Ironic though that the first one doesn't look at my childhood, but rather college. I am doing a Nevermore album list and remember the first time I heard them was on Century Media's sampler cd, Identity vol. 8.
Now keep in mind, the internet wasn't as big as it is now. There was no myspace or websites that streamed songs. Sure there was Napster, but even that didn't have some of the more unknown bands. I was in Virgin Records trying to find something that didn't cost $18...which is why they eventually went out of business. I saw this cool looking album.
I flipped it over and saw that it had 18 songs for $3. Now that's pretty impressive. I showed it to my wife (girlfriend at the time) and she told me that it probably was just samples of each song. I did say sampler on it, so maybe she was right. She also told me that it was just $3, so why not buy it and find out.I was shocked that it was 18 complete songs. Not only that I was also surprised at how good the music was on it. I went back and picked up Volume 7 the next weekend and enjoyed a ton more of good music.
These are the bands I was introduced to and some of the songs on there that I discovered through this $3 cd;
Nevermore - one from Enemies of Reality and one from Dead Heart in a Dead World. Without these two Identity albums I would never have gotten into Nevermore.
Into Eternity - First time I heard Splintered Visions, and we all know how I feel about that intro.
Iced Earth - I had stayed away from Horror Show because I heard it was crap. Identity Vol. 7 had Jack, which is one of the best songs Iced Earth has ever written.
Shadows Fall - I had The Art of Balance by them, but they had an unreleased song on Vol. 8, Deadworld, which is still one of my favorite Shadows Fall songs.
Nightrage
Children of Bodom
Lacuna Coil
Watch Them Die
Arch Enemy
and a bunch more.
I can't believe they don't make these anymore, but I guess with the advent of Myspace and other media they aren't needed anymore.
2 comments:
Totally agree. I heard many awesome bands in IDENTITY two through six. Including the first time I heard Opeth and Nevermore and many others. Was blown away. A lot of music not quite my taste (clean vocals) but nevertheless very awesome -- especially for the price! Even more competitive than today's $1 per track on iTunes/whatever!
I remember writing to Century Media for a catalog after seeing a cool ad in Metal Maniacs for a band called Sentenced (whom I was unfamiliar with at the time). With the catalog, they sent me the original Identity sampler for free. Man I wore that thing out. So many great bands, SYL, Iced Earth, Tiamat, Hostility, Stuck Mojo, etc. They made their money off that free sampler though, as I bought the album of every single artists on that disc, as well as many more from them over the years. They were my favorite label back in the 90's/early 00's. Until I got into brutal death & goregrind anyway.
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