You probably know Century Media for their work with groundbreaking, legendary artists like Stuck Mojo and My Own Victim, but they are also home to lesser-known bands like Lacuna Coil, Arch Enemy, Nevermore, Warbringer, Terror, and deathcore sensations Winds Of Plague and Suicide Silence. In all seriousness, though, I’ve worked with CM in one form or another since the mid-90s, and have nothing but good things to say about the CM crew. In addition to Despise You frontman/ CM warehouse manager Chris Elder, one of the many great people at CM is A&R guy Steve Joh. With the label’s 20th anniversary coming up soon, I figured it would be a great time to catch up with one of the nicest guys in metal and give the label some much-deserved props. Thanks to Steve for his time and help, and thanks to CM for being cool enough to send me promos when I was a teenager with a fanzine back in the day!

Note: I am a fan of both WoP and Suicide Silence. Knowing that they are lightning rods for the (negative) attention of angry metal dorks, I included their names in the headline for this post in hopes of attracting maximum viewership, and therefore giving the most possible publicity to Steve and the bands. Thank you for participating in this exciting social media marketing initiative.

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Metal Insider tells us that brand new music streaming service MOG went live yesterday morning. MOG promises a deep library at a $5 monthly fee, and boasts a service “better than Rhapsody, iTunes and Pandora…combined.” [Full disclosure: MOG's advertising arm sells some ad space on this site.] With all four major labels signed on (those being Warner, EMI, Sony and Universal), a $5/month unlimited streaming service is a tantalizing proposition indeed. But the million dollar question on our minds (and undoubtedly yours as well) is: do they have metal?

Without having tested the service yet I’m inclined to say that, surprisingly, the answer is actually “yes.” Century Media, Nuclear Blast, Earache, Willowtip and a few other metal labels are distributed digitally through EMI, so those ought to be covered. Warner holds a majority stake in Roadrunner so that oughtta be a no-brainer. Relapse, Metal Blade and Victory releases are distributed by Red, which is owned by Sony. Those are all the labels at the proverbial metal big kids table right there. Obviously there are plenty of other smaller metal labels, but I’m guessing most of them also have major distribution.

This new MOG service is interesting indeed. If anyone here has tested it out, please let us know in the comments how it fares metal-wise. How does it stack up against the much simpler, sleeker Spotify? Watch a brief description of some of the service’s key features in the video below.

-VN

Free shit is good shit, especially when it’s not even shit, but awesome music. MetalSucks is proud to team up with Century Media to offer the exclusive free download of the Century Media 2009 Carnival of Sounds Sampler, featuring tracks from Napalm Death, 3 Inches of Blood, God Forbid, Suicide Silence, Warbringer, Iwrestledabearonce, Daath and many more. All told, it’s 19 tracks of music at the best price, free. How can you beat that?

After the jump, the full tracklisting and the download link.

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Congrats to “canea” for winning last week’s funny photo caption contest. Canea gets a limited edition super-sweet Sunn O))) double-disc vinyl set of their new album Monoliths and Dimensions, which came out last week. The winning entry:

“I come for your jellybeans. But only the black ones.”

This week we’re giving away a guitar signed by God Forbid. But here’s the cool part; the guitar also has a bunch of other signatures on it. We’re guessing they’re by some past or present Century Media artists, as CM has been kind enough to donate the guitar for this contest — but who knows? It could be Brian Fair, it could be Jeff Loomis, or it could be some schmuck in the mailroom who thought it’d be funny to sign the guitar. Maybe you can figure it out: check out pictures of the guitar here, here and here. But regardless, it’s got God Forbid signatures so that’s pretty fuckin’ cool, right?

Come up with a funny caption to the below photo and the guitar shall be yours.

Last year our own David Bee Roth, got to chat with 3 Inches of Blood vocalist Cam Pipes (who has maybe the most appropriate name for a singer ever). One of the topics that came up was the band’s break-up with Roadrunner:

One of the major events this year is that you’ve split with Roadrunner records. What happened to that relationship between the label and the band?

It was time for them to decide if they were going to pick up the option for the next record. They didn’t and we’re happy about it because we didn’t really like being with that label. There was a lot of things inside the label that we didn’t like in terms of how they showed their support for us and how they pushed our band in the press. We really didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things. They’re a really big corporate label now owned by Warner, so they’re moving strictly in a “We want to make money” direction and we weren’t putting up the numbers that they would have liked to see. We got dropped on the priority list time and time again and then they finally decided that it wasn’t economically viable to keep releasing this band. It’s enabled us to be a lot more creative on where we want to go. We’re not tied down to a long term contract anymore, so we can go explore other options and hopefully we’ll be a little more free to do certain things with a label that’s a lot more focused to promote us in a better way and [is] more geared towards our style.

