Centurian

by William York
 
The Dutch death metal quartet Centurian formed in 1997 and is based around drummer Wim van der Valk and guitarist Rob Oorthuis, both members of an earlier band called Inquisitor. They specialize in the sort of no-frills extreme death metal typified by the mid- to late-'90s work of bands such as Angelcorpse, Hate Eternal, and Krisiun. Centurian was rounded out in their early days by vocalist Seth van de Loo and bassist Patrick Boley, and with this lineup they recorded the mini-CD Of Purest Fire (1998), as well as their official debut, Choronzonic Chaos Gods (1999), both of which came out on the Full Moon Productions label. Their third album (and first with new members vocalist Jerry Brouwer and bassist Oskar van Paradijs) was entitled Liber Zar Zax; it came out in Europe in 2001 on the Listenable imprint and in the U.S. in early 2002 on Olympic. Over the years, Centurion has toured with extreme metal notables from around the world, including Brazil's Krisiun and Sweden's Marduk.