XX Years Of Metal

ROBERT KAMPF

20 years and no piece of silence: two decades are for every of bands the enormous time of life – for the independent label, that still looks forward and expands itself, it’s a very noticeable kind of merit. CENTURY MEDIA is no firm resting on the laurels, dreaming about the better times or living by her back-catalogue. The label works international, distributing her stuff with the help of EMI and feels with the all of metal and hardcore bands like at home. As the second death metal wave was released by the traditionalists like ASPHYX, GRAVE and UNLEASHED in 1990 was known the same good that it will be continuing like with the friendly for experiments MORGOTH. TIAMAT put the mile stone for the supremacy of appearing gothic metal-sector, MOONSPELL, SENTENCED and THE GATHERING congenial developed it. The Dutch experimentalists THE GATHERING were by this opportunity the point of crossing with a new trend: the atmospheric metal with the women voices, that together with the label neighbors of LACUNA COIL pushed it up and barely made possible the later success model of NIGHTWISH. This splits between the tradition and the modern trademarks made for the all bands of CENTURY MEDIA the commonwealth of the united extreme music arts. In traditional metal except of ICED EARTH, JAG PANZER and later NOCTURNAL RITES or DREAM EVIL were shaped the new profiles by the progressive representatives like NEVERMORE and reformed ANGEL DUST. In the sector of black metal evinced itself especially strong the contrast of the hardest album of ULVER “Nattens Madrigal” with the vanguard of SOLEFALD, BORKNAGAR or SIGH. Precisely the same stays it in the sector of hardcore: with CRO-MAGS, RYKERS and MERAUDER were standing at the same time under the contract in Dortmund the precursors of the later metalcore. A years later the fruits of this work will be gathered – being a form the German sign-board HEAVEN SHALL BURN or the direct merciless terror.

Fear, Emptiness, DESPAIR

The beginnings of this many-coloured and international universe lies in the not existing anymore technical thrash metal band: DESPAIR. While internet shorts today the way of information and decides about almost every of the contacts the west-oriented countries with Indielabels, was it in the late 80’s decidedly similar in the case of small or the most small of firms specialized in the extreme metal. In Germany the one of markets existed for example Atom-H, No Remorse, Noise, Steamhammer or working the worldwide Roadrunner. All of them were interested of DESPAIR after their first demo tape “Surviving You Always”. But neither of offers convinced this band, so the singer Robert Kampf finally thought: “what can I to propose – and even better”. Said and done – after the convincing to his intention the musicians of his own band, at the beginning he chose CENTURY MEDIA as the neutral name for his firm, that passed the rules “Blood, vile, pus” round and shaped the frameworks beyond all times. His partner in crime for the historical DESPAIR debut “History Of Hate” was in the 1988 a South German Markus Staiger, who began exactly a one year earlier, being a sampler of hard- and grindcore to release and full of admiring for the Japanese noisemakers. Staiger took a part under the name Mind Control in 1/3 on the album. The last he stays with his current main firm Nuclear Blast very known in the metal world. But here became the turbulent development of the firm from Dortmund. Robert Kampf, who completed his education as the home and foreign trade businessman reminds himself the impulses of the firm founding.

THRASH 'TIL DEATH

I was traveling a one year earlier, 1984 and 1985 in America and I met the many of different independent label owners. Especially impressing were for me Ian Mac Kaye and Jeff Nelson, who had a Dischord label, straight edge, hardcore – today we would name it as the emo-label. The first big bands of them were MINOR THREAT, where Ian was a singer. Later he did FUGAZI many years. I have been by them in Washington maybe a one week. From the other side was JELLO BIAFRA, who did Alternative Tentacles in San Francisco and similar impressed me. It was the enormous difference between the art, that I met by the European record labels.