Well, following in the footsteps of former and now once again current labelmates Daath (who I guess are still kinda sorta on Roadrunner?), it looks like 3IOB have landed on Century. Thus spake Pipes in a statement:

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MetalSucks, MetalInjection and BITPOM, in conjunction with EMI Music’s Label Services unit (which serves such labels as Century Media, Nuclear Blast, Earache, Candlelight, Season of Mist, Willowtip and Crash Music), are bringing metal to the masses with an extensive “March is Metal Month” campaign with independent retailers across the U.S.

During the “March is Metal Month” campaign, we’ll be running a series of 3 weekly “Show Us Your Metal” contests. To enter, take a picture of yourself at a record store doing something metal; throwing up the horns, making sweet love to a David Lee Roth Crazy From the Heat EP, posing in front of a Beyonce endcap in corpsepaint, buying something that costs $6.66, etc. Be creative! Send all submissions to news AT metalsucks DOT net along with your full name and address by the deadlines listed below.

The prizes and deadlines are as follows:
Week 1, deadline March 12: Signed CDs and posters from In This Moment, courtesy Century Media (we know, we know… that’s what they offered.)
Week 2, deadline March 19: Cynic box set ($75 value) courtesy of Season of Mist
Week 3, deadline March 26: Signed CDs and posters from Necroptic and All Shall Perish, courtesy of Nuclear Blast.

Show us your metal!

Glory glory hallelujah!

MetalSucks can now exclusively reveal that our favorite unsigned band, IWRESTLEDABEARONCE, can no longer be referred to as “unsigned.” ‘Cause they are signed. To Century Media.

There’s still no official announcement yet, so you’re just gonna have to trust me on this one. But check out their MySpace page if you doubt me.

This band is gonna do big things. Be ready.

-AR

UPDATE: TAKE A LOOK AT THIS, BITCHES! GET BACON!!!

Hasn’t this been fun? We’ll have to do this again next year.

Okay, here we go: e-mail your answer to the following question to axl [at] metalsucks.net by 6 p.m. tomorrow, December 12 to win an awesome mystery prize courtesy the very cool men and women at Century Media. Ready? Here we go:

Hanukkah is the “Festival of Lights.” What metal song do you think would be most appropriate for a festival of lights, and why?

Good luck, everyone… shalom…

-AR

Congrats to MetalSucks winners Tom Wills and Seth Roberts for winning Heavy Metal Hannukah Nights 5 and 6. Seth’s answer to the question “What metal band would be the favorite of Judah the Maccabee?” was so detailed and well thought-out that we’ve actually published it in its entirety after the jump.

For tonight’s seventh night of Hannukah we’ve got another mystery prize from Century Media and MetalSucks. All you have to do to win is email vince [at] metalsucks.net the answer to this question, with HANUKKAH 7 in the subject line:

Who is your favorite Jewish metal star and why?

You’ve got until 5:30pm EST tomorrow, December 11 to enter, and we’ll choose the best answer. Don’t forget to include your name and address so we can send you the prize!

Click to read more…

So I fucked up last night night and basically forgot to post a trivia question. So tonight, we’ll do things a little differently: I’m gonna pose two questions; pick ONE and e-mail your answer to axl [at] metalsucks.net by 5:30 pm EST tomorrow, December 9. The two best answers each get awesome mystery prize, courtesy the good folks at Century Media.

Ready? Here we go:

Hannukkah celebrates the victory of Judah the Maccabee and his family, who, against incredible odds, defeated the despotic King Antiochus and his vast army to preserve their way of life. If Judah the Maccabee were alive today, who would be his favorite metal band, and why?

-OR-

Name any metal band with multiple members who are Jewish AND tell me who those members are.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow, when you’ll have another chance to win some awesome prizes… good luck, everyone…

-AR

The winner to last night’s contest asking what Metallica song tells the story of Passover is Matthew Deitzer. The answer, of course, was “Creeping Death.”

Tonight we’ve got another killer prize for ya, brought to you by Century Media and MetalSucks. To enter, just email vince [at] metalsucks.net with the words HANUKKAH 4 in the subject, and answer the following question. I guess technically it’s not a question, but answer it anyway. Don’t forget to include your name and address.

Use the Hebrew word “Meshuggah” in a sentence [in English].

