Canada’s 3 Inches of Blood has over the course of 3 albums built up a sizable fan base with their mix of Iron Maiden/ Judas Priest worship with elements of modern metal and a double pronged vocal attack. It’s a sound that has always left me a bit cold and the modern metal core type bits in their earlier albums have always left me a bit cold. Here Waits Thy Doom though is a slightly different beast. Firstly there are no more original members left in the band and most importantly Jamie Hooper who was responsible for the harsh vocals in the previous albums has quit the band.

So, first album with only Cam Pipes doing his Halford/ Steve Grimmet imitation and the music has changed just a little bit as well. The metal core elements and the flirtation with black and extreme metal have pretty much disappeared from the band’s sound. Instead, Here Waits Thy Doom is if anything, even more indebted to the 80s and 70s. Case in point is Rock in Hell which not only sounds like a song name Grim Reaper would use but sounds a little bit like that band as well. Silent Killer is total Iron Maiden worship and elsewhere on the album Preacher’s Daughter starts off like a tribute to 70s heavy rock before more NWOBHM worship happens. All of them Witches slows things down just a bit and is mid paced and anthemic and the album closes with the lengthy Execution Tank which goes back to the band’s old formula of mixing up 80s metal sound’s with a modern feel and pretty much tanks.

Vocalist Cam Pipes’ voice is at front and centre of the band’s sound but without the added dynamic of the harsher vocals his voice begins to get old and monotonous. The rest of the band sounds competent but there really isn’t a single moment in any of these songs that sticks out. The band sounds like they’re quite happy to sound just like their heroes even if they don’t have the same quality of songs.

Here Waits Thy Doom might spell a new beginning for the band. I’m not sure if this full on retro trip will gain them new fans or lose them old fans but the band has, in spite of being plainly unoriginal and rehashing the past, made their most enjoyable album to date. While they are even closer to becoming a tribute band now, overall I think 3 Inches of Blood has made their most enjoyable album to date.

Label - Century Media

Year of Release - 2009