3 Inches of Blood - Here Awaits Thy Doom

3 Inches of Blood - Here Awaits Thy Doom: This is a hard review to write. But write it I will. When you hear a 3IOB record you kind of know what you are going to get. Old-school riffage, fantastical/battle-themed lyrics, and some high-pitched singing courtesy of Cam "He Who Is Most Aptly Named" Pipes. So when I started listening to Here Awaits Thy Doom I couldn't help but feel that something was missing. That something was second vocalist,Jamie Hooper. The Screamer. Guitarist Justin Hagberg does lend some unclean vocals here and there but it's just not the same. The screaming was a integral part of what hooked me on 3IOB in the first place. (A friend at a record store put on Battlecry Under a Wintersun years ago and I dismissed it before I heard the screams. Then, last year, a different friend was raving about their shows so I gave them a second, more serious, chance. I had recently been expanding my musical horizons and was enjoying bands that I had previously (blindly) never cared for. i.e. Iron Maiden.( gimme a break. I was late to the party. Pantera's Far Beyond Driven turned me onto metal.) I ate Battlecry..., Advance & Vanquish and Fire Up The Blades right up. My favourite aspect was the screaming. I thought "How fucking awesome would it be if all the vocals were that visceral, strip-flesh-from-the-bone screaming?!" Instead, they are totally absent. Too bad the screams virtually destroyed his vocal chords and forced him to depart.

It's still a cool album. It's still got the battle theme, the riffage and the Pipes. And it's catchy as fuck. The songs get stuck in your head real good. Now whether that is due to catchiness or repetition is up for debate. "Preacher's daughter" is repetitive in "Rock and Roll All Nite" proportions. Maybe it's just the lack of screaming but I also feel HATD is a little less ferocious than previous efforts. I can hear a wider range of influences seeping through as well. Obviously KISS, the usual Maiden/Priest and I think I can hear some Black Sabbath, maybe some Skynyrd, Allman Brothers and Zeppelin too. It's hard to pinpoint for a young'un like me who wasn't raised on that stuff. (Country. UGH. Why Mom? Why???!) Like I said, pretty good album but I miss the screaming.

However, nothing is going to stop me from seeing them next month when they come to town. You'll see me rockin' out, front and center!!! Oh yeah, I'll be there to Rock In Hell.


Hey, whatever happened to Filter?