Century Media Records has licensed the upcoming THE MAN-EATING TREE album, Vine, from Cobra Records for the world outside of Finland. The debut single, 'Out Of The Wind', already reached #3 in the Official Finnish single charts in May.

Jens Prueter (Head Of A&R;, Century Media Records Europe): "Our love for Finnish metal and rock began 17 years ago when we released SENTENCED’s second album, North From Here. Since then Sentenced became an icon within the heavy music scene and we signed a couple of other bands from this beautiful country north from here. After Sentenced called it a day we've been proud to continue with the follow-up bands POISONBLACK and KYPCK. It was very nice to see that also their drummer and founding member, Vesa Ranta, finally decided to make music again. The first The Man-Eating Tree demo already blew my mind, but it was at an instore gig during the Finnish Metal Expo earlier this year when I was completely blown away. You can put them in boxes like atmospheric metal or dark rock, but for me this is just simply great music with a soul. And that's all that counts! Welcome back, Vesa!"

Melanie Schmidt (A&R;/PM Century Media Records Europe): “After working with them since the amazing album Crimson, I had to join in when Sentenced was buried alive in October 2005. It was a painful experience, not only because we were losing one of our flagship bands that had influenced several generations of young musicians. Still, every end marks a new beginning. Since working with the individual members in Sentenced also means dealing with some of the most loyal people in music they brought exciting bands such as Poisonblack, Kypck and now The Man-Eating Tree to us. I am grateful for the amount of trust they have in us, so we can support them with spreading their talent as well as creative and unique music.”

The band from Oulu consists of Vesa Ranta (drums), Tuomas Tuominen (ex-Fall Of The Leafe, vocals), Janne Markus (Poisonblack, guitars), Mikko Uusimaa (bass) and Heidi Määttä (keyboards).

Vesa Ranta on how he found his new band-mates for The Man-Eating Tree: "After Sentenced, I was in regular contact with my old band mate and friend Miika Tenkula. We spoke about establishing a new band and tried to make it happen for a while. However, finding a competent singer proved to be an obstacle. Based on this idea of a new band together with Miika, we rehearsed only once. However in this jam session one song draft was born and recorded. Unfortunately Miika’s life came to a sudden end in February of 2009. I remember the moment I received the call from a relative of Miika. I was far up North, at work. In the middle of a photo shoot and couldn’t do anything. It was impossible to believe the news - and it still is difficult. Not a day goes by that I wouldn’t think of him and his life. But life is full of surprises. One surprise and turn happened only days after Miika’s funeral. An acquaintance of mine knew I was looking for a singer and sent me a link. It was a website with music and Tuomas on vocals. As if some strange fate had steered life for a moment, because the voice was exactly what Miika and I were looking for. We found Tuomas immediately after Miika had left us. I approached Tuomas and asked if he would be interested, as I felt that the long fermented idea of a new band needed to be taken to the next level straight away. Not tomorrow but now. Thinking about it, this momentum was a part of my own mourning process. I contacted another guitarist friend of mine, Janne Markus, with whom I had discussed the possibility of musical co-operation over several years. Janne had already written several songs that suit Tuomas’ voice perfectly. Only a few weeks down the road the line-up was completed and we were working in full gear. On the timeline, The Man-Eating Tree was formed in March of 2009."

Read Vesa's full statement here.

The debut album, Vine, is scheduled for a release in September 2010. The album was produced by the well-known and acclaimed Hiili Hiilesmaa (Sentenced, H.I.M., AMORPHIS).

You can watch a visual album teaser below, and the brand-new song 'This Longitude Of Sleep' can be checked out by visiting their MySpace page.