3 Inches Of Blood - Here Waits Thy Doom review
| Band: | 3 Inches Of Blood |
| Album: | Here Waits Thy Doom |
| Style: | Heavy metal, Power metal |
| Release date: | August 31, 2009 |
| A review by: | Doc G. |
01. Battles And Brotherhood
02. Rock In Hell
03. Silent Killer
04. Fierce Defender
05. Preachers Daughter
06. Call Of The Hammer
07. Snake Fighter
08. At The Foot Of The Great Glacier
09. All Of Them Witches
10. 12:34
11. Execution Tank
12. Wizard's Island [bonus]
13. Not Fragile [Bachman-Turner Overdrive cover] [bonus]
14. Cities On Flame [Blue Öyster Cult cover] [bonus]
15. Daytona [Zeke cover] [bonus]
This is 3 Inches Of Blood - they eat, sleep, and write riffs. End of story.
Alas it seems I'm required to write at least 250 words - so let's expand, shall we? Here is a band that within the past couple years have suffered some of the worst tribulations a band can - the constant rotation of band members, a former drummer playing fisticuffs with Nigel Glockler, the loss of an original core member, and being dropped from Roadrunner for not giving the label the album sales they wanted to see. They managed to completely bounce back with their most solid, varied album to date. With the preview release of the track "Call Of The Hammer" it appeared as if the band had fully sunk itself into the thrash metal genre - nothing could be further from the truth. While Here Waits Thy Doom has a small handful of thrash songs in it, 3 Inches' transcends any strict genre. We see everything from Slayer to Deep Purple influences worn on their sleeves. The guitar work is just top notch, as previously mentioned - dabbling in a wide variety of styles making this easily the most unpredictable work they have ever done. Aside from the riffs, the whole band has made vast improvements becoming tighter than ever. Although Cam Pipes sticks to his falsetto Halford shrieks, he now seems to be more comfortable exploring rougher vocal tendencies. Underneath all of this we have interesting drum work....that's right! Creative drum work that draws attention on its own without being generic time-keeping.
One thing I could always commend 3 Inches' for was their ability to have each song on their albums flow seamlessly into one another, this album completely lacks that quality. The erratic genre-crossing makes Here Waits Thy Doom come across as a compilation rather than an actual album. Let's just say it seems to lack any context, and that each song should be taken at face value. The only other problem is probably only relevant to long-time 3 Inches Of Blood fans - the loss of harsh screamer Jamie Hooper. While there are many who prayed for the removal of the metalcore elements in their sound, the loss is noticeable and the band seems to have lost somewhat of a punch their previous efforts had.
Here Waits Thy Doom seemed like an appropriate title for this album, considering the events that transpired since their last release it was do-or-die time for the band, and they managed to succeed with flying colours. The only way to sum it up is that this is a must-have for any fan of eclectic heavy metal riff-fests. Nothing more, and most certainly nothing less.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 10 |
Comments page 2 / 2
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Comments: 52
Visited by: 310 users
| Metalbound7 Posts: 229  |
Haha so they kick out Hooper? nice! im one of those you call "long time 3iob fans" following them since the first album, and since then i tought they need to get rid of that metalcore elements, im wondering how it gonna sound with just pipes in the vocals. a soon the album arrives to the local cd store be sure that will be part of my collection. BTW the cover art reminds me a CoB album lol.
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Staff Posts: 9718  |
Written by Metalbound7 on 18.09.2009 at 02:43 They didn't kick out Hooper, he had to quit because he completely destroyed his vocal chords screaming. Justin is doing the harsh vocals now.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| Metalbound7 Posts: 229 |
Written by Doc G. on 18.09.2009 at 02:58 yes i already know he left the band because his voice problems, and i hate to say this, but now i see how wrong i was, 3 inches of Blood is not the same without him... 
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Staff Posts: 9718 |
Written by Metalbound7 on 28.09.2009 at 12:25 No, it isn't, but you have to take it for what it is. Aside from Cam Pipes, it sounds like an almost entirely different band this time around, so I personally find it hard to really compare. Yeah, sure they did lose a little bit of that punch from the lack of Hooper, but altogether the more organic sound this album has makes the whole thing sound a lot more...intimate in a way (for lack of a better word). I think the more glossed-over production of their last 2 albums kind of took away a certain quality they could have had, too much studio wizardry I guess (not saying they weren't good). Not to mention the song writing in this is far more direct, no aimless meandering that existed in some of their previous works.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| Fat & Sassy! Elite Posts: 3857  |
Well, this is the first 3 Inches of Blood I can ALMOST listen to all the way through without getting extremely annoyed. I really wanna like this band a lot... but I just can't help but find a lot of vocals tedious. :/
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| wormdrink414 Elite Posts: 1295  |
OK, since my last comment I have checked both Advance and Vanquish and this album out. Although I rather like Advance, I like this album 500 times more. I'm liking them a lot more without the old harsh vocalist. Then again I don't love this band. I like that they exist and play what they play more than I actually like the music.
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| BudDa Elite Posts: 887  |
Since my last comment. I have grown to love this record. Songs like Silent Killer, Rock in Hell and At the Foot of the Great Glacier are some of the most played songs in my collection. Doc, the 9.4 is totally justified!
---- Freeze! Step away from the hubris.
