Track Listing

1. Through the Horned Gate
2. Night Marauders
3. The Goatriders Horde
4. Trial of Champions
5. God of the Cold White Silence
6. Forest King
7. Demon's Blade
8. The Great Hall of Feasting
9. Infinite Legions
10. Assassins of the Light
11. Black Spire
12. The Hydra's Teeth
13. Rejoice in the Fire of Man's Demise

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75796 in Music
• Released on: 2007-06-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .19 pounds

Album Description
Vancouver's 3 Inches of Blood unleash Fire Up The Blades, the sophomore release from the dual vocalist group. Recording with several band members for the first time, Fire Up The Blades truly realizes the band's full potential with lightning fast guitar work, galloping drums and over the top vocals. Produced by Joey Jordison (of Slipknot) and mixed by Zeuss (Shadows Fall), Fire Up the Blades sees 3 Inches of Blood taking the sounds of their 80s metal influences to new extremes to create a signature sound all their own. Evidence of the band's influences can also be found in much of the subject matter of the music which features many lyrics and song titles rooted in the world of fantasy. 3 Inches of Blood have skillfully built upon the foundations laid with their debut album, Advance and Vanquish, to produce a groundbreaking effort. A fast and technical album, Fire Up The Blades redefines the boundaries of hard music with songs like "Night Marauders," "The Goatriders Horde," "Forest King" and more.

Amazon.com
With track names like "The Great Hall of Feasting" and "Rejoice in the Fires of Man's Demise"--coupled with the Iron Maiden-esque cartoons in their liner notes--there is no downplaying of the fact that 3 Inches of Blood's third CD, Fire Up the Blades, furthers the group's agenda to bring old metal into the new world. Seconds into their first vocal track, unfamiliar listeners will discover a rarity in the heavy music tradition: this is truly a two-vocalist band. Cam Pipes brings forth the Iron Maiden/Bruce Dickensen-affected vocals--complete with high-register melodies--while co-frontman Jamie Hooper pulls out some of the most guttural growls on record today. (FYI, Jamie, the king of darkness called: he wants his voice back.) Fire Up the Blades is the debut of the group's new backing band and the change--especially the bionic Lamb of God-style power drumming of Alexei Rodriguez--ups the energy ante considerably. Moving furiously through 13 different old-school-meets-speed-metal tunes, the CD never really strays from the themes of medieval battle takedowns and hellfire, but tracks such as "Forest King" and "The Hydra's Teeth" show what might be considered more of a melodic side to the six-piece. You'll never hear them on mainstream radio, but Vancouver's 3 Inches of Blood has the ability to appeal to a broad spectrum of metal fans as well as to bring new ones into the fold. --Denise Sheppard

Customer Reviews

Best Relese of 2007
I can't stop listening to this album. It is truly a metal masterpiece. I'm a 80's metal fan (megadeth, metallica, anthrax, etc). I didn't like the turn that most metal took in the mid 90's. Bands like this hearken back to the days of real metal. No holds bard in your face thrash, speed, and aggression. Every song on this album is pure metal gold. The mix of growling and operatic singing is so unique, yet fits them so well. King Diamond meets In Flames with double bass up your you know what.

Like I said, every song is a gem, but my favorites include Goatrider's Horde, God of the Cold White Silence, and Infinite Legions.

I really hope these guys get the exposure they deserve. This is the metal that metal fans desire. Keep it up 3IOB!!!!

DAMN!!!
This is probably one of the best albums ive heard in a while(after Horse The Bands "A Natural Death"). I saw 3 Inches live last year and i thought their music at the time could not be out done but for once i was wrong and im happy for that, because this album went above and beyond any of my expectations. I talked to the lead singers and they said it was due summer of 07 and anxiously i waited and once i got it it was well worth the wait. And on top of it they added akeyboardist to the mix... f***king awesome.

furious Canuck metal that takes no prisoners
I've loved all things heavy since I was a teenager back in the late '70's. Maybe some will sneer at me for being too old to be listening to metal, but the hell with 'em. I'm a guitarist, and I explore the instrument in all its possibilites. Metal was my escape and now I admire it for its technical precision which alt rock dweebs couldn't hope to equal, the youthful energy and just plain good playing, depending on the band. I don't like rap-metal at all, so don't even bring it up.
Three Inches Of Blood are a unique outfit for having two singers, one covering the Halford range coyote yelps, and the other spewing gutteral croaks that sound like Satan with gas. Frankly, I'm a little tired of "grunt vocalists", so having one that can sing is refreshing. Trivium, for example, needs to make up their mind on their vocals. I'd much prefer the clear singing and harmonies, but hey, nobody asked me.
That little complaint aside, Three Inches newest slab features breakneck riffing, harmonies ala Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, the imagery of medieval times and thunderous drumming and production - in other words, textbook metal. It isn't a ripoff, or a tired formula, however. What makes bands like Three Inches work is love of the music, dedication and real ambition. This is why some metal acts like Saxon, Judas Priest and the aforementioned Iron Maiden are still together and still command very respectable audiences worldwide. Critics can slobber all over the next "sensitive" songwriter, pop diva or whomever. It remains a fact though that for sheer career security, metal outrivals all other forms of rock music, and that's saying something. Getting Three Inches of Blood's latest is a good example of an unfairly maligned musical form done right.