(Candlelight Records, 2012), Megalodon EP (Scion Audio/Video, 2012), and IX (Candlelight Records, 2014). When Wiseblood was released, one reviewer noted, "It is producer John Custer who bears the brunt of the sound's synergy... A finer sound and recording wizard cannot be had." COC member Reed Mullin said, "He [Custer ] contributes an enormous amount of stuff that isn't written in the liner notes. A lot of the writing credits are his… He's the king. He's the fifth member." The COC track "Drowning in a Daydream" from Wiseblood was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1997 for Best Metal Performance. After the band had worked with Custer on four albums, COC frontman Pepper Keenan was asked why they had continued to work with this producer. Keenan replied: I've talked to some really big producers and they don't know as much as John Custer. I'll bet my life on it. He's amazing but he hates the record companies. He hates dealing with egos. He's been asked to do a bunch of big things and he's like, "No f----n' way!" He is truly a musician/producer. He's like the Daniel Lanois of our little circle and he does not want to put up with that s--t. It's about songwriting, it's about getting the tones on tape and not being scared to take chances. A lot of bands, the only reason they're asking him to do 'em is 'cause they've heard COC records, but they don't understand that COC put their ass on the line to do these records and John Custer's not going to babysit somebody 'cause they want to have a certain sound. You've got to want to do that and write those things.When recording America's Volume Dealer, Custer says, "It was our first foray into ProTools, which is digital recording. We'd made everything else on tape. We got hooked on gadgets. It was a mistake to record them in that format. …We thought, 'Now we can make it sound awesome!' And it sounded less than awesome." In his review of COC's Megalodon, Rob Grissom said, "The legendary and immortal John Custer has once again produced another hardcore masterpiece and seemingly assumes his majestic role as the maestro of the North Carolina music scene." Some of Custer's high-profile collaborations for COC projects include working with Warren Haynes (The Allman Brothers Band, Gov't Mule) who played slide guitar on "Stare Too Long," James Hetfield