Dark Tranquillity
3. Heaven Shall Burn
4. Shadows Fall
5. Brand New Sin
6. Wolf
7. Mercenary
8. God Forbid
9. Warbringer
10. Grave
11. Architects
12. Napalm Death
13. Krisiun
14. Cryptopsy
15. Maroon
16. Watch Them Die
17. Firewind
18. Dream Evil
19. Fear My Thoughts
20. The Agonist
21. The Forsaken
22. Devian
23. Heaven Shall Burn
24. Aborted
25. Terror
26. Napalm Death
27. Asphyx
28. Zimmer’s Hole
29. Fu Manchu
30. Manntis (w/In This Moment)
31. Kivimetsa a Druidi
32. Intronaut

Official Website: http://www.centurymedia.com