[Blind Guardian - Singing the Bard's Song Part I] }Ever since Imaginations, it has been obvious. I’d have to go back to Batallions of Fear or Follow the Blind. We were definitely focused on it. We were influenced by bigger bands like Maiden, Queensryche, Helloween, or whoever has had an impact in terms of music, Metallica of course. We considered ourselves as a band already, to be one of the more influential metal bands in Europe. We were already working on it back then. We did have faith in ourselves and the right influences, I would say. From there, everything went in a perfect direction for us; we never doubted we’d be a successful heavy metal band. I’d also say our individual way of songwriting with each album had progressed so fast and it helped us." - Hansi Kursch

[Blistering Goes To Wacken Part III] Now, for the most part, you definitely can avoid circle pits and walls of death. Only when you try to ban them in a stupid manner do they become more volatile and dangerous. Wacken created a dangerous situation by doing what they did, and they best think long and hard about this decision for next year. At least they’re starting a special survey about this matter and want a lot of input from the fans. Hopefully they come to their senses and not try to ban these again, or else it could get very messy...

[Blistering Goes To Wacken 2010 Part II] We knew something was off when we saw that some of our group’s tents were nowhere to be seen, and only a few tents remained around us. Luckily, some nearby campers from the UK informed us that everybody in that area was told to move because they needed more room for the departure buses, them and us included. So, people are told to move on the second to last day of the fest, when there is barely any room anywhere in which to move to. If they didn’t want tents in that area, they should have roped it off – a simple solution that evidently eluded the Wacken organizers...

[Blistering Goes To Wacken 2010] Arguably the most metal place on earth, the small northern German village of Wacken becomes the place where over 70,000 metalheads converge for a few days of the year to celebrate the best music around. It’s the place of which every fan of this music really needs to go at least once in their lives. Now, for those who haven’t been to the fest before, Wacken happens in four days. One of which is the pre-fest day, and the other three being the main festival days where most of the bands play. Our venerable Dan Barkasi traveled to Germany to give us the scoop...

[Mike Sloan Top 30 of the 90s] Considering I’m one of those list-orientated kind of people, I usually have a mental list of the best this or the worst that and what have you. Piecing together the final list, though, was more daunting a task than first imagined.I immediately jotted down the best albums of that decade, which, in my opinion, is the best in music history. However, I noticed I had 58 albums and had to somehow break the news to my CDs one at a time that not everybody would be included. After a few hours of back-breaking work, I was stunned at how many of my favorite albums were omitted from the list...

[The Deliverance - No Cookie Cutter Band Here] "We like many different bands and artists of all genres. We thought it would be killer to mix them together and just see what comes out. It took several attempts to perfect the guitar tone and riff style. I could not get Mick to stop re-recording the guitars. Every time I thought it sounded great, he would delete it. Finally, one day he called me and told me he had it. Skeptically, I had to hear it. Sure enough, he finally had it!" - Grant Petty

[Herman Rarebell - Taking It As It Comes] "I really believe you have to take it as it comes, otherwise you could driven completely crazy now days in this world. I’ve lived it all my life, but even now becoming older, even more so. There’s plenty of my friends who were getting so angry about things that they were having heart attacks. And I’m not joking. You have to take it as it comes because every day could literally be your last day. Live everyday, live it full and take it as it comes." - Herman Rarebell

[Daniel Barkasi Top 30 of the 90s] The 90s was a period of musical discovery for this writer. I first got into the wonderful world of metal in 1990, so many of the releases of the decade hold the key to my obsession with the best form of music ever invented. Many albums released in this span both shaped my tastes and impacted metal history.The meteoric rise of melodic death metal opened up infinite possibilities of high quality music, and the metal underground thrived. Especially in the late 90s, where we were lucky enough to witness some of the best and most influential metal ever created...

[Kruger – Supremely Blunt] "Our career plans are non-existent; we are now at the 'level' that fits us perfectly: having a (very) little name across Europe, which allows us to make a few weeks tours a year without too much difficulties, and having a label that puts out the albums we record... what more should we want? We don't really have the fantasy to tour six months a year, and become Isis or Mastodon. The way we are doing right now preserves the amazing enthusiasm we have to do all we do with the band, and allows us to enjoy every gig without question - it could not be better!" - Reno

[Scribe Bloody Gore Vol. II] Welcome to the second installment of Blistering.com’s Death Metal Report, Scribe Bloody Gore. The last time we left you bruised, battered and bloody, sort of like the picture of Sally Hardesty of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre affixed to our front page. Also like the protagonist of said film, we allowed you to get away. Not this time. After this installment, you’ll end up as human burger, packaged and given to the neighborhood cannibal to use as “venison” to pay his bar tab...

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