Artist : 3 Inches Of Blood
Album : Fire Up The Blades
Label : Roadrunner Records
Genre : Metal
Bitrate : 243 kbps avg
Source : CD (LP)
Playtime : 00:51:46 (95.5MB)
Rls date : 2007-05-22
Store date : 2007-06-26
[Track List]
1. Through The Horned Gate 2:07
2. Night Marauders 4:15
3. The Goatriders Horde 4:02
4. Trial Of Champions 3:39
5. God Of The Cold White Silence 4:24
6. Forest King 5:16
7. Demon's Blade 4:10
8. The Great Hall Of Feasting 3:53
9. Infinite Legions 4:55
10.Assassins Of The Light 3:20
11.Black Spire 5:23
12.The Hydra's Teeth 4:49
13.Rejoice In The Fires Of Man's Demise 1:33
There's a reason fans have come to their shows wearing
Viking helmets and brandishing both real and plastic
swords. Born out of a love for pure metal, weaned on a
diet of fantasy and mythology, 3 Inches of Blood have been
slaying the infidel and defending the faith for nearly
eight years.
In that time, they've released two albums and splattered
the ground with crimson streaks while on tour with
Satyricon, Black Dahlia Murder, Motorhead and Cradle of
Filth. These are mighty accomplishments for dedicated
warriors from Vancouver, British Columbia, a region that's
not exactly the Camelot of heavy metal. And with their new
album, Fire Up the Blades, 3 Inches of Blood have
surpassed even their own manly exploits, crafting a
baker's dozen of anthems and stormers that crash, rip and
roar like a Medieval skirmish.
"With this album, the blacksmith is heating up the blades
and we are preparing for battle," says vocalist Jamie
Hooper. "We are forging the steel that we'll use to
annihilate the heavy metal posers, and in every town we
play, the streets will run red with their blood."
Throughout Fire Up the Blades, 3 Inches of Blood
demonstrate that the best way to stay ahead of the heavy
metal curve is to write music that comes from the heart
and sounds nothing like the horde of bands tapping into
the latest trends. To that end, they draw fuel from their
favorite artists, including Iron Maiden, Judas Priest,
Mercyful Fate, Manowar and Enslaved and compile it all
into their own lethal potion. Once more, 3 Inches of Blood
demonstrate great skill for riding galloping steeds into
fiery realms of crunching riffs and banging heads, but
Fire Up the Blades is darker and more aggressive than
2004's critically acclaimed Advance and Vanquish. "Demon's
Blade" starts with a crushing, technical thrash passage
and peaks with twin guitar harmonies over throat-shredding
vocals and "Infinite Legions" features hailstorm blast
beats and orchestral swells between martial riffs.
"This album is heavily influenced by low quality beer,
bong rips and listening to black metal in the dark,"
Hooper says. "It doesn't sound blatantly black metal, it
still sounds like us. But it's a faster, more intense
version of us."
Fire Up the Blades marks the recording debut of four out
of six of the bandmembers. Hooper, who co-formed the
group, and co-vocalist Cam Pipes are the only soldiers to
return from the last battle, and they're joined by
guitarists Shane Clark, Justin Hagberg, bassist Nick Cates
and drummer Alexei Rodriguez. But even though the lineup
is different, the aesthetic remains the same, and the
skill level actually eclipses that of the last record.
"Sometimes when bands change members it seems like big
step backwards, but this was a major step forwards for
us," Hooper says. "Everyone new who came in was at their
best, which forced everybody else to pick up their game a
little bit and we came up with things we just couldn't
have done before."
Also adding to the skull-splintering vibe was Slipknot
drummer Joey Jordison, who produced the record. Jordison
became a fan of 3 Inches of Blood in 2004 when he filled
in for Satyricon on tour and 3 Inches of Blood opened.
"When he found out we were doing another record, he
offered his services, and we were like, Dude, of course!"
Hooper says. "He added a fresh perspective to the songs
and helped us work on some parts and arrangements. Also,
he's a beer drinking encyclopedia of cult black metal, so
we sat around drinking Pabst Blue Ribbons talking about
necro black metal the whole time, which was awesome."
3 Inches of Blood started writing Fire Up the Blades in
late 2006 and composed many of the songs in a house they
rented in Tacoma, Washington early this year. They entered
the studio with Jordison in October and recorded at three
locations in Vancouver -- The Armory, Mushroom Studios and
Hipposonic -- before finishing up at London Bridge Studios
in Seattle.
"Our engineer saw a ghost, but other than that, everything
went smoothly," Hooper says. "No one was tearing their
hair out or yelling at each other. We were just drinking,
having a good time and churning out the metal."
Hooper co-formed 3 Inches of Blood in Victoria, British
Columbia in 2000. In addition to a batch of musicians who
are long gone, he recruited singer Cam Pipes, whose high
pitched shrieks both contrast with and compliment Hooper's
vicious growls. In 2001 the group released its debut,
Battlecry Under a Winter Sun, which was released by a
label owned by a local record store. When the shop closed,
3 Inches of Blood self-financed additional pressings of
the album, which laid the foundation for the band's epic
style of music with songs like "Destroy the Orcs,"
"Skeletal Onslaught" and "Headwaters of the River of
Blood."
"When we started, a lot of us came out of this DIY scene
where most of the bands had some sort of message," Hooper
says. "I support that, but we wanted to be band that was
just about good times, and would just cut loose. The music
that we love and puts smiles on our faces is classic
metal. And, we're all fans of shitty movies and fantasy
novels, so we decided to use that stuff as well in our
music."
Compelled by the band's dedication and determination,
Roadrunner Records signed 3 Inches of Blood and in 2004
released Advance and Vanquish, an album that brought to
mind the best of bands like Running Wild, Grave Digger,
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Diamond Head. As triumphant
as it was, its creation was a long and bloody process. "We
went through about 12 records worth of bullshit making
that," says Hooper. "On the first day of recording, our
drummer and bass player quit. So we had to replace them
with guys who basically learned the songs as we were
recording them. And, after we recorded, our two guitar
players quit. But then our new guitarists [Hagberg and
Clark] joined and we were like, Alright, it's go time.'"
Which brings us back to Fire Up the Blades, an album that
combines fist-tight musicianship, rib-sticking riffs and
more monsters and mayhem than a game of Dungeons &
Dragons. No longer, do 3 Inches of Blood sing about
pirates and cyborgs, now they're more rooted to a dark,
mystical era when great beasts roamed the land, and a man
was defined by the strength of his armor and the power of
his sword.
"The general theme of the whole thing is that we are all
united in battle," Hooper says. "But a lot of the songs
are also about the imagined Christian demons coming forth
from their imaginations and reaping the whirlwind, so to
speak. It's more of a post-apocalyptic doom scenario. 'Mad
Max' barren wasteland, everybody's fucked kind of stuff."
While 3 Inches of Blood are eager to see how fans react to
their new album, and are even looking forward to the
return of the kids with swords and shields, they're also
curious about what new kinds of lunatics will pop up at
their shows. "The music's more extreme now, but I don't
know how much more extreme some of these fans can get,"
Hooper says. "In Cincinnati, we had a fellow come onstage
with a pig's head on a stick. He fell down and dropped the
head and we had to soccer ball kick it off the stage.
Then, in Fargo, North Dakota, a guy came on holding a
severed deer's head over his head. The tongue was sticking
out and blood was dripping all over his face. How much
more metal can you get than that?" Take a running dive
into The Blades, and find out.
