• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Where do I begin with 3 Inches of Blood? I saw this album at Wal-Mart, and at the time I was truly in the mood for some True Heavy Metal, so why not give this a shot? I heard lots of negative criticism concerning 3IOB not being Heavy Metal (when they clearly claim to be), I mean they did have Joey Jordison of Slipknot fame to produce this album… But, then again the band are infamous for wearing Tygers of Pan Tang, Mercyful Fate and Rammer shirts (Oh, and not to mention Mass Grave because they're "down" with the Crust scene!), so they MUST be legit… Guess again. One would need to investigate any of the bands above to discover that 3 Inches of Blood aren't introducing anything new.

A proper introduction to this tornado of uninspired music and transparent Heavy Metal worship would be to say that 3 Inches of Blood are a Heavy Metal band for non-Heavy Metal fans. The most accurate description I could toss towards "Fire Up The Blades" is that it's usual Painkiller-worship (granted that many of the "metalheads" that champion 3IOB obviously aren't too big on Judas Priest), with the primary vocalist wailing as if he's Rob Halford. The songs are all pretty bland, to be truthful. If you've listened to plenty of Running Wild, then you'll surely be subject to unhealthy amounts of déjà vu. Surely there are some cool riffs here and there, but monotonous development, practically non-existent progression, and similarity between each track really brings the score down drastically. For the entire album you're fed the same formula for each song, which means some been-there-done-that riffing, overblown lyrics that range from Fantasy to Fantasy (if there's a concept here… I'm not seeing it), and the same vocal deliverance that fools me from telling songs apart (not to mention that the secondary vocalist isn't bad at all… He's just out of place in this kind of music).

Overall, I don't understand what the huge deal with 3 Inches of Blood is. They're located in Vancouver, but I feel they're bringing the Heavy Metal to an otherwise undeserving crowd. They need to stop acting as if they're the saviors of Heavy Metal, regardless of Rob Halford praising them (he said their alternate vocalist was in the "Brutal Death Metal" vein… 'Nuff said). To be honest, 3 Inches of Blood obviously show plenty of promise, but these guys certainly aren't any SLOUGH FEG… There are plenty of other Heavy Metal releases coming out later this year that'll be worth your time.