[Ensiferum] "Thirteen years ago, Markus Toivonen formed Ensiferum. His group expanded on the folk elements displayed by Amorphis and the melodic death/thrash of his southern neighbors in Gothenburg, Sweden. What he helped create was something revolutionary, not only for Ensiferum’s greater use of folk music, but for the group helping pave the path for the speed metal style that we have come to associate with Finnish bands such as Children of Bodom, Kalmah and Norther..."

[Hatchet] "The music industry today seems to be just about finding 'The next big thing'[and] people looking for what they can cash in on to make a short-term profit. So in result, you have a bunch of throwaway garbage that pollutes the market. Once they use it up for all its resources it’s on to the next trend. It seems to me that a lot of the bands out there are just trying to sell themselves purely on the image, or a 'Retro' fashion. Since what they are trying to copy has already been done a million times over, it doesn’t hold much substance." - Marcus Kirchen

[Suite Sister Mary: With Just One Song, Pamela Moore Creates An Iconic Character] "They were very, very, and have always been, very professional. That’s something I really liked about with [them], I like working with those guys. It’s not all about, you know, sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. They have families now, but even before, it was always just, just really well-behaved. [laughs] . . . that’s one thing I really like, ’cause I didn’t want to be the typical rock chick that’s in this band that’s partying every night. It really isn’t that way. They handle it very well and very professionally." - Pamela Moore

[Mourning Beloveth] "An organic gut reaction that music renders in your mind and body was the barometer against which we guided ourselves and our own gut instincts. That, to me is the only way to write music, keep it simple because if other considerations, like worrying about how people will like it, is it 'cool' enough, fashionable enough for mags etc., the actual music becomes less of a priority so much so that it fools nobody; the insincerity of the music becomes apparent to everybody." - Brendan

[Pharaoh] "When we released The Longest Night we thought we were pretty badass that we had put out an excellent album, but it wasn’t long before I was thinking about how we could top it. With precious few exceptions, every band eventually follows an excellent release with a not-so-excellent release, and as a writer, I’m very aware of this fact and I worry that I’ve crossed that line. But even before we started recording Be Gone, I knew that we were set to outdo ourselves." - Matt Johnsen

[Anarchy-X: Scott Rockenfield Discusses The Drums Behind Mindcrime—And The Band’s Beloved Dungeon] "I think that’s one of the things that made the record so special, was our ability to just really be challenging ourselves at that point. And the excitement was high, and we had the Q Prime thing coming into play for us with the management taking over and helping us go to the next level and our business situation in that respect was just really getting’ cleaned up, so our excitement for that was that we didn’t have to worry about a lot of those things, or at least we were hoping we didn’t. And it just made us, I think, just perform better." - Scott Rockenfield

[Helrunar] "There are a few people who cannot understand what Helrunar is about. For the band, Helrunar is the spirit of freedom and the old rock ‘n’ roll cliché – long hair, loud guitars and that style is different for people in my town. Those ideas cannot conform with some ideas of the Third Reich. For me, it is totally normal to think that way, but some people cannot think that way and they think because we have images with ruins, they must be [the band] that has the Third Reich in mind." - Dionysos

[Soilent Green] "I’ve had a few issues with myself. It’s really no secret that I’ve been a drug addict for years. I’ve been cleaned up for quite some time now. It’s been at least four or five years since I’ve stopped doing drugs. It takes a while for your mind to clear out. I feel like I’m 18 again when it comes to the writing process. The way it came out, it was probably the truest Soilent Green record since Sewn Mouth Secrets." - Brian Patton

[Eyes Of A Stranger: Seeing Mike Stone’s Side Of The Mindcrime Story] "I think it has a timeless sound to it in the sense that the story, essentially it’s a love story, and love stories never go out of style. It’s an intriguing story, which keeps people interested, and also, I think it holds up well. To me, it doesn’t sound like it came from the ’80s or the ’70s or this or that. It just sounds like Mindcrime, and I think that has a lot to do with staying power too. Not to mention a very dedicated fan base also." - Mike Stone

[Hail of Bullets] Death metal offers a vast library of songs on the topic of war. British battering ram, Bolt Thrower made a career out of albums of this sort. The fact that Martin Van Drunen’s latest album …Of Frost and War recreates the epic battles on the Eastern Front in WWII may not come as such a surprise considering his time spent in Bolt Thrower. This album comes by way of Hail of Bullets—a name that delivers exactly what it suggests. Said album uses gruesome lyrics, booming drums, grinding guitars and psychotic growls to create a sordid picture of many of the events that defined the monumental clashes on the Eastern Front...

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