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Staff Posts: 9718 |
Written by BudDa on 17.10.2009 at 14:32 Thank you! Yeah, it took a little bit for it to grow on me as well (though I think it grew on me a little faster than everyone else). I'd really want to hear this one on vinyl.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| wormdrink414 Elite Posts: 1295 |
These guys are probably getting a major boost from Brutal Legend. I know Tim Schaffer is a big fan. In the spirit of BudDa's comment: This is my 3rd time to comment on this album, and I have revised my take on it yet again, for I am currently in love with it. Rock in Hell is, I believe, the epitome of what a heavy metal track can accomplish. I had forgotten the charms of the less extreme, more heavy child of metal. I've been listening to Painkiller again because of this album, and that has to be worth something.
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| Fat & Sassy! Elite Posts: 3857 |
Written by Doc G. on 18.10.2009 at 00:55 I'll join the club too. Definitely their best release. Took me awhile to get into it, because the vocalist gets annoying at times, but fuck... Songs like Rock In Hell rock so *damn hard*, it's impossible to not rock the fuck out to. >:[
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| wormdrink414 Elite Posts: 1295 |
I am damn close to changing my score to 10. This is the first band that has, as of recently, whooped my ass for foolishly trying not to like them. I hope it is not premature to have them listed with my favorite bands (I bought the album roughly a month ago and downloaded Advance not long before) but I'll be damned if this is not one of most powerful and engrossing albums I know (certainly of the year).
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Staff Posts: 9718 |
Written by wormdrink414 on 07.11.2009 at 08:34 They definitely are a grower band. I remember I first heard them sometime between the release of Advance And Vanquish and Fire Up The Blades, I thought it was some of the most atrocious crap I had ever heard. I didn't start warming up to them until I saw them live at Monsters Of Rock '08 (a year after the release of Fire Up The Blades). Slowly they grew on me more and more, now they reign as one of my favourite bands, and after releasing an album of this calibre, it just solidifies it even further. Even though quality wise this is their best album in my opinion, Fire Up The Blades is still my favourite due to the fact that I have some cool memories tied to that album. With time (and if I give it a break for a bit), I'm sure Here Waits Thy Doom will get some cool memories tied to it as well.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| wormdrink414 Elite Posts: 1295 |
Written by Doc G. on 07.11.2009 at 13:21 It seems that vocal style always acts as the largest obstacle to one's enjoyment of a band. I distinctly remember hating Nile the first three or four times I listened to them primarily because of the growling vocals, but now they're one of my favorite bands (as death metal is one of my favorite types of music). The same seems to have happened with 3 Inches of Blood. Now, after letting my guard down for the glory of Mr. Pipes' voice, seeing them for the first time this December may be the source of the greatest metal-related excitement of the year for me. On a separate note, although Advance has also grown significantly on me over the last month or so, the loss of the second vocalist seems to have been a step in the right direction. I believe I have developed a taste for the screams mixed with the falsetto, but the combination is undoubtedly a toxic one when trying to recruit new listeners. From lending Brutal Legend to a friend and watching him cringe when "Deadly Sinners" (a song I love) was played, I know said mix is an immediate turn off to some of the more "closed-minded" (I don't mean to gossip) extreme metal fans. Then again a metal "fuck you" is in store for those who ignore the glory of what the band achieves and has achieved, so perhaps the whole step in the right direction thing is not necessarily justifiable. Nevertheless, even though it may be premature on my behalf to make such a statement, I do like Here Waits Thy Doom far more than their other albums.
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| Gordon Freeman Posts: 426  |
This is by far my favorite 3 Inches of Blood album. All of Them Witches is an instant heavy metal classic. I would say that these guys have finally made the leap from heavy metal clone to heavy metal masters.
---- God Dammit Doug! Take off your hat, Night Moves is playing. Don't be a prick man! http://www.last.fm/user/Axl_The_Viking
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Staff Posts: 9718 |
Written by Valentin B on 12.09.2009 at 23:10 Strange, I was actually recently talking to a friend who sat down and had a few drinks with Justin Hagberg, and apparently Preacher's Daughter was entirely based off of Deep Purple. Good call, Doc, good call.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| MétalNoir Fils du Lys Posts: 847  |
It took me a looong time to be able to even STAND that band. As a matter of fact, the moment I realized they played Extreme Power Metal mixed with Judas Priest like NWOBHM, I tried to give a more serious listen to their work and there's some ok stuff. Night Marauders and Deadly Sinners are kick-ass songs. But I don't think losing the shrieks will help 3IOB attracting new fans... and "Kreator-like vocals" are never good news.
---- Notre destinée n'est pas encore tracée....
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| JCJen7 Posts: 423  |
Written by MétalNoir on 08.04.2010 at 04:11 I would more call it a mix of Kreator and Ripper era Priest vocals.
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Staff Posts: 9718 |
Written by JCJen7 on 10.10.2010 at 06:51 I don't know where the comparison to Kreator vocals is coming from...
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| Xim Rocker of Worlds Posts: 273  |
Wait, wait, wait. Okay, so the only thing that I didn't like about 3IOB was the metalcore screams, and they got rid of that guy and now the singer is also doing thrash style vocals? I need to hear this!
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| Boxcar Willy yr a kook Posts: 9158  |
Written by Baz Anderson on 11.09.2009 at 15:37 BLASPHEMY!!!!!
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| Boxcar Willy yr a kook Posts: 9158 |
Written by Derwood on 12.09.2009 at 07:23 Mt first concert was a Goatwhore show when I was 11.  I hope he had fun. even though this post is 3 years old...
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62025  |
Losing core singer was best what happened, band could jump higher into scene whit such music, sad band split up
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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