I’m kind of catching up on some Prosthetic Records news from the last few days.

First up, Withered will be playing Scion Rock Fest a week from this coming Saturday. They’ll also be playing at the New England HC and Metal Fest this year as well as Blackened Fest. You can find tour dates after the fold.

Skeletonwhich will premiere the first video ever, Sacrifice For The Slaughter God this Friday on Myspace. This is their debut video and the song comes off of Beyond The Permafrost. Look for that tomorrow.

Lastly, Century has changed their line-up a bit. Recently rejoined by original bassist, Ricky Armellino and drummer Grant McFarland, the band has started working on their follow up to Black Ocean.

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In today metal there are so many bands out there trying to break into the scene. A lot of bands get signed that I think are very talented, but they lack a good hook. Whether it’s a good chorus line or just a good verse or rhythm in general that keeps it interesting, it’s gotta have it. There are far too many bands in today’s metal that don’t have that hook. Some people are “Anti-hook” and don’t like them. Why? I honestly don’t know. It’s hard to go to a live show and just bang your head without having a good hook in the song to raise your fist too and sing along.

Some bands have that instant hook right from the get-go and keep that hook all the way through. Songs like Lamb Of God’s Laid To Rest is a song that is relentlessly heavy from beginning to end. With the opening riff, the chorus and the bridge. It’s all there and they keep that same formula throughout most of their music. The title track from Kataklysm’s Prevail starts with a catchy first pumping rhythmic verse and bridges into the chorus “Prevail, the time has come to crush the enemy one by one“. Just about every Megadeth song has a great hook. Dave Mustaine is an amazing song writer and he knows how to write a song that you will remember and play over and over again. Black Sabbath did it with Black Sabbath. The opening chords start it off in an evil, eerie hook that just grasps your attention and start to tell a story like all of their songs.

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Headbanger’s Ball was alright last night, from what I saw. I really like that Pelican video for Dead Between The Walls, the Dead Child Sweet Chariot Video and the Dream Theater video for Forsaken. However I really wish they would take that Century Black Ocean video out of rotation. I’m not a huge Dream Theater fan by any means but this new (Yeah I know, not really new) song and video are pretty cool. Mike Portnay must have said Opeth about a hundred time. Dude, I know you like Opeth, but damn. Anyway, enjoy the video.

CENTURY launches ‘Black Ocean’ interactive website; video debuts on MySpace metal

Pennsylvania’s CENTURY has launched the band’s interactive website to coincide with the release of the band’s Prosthetic Records debut, ‘Black Ocean,’ at http://www.blackoceanalbum.com, featuring downloadable content, band history, news, tour dates, a chance to solve an interactive cipher puzzle for an exclusive, as-yet unreleased track, and behind the scenes footage and videos from both ‘Black Ocean,’ and CENTURY’s previous effort, ‘Faith And Failure.’ Also included is the video clip for the record’s title track, “Black Ocean.”

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CENTURY launches e-card featuring three songs, tour dates, video trailer

Pennsylvania’s CENTURY has posted an online e-Card here (http://www.blackoceanalbum.com/), featuring three tracks from the band’s forthcoming effort, ‘Black Ocean,’ alongside biographical information, tour dates, and a trailer for the “Black Ocean” music video, which will see a debut on MTV2’s Headbangers Ball later this month. Fans can also spread the word about the e-Card at the above link. In the meantime, ‘Black Ocean’ will see an April 29 release on Prosthetic Records, and is the follow-up to 2006’s critically-acclaimed album ‘Faith and Failure’ which saw a release via Tribunal Records.

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Prosthetic Records is an awesome label with a lot of really great bands on their roster. They have sent me various cds to review in the past and I have really dug every cd and band…until now.

Century’s Black Ocean arrived in the mail the other day and I was excited to hear it. When the music started playing it was cool. It was very heavy and relentless on the ears. I thought “This is great”…and then the vocals hit. As any metal fan, I’m very picky when it comes to vocals and If I don’t like the vocals it can ruin the entire cd for me. This is one of those cases. I love the music but…

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