Child of Caesar have released Alive, the first single from their next album, and it carries a second announcement with it: the record is the first thing Combat Records has released since the label was brought back.
That name means something to anyone who bought records in the eighties, and a label reviving itself with a German band most people outside Cologne have not heard of is a particular kind of statement. The label's own wording is that the band's aggressive, raw sound fits its tradition and history, which is a tidier way of saying they wanted an act that sounds like the ones the name was built on.
The label is candid about the process, calling the work with Andre and Patrick harmonious, full of sometimes crazy ideas and a bit chaotic, but successful. Metal Message and Markus Eck have been brought in to handle the promotion, which for a relaunch is where the money usually goes.
One thing to note on the band itself: the press material calls them blackened hardcore punk, while Metal Archives has carried them since 2011 as gothic metal and rock, with two albums behind them. Both can be true of a band fifteen years in, and the single is where the argument gets settled.