Band: Century

Title: Black Ocean

Label: Prosthetic Records

Distribution:

Release date: 12/05/2008

Review: CD

The combination of Metal and Hardcore usually sucks. There are not many bands that do know how to combine these two musical styles into an acceptable symbiosis. The Pennsylvanian band Century, however, formed at the end of 2005, is an exception. After the self-called debut album (own production, 2005) and Faith And Failure (Tribunal Records, 2006), Black Ocean is the band’s third studio release and this one goes further, much further, than the two former ones. Black Ocean, having duration of (only) thirty three minutes, was recorded by front man Jason Slovak, who did also take care of the production, engineering and mix, and three equal-minded spirits with the goal to exceed the boundaries between those two higher mentioned extreme musical styles. The well-thought, intelligent combination of Hardcore-oriented compositions with elements from Metal, Deathcore, Crust and Sludge comes with a very technical strength and also the variation is of a great, and positive, importance here. Mastodon, Every Time I Die, Loinen, Burst, Converge, Kruger, Neurosis, Cave In, Outcast, consider this release a mixture of the open-minded approach of these bands and you will undergo this darkened opus with a sardonic pleasure.

84/100

Ivan Tibos.