-The united label ideology comes earlier from the hardcore sector-point. CENTURY MEDIA has kept this flair not only these roots in the later signings, but in her ethic of firm too.
In every case – I come previously from this sphere. The other of labels, that made a big impression to me was Crass from England. It was almost one non-profit organization, that was in strictly contact with me. Besides I have known very good before the Century Media the people like Digby from Earache. He began just to produce the Flexis. This thought “do it yourself” was actually. As the other example of metal business can to be mentioned Metal Blade, where Brian Slagel made the enormous firm practically of nothing.

-The main point of critic in due of “History Of Hate” of DESPAIR was a singing style. Have those medias-echoes decided about the making of their career easier or have you missed those step after?
No, my talent was very limited. I am not a excellent musician and it wasn’t so easy for me to master this all, that I was able to sing then. It was already very crafty to make a place for the better singer.

-CENTURY MEDIA was at the beginning the firm with a very familiar structures: besides of DESPAIR musicians were involved the members of MORGOTH too – for example Marc Grewe as the promoter and Carsten Otterbach as the manager for his own band, GRAVE and the others. The firm was very long loyal to her own studios. Firstly for the short recording sessions was visiting the Nobel Studio in Bielefeld and later among of other things the Woodhouse Studio in Hagen with the DESPAIR guitar player Waldemar Sorychta as the producer.
The Woodhouse Studio was previously in Dortmund and then barely moved itself to Hagen. It can to be, that the contact with Philip Boa, who later joined VOODOOCULT made it possible. He recorded there regular and made already four or five productions. Or maybe it was possible by the contact with MORGOTH, who were the friends of Dirk Drager. They were on the road with his band SHORT ROMANS that had the other musical style – new wave or new romantic. Dirk came the same like the MORGOTH from Meschede. The every of first recordings as the firm and with DESPAIR we had first of all in Mohrmann Studio in Witten. Heimi Mikus from RISK did there a many of things too. We were very happy, that we had found somebody, who could to help us with a big understanding as the sound-tech and the producer – it was Siggi Bemm, by a chance a chef of Woodhouse. He and Waldemar have helped to Century Media by a many of extreme records.

-Adequately to the DESPAIR style the first bands of Century Media were from the broaden thrash-sector: the Dortmund comrades of LIAR and the Swiss POLTERGEIST. Taking no account RUMBLE MILITIA and the contemporary power metal gods of ICED EARTH, before the mass of deaths the firm began to orient itself for the second wave of death metal together with the help of Nuclear Blast, Earache, Peaceville and Relapse.
It was visible, that death metal is coming since DESPAIR had denied in due of support on the first European tour of DEATH with “Leprosy” album. There was unfortunately just only one German show in Düsseldorf before the tour was broken. But we had played 10 shows in Netherlands, Belgium and France before. It took a long time until the „Scream Bloody Gore” came from DEATH out. We had the demos already since 1984, the same like of POSSESSED. I was then a very engaged tape- trader and I was in friendly contact with the people of “Battlefield”, a fanzine from Bochum. The things, that I have heard were always audible stronger and more extreme than this one, what I made with DESPAIR. Therefore was by me a tasty multitude of hardcore, grindcore and death metal.

-The same like Earache (“Grindcrusher”), Roadrunner (“At Death’s Door”) and Nuclear Blast (“Death Is Just The Beginning”) CENTURY MEDIA released early the series of compilation “In The Eyes Of Death”, that continuing volumes appeared still a many years after the preface.
CENTURY MEDIA was never interesting of a needless samplers, personally I wasn’t a fan of a different compilations. “In The Eyes Of Death” was released for the recordings that weren’t yet available. Before the first albums were made, we let to publish to UNLEASHED and GRAVE six or seven tracks. A few came as singles out, the others were released on the compilations. LOUDBLAST was a license story and the both of TIAMAT tracks were from their first single, that was released after their name’s changing. The sampler introduced a new scene, that was growing up and was more than a one uninterrupted action with a one song of every band. In the United States CENTURY MEDIA US had a sampler series titled “Identity”, that was released with a very nice price. Since about four years there’s a series “Music For The Masses” in the cooperation with Hot Topic (a net of about 800 stores in the country).