[7.5/10] Century Media, in all of their unearthing of glorious Euro metal talent, has undergone a focus shift of late, with their attention now turned to the North American scene. While not a bad idea in theory, the label is forced to make chicken salad with well, chicken shit. Luckily, the label has a stable of past and present acts that have provided the metal underground with some of its most cherished moments the last two decades and is captured here in the form of Covering 20 Years of Extremes.

Hats off to whoever struck up the idea of having Century Media bands cover songs of fellow Century Media bands. As far this scribe’s knowledge, no label has yet to do this and with label stalwarts Arch Enemy, Dream Evil, Napalm Death, and Cryptopsy lending their respective talents, it has the makings for a very cool novelty compilation.

Some tunes come across better than others, namely Dark Tranquillity’s take on Sentenced’s “Broken,” a number that sees singer Mikael Stanne bust out his oft-criticized clean vocals. Shadows Fall fares well with their cover of Only Living Witnesses “December,” a tune first heard on SF’s Fallout From the War in 2006. Wolf adds a cool take to Moonspell’s “Alma Mater,” while Mercenary (far and away the best act on the label) takes a stab at Arch Enemy’s “Burning Angel.”

Other surprises include The Agonist’s cool version of Dark Tranquillity’s “Monochromatic Stains” and Brand New Sin’s rendition of Iced Earth’s “Watching Over Me.” Some of the label’s very initial acts – Grave and Asphyx get in on the fun as well.

Naturally, some numbers don’t work as well, most noticeably Firewind’s surprisingly flat version of Nevermore’s “Believe In Nothing,” Devian’s forgettable take on Morgoth’s “Isolated” and Manntis’ embarrassing thrash rendition of Lacuna Coil’s “Heaven Is a Lie.” Sheesh.

There was a time in the late 90’s/early 00’s when Century Media singlehandedly carried the metal underground. Now fully established with the resources and rep to try and break otherwise boorish acts like In This Moment and Blessed By A Broken Heart, a label known for taking chances on lesser-known Euro acts like Tiamat, Sentenced, and Samael are at it again. All in all, a very thorough comp, one should make those reach for those old comps the label used to do years ago.

www.centurymedia.com