With The Haunted Made Me Do It, Sweden's Number One thrashers further demonstrate to the metal underground what fans of the extreme metal scene are already familiar with: that with a combination of hardcore attitude and no-nonsense thrash, The Haunted are far more than the one-off side project originally planned. Earpollution's Steve Weatherholt sits down with vocalist Marco Aro to fill us in on why.

In the first of a two-part series, eP's Eric Iannelli catches up with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones during a recent stop-over in Hamburg, Germany, on a tour supporting their new album, Outbound. The band discuss their major label switch from Warner to Sony, the philosophies and influences behind the Grammy-winning Outbound, and their mediating role between the jazz and mainstream music worlds.