Johnny Christ

“We wanted to do something different and have a surprise release. At first, naturally, the label was getting a little scared about that, because they wanna sell records, and a surprise release means it might not go as quickly.”

“You can definitely tell the record was made for the time that it was and on the budget that it was. 'Waking the Fallen,' I mean. We think that it is cool. It serves its purpose. It serves its time. We don't want to remaster it or anything like that.”

“We were very proud of everything that we accomplished with 'Hail To The King,' but when it was time to write a new record, it was like, 'Well, we accomplished that. Let's see what else we can do,' and took it to the next level.”

“What it really comes down to, especially in metal, is that the bass needs to cut through, so you go to the pick for that effect. But when you have a certain feel about the music and really dig in to get a big growl, you have to go with the fingers, because you're not going to get it with a pick.”

“We have a song, 'Welcome to the Family' - we realized for the first time in our lives that people go through this every day around the world. There is someone very close to them that they're losing, every day. That song is, 'We know how you're feeling.'”

“We definitely want to make sure that what we are making is something that we are proud of and something that we are inspired to write.”

“If it weren't for this, I'd probably be working a normal job and playing on the weekends for 10 people at the Irvine Spectrum.”

“If we're compared to Metallica, the greatest metal band in the world, I think that's actually a pretty damn good compliment.”

“When it comes right down to it, no, we're not religious at all.”

“Everyone knows Mike Portnoy's reputation. He's a great drummer, and he helped us out in a great time of need. He really helped us get back underneath our feet and continue this band.”

“You can have the best riff in the world, but if the drums behind it just ain't vibing it, it's not gonna be the greatest riff, right? So you've gotta have someone there that can really bring that to life.”

“We have the greatest fans in the world, and our growth has been so organic. It's online; it's out at the shows. It's a big family, and they know we're going to do our best, and we know they're going to give it their best.”

“We've always kind of tried to keep the mystique. We don't wanna give everybody everything. You give 'em too much, it's just white noise. When we do say something, we want it to be an event. When we go out and do things, we want it to be an event and kind of keep everything else behind closed doors.”

“We always mess around with riffs and stuff and kind of jam out during sound checks, but we never actually started playing covers live until we started goofing off a little bit more on stage.”

“We all listen to a lot of eclectic things.”

“When I got into songs like 'Exist,' I was like, 'Okay, this riff has some bass sweeping in it, I'm definitely going to have to use a pick... but I guess I'll have to learn how to sweep first!'”

“We are just happy to be together and out and traveling the world together.”

“Not a lot of hard rock bands are just letting it all be - they're adding a lot of samples on things, or effects or whatever - and we just wanted the drums to be raw so you could really hear what Brooks Wackerman is capable of.”

“It wasn't until high school that I realized Avenged Sevenfold was picking up locally.”

“We're lucky to have such great fans that have stood by us, let us be us and try new things.”