There was a time when witches, wizard, goblins and all sort of mystical folk would appear in lyrics of a Metal song. Art-work would be emblazed with creatures that looked at home in Lord Of The Rings and songs told of a time when good battled evil to the chorus of fist punching Metal anthems. Few could imagine that these days would be seen again, particularly in the wake of Death Metal, Black Metal, Nu-Metal and so on, but return they did. The flag bearer being Canadian Thrashers 3 Inches Of Blood, who’s war anthems and tales of battling armies exploded on the scene like sound of a Uruk-hai cannon.

Their latest chronicles of war, ‘Here Waits Thy Doom’ may be somewhat of a shock to the die-hard 3IOB fans as some radical changes have occurred while the band has been on hiatus. The first being the lack of original singer / screamer Jamie Hooper, whose vocal duties now fall upon guitarist Justin Hagberg, all be it at a far less regular intervals. The second of these changes comes in the overall sound of the album which takes on a far more straight edged ‘classic’ Metal vibe with the Thrashier elements of previous releases being few and far between.

Cam Pipe’s will forever sound like a Rob Halford on steroids and has by and large given 3IOB their trademark sound, so with this intact ‘Here Wait’s Thy Doom’ is instantly recognizable as being a 3IOB release but is a much leaner more stripped down sounding album than we have seen before. 'Battle and Brotherhood' kicks proceedings off with a bang with masterful riffing and gives you the feeling a pumped up Metal feast is to ensue, and does it deliver on that promise! 'Rock In Hell', 'Silent Killer', 'The Preacher's Daughter' and 'The Call Of The Hammer' roar along with a fury only album fuelled by Hell itself could muster.

Putting all the rock cliques aside ‘Here Waits Thy Doom’ appears to be 3IOB taking stock, and while not completely down tuning their fantastical lyrics and persona, they have taken everything back to basics. The album is most certainly a ‘grower’ and could well see some fans turning away as this is not ‘Advance and Vanquish’ Mark II, but more fool them for doing so. The excellent musicianship and strong song writing remains unchanged and should be judged on these qualities alone rather than tales of yore or screaming battle cries that featured on the previous releases. Under the armor this is still the same old 3IOB; fun, vital and full of fist clenching Metal madness.