3 Inches of Blood

Since the Olympics are going on right now in Vancouver, I wanted to look at a metal band from the area that has not gotten much mention here on my blog.

3 Inches of Blood is a traditional-sounding metal band drawing a lot of influence from the NWOBHM scene. They are often very unfairly lumped in with the metalcore genre. This is perhaps due to being on Roadrunner at one point and the hardcore backgrounds of a lot of the band's original members. Nevertheless, it is extremely obvious that this is a metal band. And a pretty good one at that.

As mentioned, the band was started by some members that were not really into metal. Over the years, all of those original members had left the band. 3IOB brought Cam Pipes in as singer early on and his falsetto vocals reminiscent of Rob Halford and King Diamond quickly became the focal point of the band as well as its traditional-sounding metal riffs. Pipes was previously in a black metal band called Allfather. The band also used a hardcore vocalist to back up Pipes by the name of Jamie Hooper. Hooper eventually left the band and guitarist Justin Hagberg took over the backing vocals. At this point in time, 3IOB is made up of individuals who want to play metal. And it shows.

The band has released four full-length albums and have been steadily making a name for themselves. Their second album still has their strongest songs, especially the fist-pumping "Deadly Sinners".

3IOB started off a bit on the wrong foot but have become a very good retro metal band. There have been missteps but the band seems devoted to bringing the sound of early 1980's metal to the modern age.