[Destinity] "That is totally true Destinity has evolved a lot through all these last years. We have never been afraid to evolve the band. We started very young and our musical tastes and our inspirations have naturally changed all over the years. Since Synthetic Existence (2005) we added much more thrash/death metal influences and we finally found our way." - Mick

[Straight Line Stitch] "Being a brand new band that no one knows about is the best part of it in my eyes. Just the challenge to get your music in people’s hands and hope that they like it is a mountain to climb. Touring is the best way to showcase your music and the fact that gas prices are through the roof completely sucks a big one! Unfortunately, it doesn't just affect us, but it affects everyone. Sometimes the fans themselves have to travel to see shows...sometimes further than they would like and that has to take a hit on the pockets." - Seth Thacker

[Falconer] "I first realized that I couldn’t really connect with Grime Vs. Grandeur as I could with the older albums because it wasn’t as true to myself because I tried to do something that wasn’t natural musically on that album. We went back to the folk and melodic aspects on the Northwind album and I realized that Mathias Blad, our first vocalist, was the best man for that type of music, so we tried to get him back into the band to make the new album. No one could say we sold out when we made Grime Vs. Grandeur because we didn’t really make any money. That would be like saying we sold out for nothing." - Stefan Weinerhall

[Cradle of Filth] "Godspeed On the Devil’s Thunder is...I once signed a letter with it, so it’s a little tagline, like a well-wishing. I didn’t want to do something goofy, I didn’t want to get bogged down with repeating ourselves and it is an 'apt' album title. It sums up perfectly the two extremes of the record: his (Gilles de Rais) pious life as a defender of the holy order of France and then when he went completely to the dark side and took clemency for his sins and atrocious crimes. When you consider, the story and the lyrics and you’ll come back to the title. It’s one of those things that crawls up your skin after a while." - Dani Filth

[Kalmah] "We had no guidelines for the new album. We just trusted the inspiration as with all previous albums and this time the inspiration came up with more melodies. This album turned out to be some kind of mix of all our albums. There are feelings from Swamplord and the heavy riffs of The Black Waltz combined with the new sound we managed to pull out. For me, this album has the best sound we have ever managed to do." - Antti Kokko

[Staind] "There is nothing wrong with being skeptical. You can love this country and still be skeptical; you can believe in this country and still be skeptical. The fact of the matter is we still pick our politicians from a pool of the dirtiest, bought-and-paid-for, from-their-own-agenda people. How are we supposed to pick somebody who is good for the country when that is the pool of which we are picking from?" - Aaron Lewis

[Swedish Death Metal's Daniel Ekeroth] "You just didn’t know what was happening. I mean, I started to listen to Kiss when I was four years old. Then it was Sabbath, Priest, Scorpions and everything heavy until Venom. Then it was Mercyful Fate, Bathory, Sodom and all the thrash metal bands for some time. At the same time, I listened to hardcore punk, and I guess the step to death metal only seemed a part of my upbringing. The first time I ever felt that punk and metal had melted together into something completely unique was when I saw Napalm Death in 1988. It was also the first time a band seemed more brutal than I could grasp. Then it was a wonderful time of death metal all the way until 1992, when black metal started to take over." - Daniel Ekeroth

[Whitechapel] "From the get-go, when we started the band we talked about what we wanted the band to sound like and it was pretty much to create music that would literally make people say 'wow, this is the heaviest thing I’ve ever heard.' Unless someone’s saying that, we’re not satisfied. That’s why we chose the style of music and all of aspects combined together." - Alex Wade

[One-Way Mirror] "We all play in other bands: Soilwork, Mnemic, Lyzanxia, Scarve... it’s not really easy to find the time to work on One-Way Mirror, but it’s just a matter of schedule. From now on, we have one year to promote the album and to tour. Everybody is very motivated with One-Way Mirror, which makes things easier." - Franck Potvin

[Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival: “Stupified In the Sun”] As the only viable touring metal festival of the summer, the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival offered more of the same, which apparently, is what everyone wants. Blistering.com's editor slapped on his vaunted "Nu Metal Detector Kit" and ventured into the sweaty, eye-liner adorned, baggy pants lovin' masses for a day of hard rocking, off-key singing, and bogus breakdowns...

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