Album Details

• Artist: 3 Inches Of Blood
• Album: Fire Up The Blades
• Label: Roadrunner
• Year of Release: 2007
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2007-08-12

3 Inches Of Blood are one of today's most esteemed and gifted metal outfits. Despite numerous line-up adjustments, they have stayed consistent and on Fire Up The Blades, they do that and more, sounding like a bigger beast than ever before. The first half of the album rips through, leaving little chance for a breather. The thrash-meets-traditional/power metal approach the band has been taking all along reaches new levels of excitement on "Night Mauraders" and "Goat Riders Hoarde", driven by Halford-esque vocals and a dominating twin-guitar attack.

Plenty of new influences creep into "Fire Up The Blades", showing 3 Inches' creativity is almost boundless. The gothic feel of "God Of The Cold White Silence" and the almost Led Zeppelin-like groove of "Great Hall Of Feasting" are some such highlights, offering refreshing variation at no expense to the band's trademark sound. 

This album has impressed me a great deal, and I imagine it being stuck in my rotation for quite awhile. Recommended to metalheads of all shapes and sizes, "Fire Up The Blades" is 3 Inches of Blood's best effort yet.  

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