You’ve got until 5:30pm EST on Saturday, Dec 8 to enter! May the most creative, funniest answer win!

-VN

Congratulations to long-time MetalSucks reader Karel from Belgium for winning Heavy Metal Hanukkah night 2 by correctly identifying the Jewish birth names of Scott Ian (Scott Ian Rosenfeld), Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Ross Hyman), Steve Stevens (Steve Schneider) and Perry Farrell (Peretz Bernstein). A special prize from Century Media and MetalSucks will be on its way to you soon!

Today’s winner will receive another awesome mystery prize courtesy the good folks at Century Media, as well as a dreidel, natch. All you have to do to win is send the correct answer to the question below to axl [at] metalsucks.net by 5:30 pm EST tomorrow, December 7. Ready? Here we go:

Which Metallica song tells the story of Passover? Here’s a hint: the answer can be found somewhere on this very website.

Good luck everyone… shalom…

-AR

Get those menorahs burning bright, fellow headbanging heebs: it’s time for the second installation of Heavy Metal Hannukah, in which premier metal label Century Media and MetalSucks have teamed up to give you, our loyal readers, one free gift for every night of this miraculous festival of lights. Congrats to Michael Landry, who won the first night of Heavy Metal Hannukkah by correctly identifying Buckethead (né Brian Carroll – there’s an Irish name for ya) as the GN’R guitarist who is not, in fact, Jewish. Tracii Guns (real name: Tracey Ulrich), Slash (real name: Saul Hudson) and Bumblefoot (real name: Ron Thal, shortened from “Ron Blumenthal”) are all
at least half-Jewish!

Today’s winner will receive another mystery gift from Century Media plus your very own dreidel. All you have to do is answer this here question and email vince [at] metalsucks.net the answer — along with your name and address:

Correctly identify the birth names of these Jewish rock stars:

a) Scott Ian

b) Joey Ramone

c) Steve Stevens

d) Perry Farrell

Ready, set go! You have until 5:30pm EST on Thurs, Dec 6 to answer correctly. Don’t forget to tune in for tomorrow’s contest too. Baruch atah adonai, bitches!!

-VN

L’CHAIM! Hanukkah – what the goyim know as “The Jewish Christmas” – starts at sundown this evening (here in NYC, that’s right about now) and, for those of you who somehow don’t know this, the holiday will last for the next eight nights. You’re supposed to get a gift on each night (see why this is a better holiday than Christmas?) – and that why MetalSucks have teamed up with the good people at Century Media to bring you Heavy Metal Hanukkah. Every night for the duration of the holiday, we’ll pose one totally ridiculous question to you readers, and you’ll have 24 hours to hit us back with the correct answer; one lucky reader who does so will win an awesome prize courtesy Century Media. You read that right, boys and girls: CENTURY MEDIA AND METALSUCKS ARE GIVING AWAY ONE PRIZE EVERY NIGHT FOR THE NEXT EIGHT NIGHTS.

“What’s the prize?” you ask. Well, we wouldn’t wanna spoil the fun and open your gift for you – so it’s a secret. You may win a CD, some merch, an autographed poster – we ain’t tellin’. But Century has one of the best rosters of any label in metal – just click here if you don’t believe us – so it’s guaran-fuckin’-teed to be cool!

Okay, ready? Here’s tonight’s question:

Which of the following current or former guitarists for Guns N’ Roses is NOT at least half-Jewish?

A) Tracii Guns

B) Slash

C) Buckethead

D) Bumblefoot

Send your answer to axl [at] metalsucks.net by no later than 5:30 p.m. EST tomorrow, December 5 to win. And don’t forget – we’ll have another contest tomorrow night, too!

-AR

VISIT CENTURY MEDIA ON MYSPACE!

Major labels, pay attention: THIS is how you treat your fans right. Century Media announced today — almost two full weeks before the proper release of Soilwork’s new album Sworn to a Great Divide — that not only is the full album available for streaming for the next 8 days on the band’s MySpace page, but for a limited time you can purchase the CD+DVD edition of the new album together with an exclusive Soilwork t-shirt all for the amazingly low price of $16! This deal is available only through CM Distro.

How’s that for a reward for being a loyal fan? A hell of a lot better than the ass-raping Sire Records imposed on HIM fans by charging them $3 for a fucking music video (!!). Sure as fuck beats suing the piss out of your customers. Hell, it’s a way better deal than the criminally high $18.99 price tags most releases have in major retail outlets. Seriously, what are the majors thinking? Cut your goddamned payroll, fire your know-nothing, suit-wearing execs and get used to making less money already.

-VN