Debut Dives: 3 Inches of Blood – Battlecry Under a Wintersun.

(TheBRHM.com) 3 Inches of Blood is a Canadian power metal act from British Columbia known for their fast tempo of use of two vocalists. That was probably the main thing that gave 3IOB that little extra umph. In each of their full length releases the act always had the goods as far as strings and battery but it was when you realized they had two vocalists that you get the curiosity listens.

Running two vocalists is always an interesting approach. In 3IOB’s case, it was even more interesting when your primary singer (Cam Pipes) had some Painkiller-mode Rob Halford clean vox action going on and the singer handling the chorus and duet stuff (Jamie Hooper) with some modern (for the early 2000s) harsh vox.

 

This is also one of the things that garnered some opposing views on the band. From what I’ve seen, it’s not the existence of both vocals at the same time, it’s how they intermingle on releases in addition to lyrics that have been viewed as basic fantasy material.

Mind you, I love that low fantasy, sword and sorcery focus and I don’t necessarily need all the lore and intrigues of different nations and treaties when there’s an evil sorcerer or some beast that needs clapping. I’m here for sword-swinging, orc-slaying action and 3 Inches of Blood typically delivered.

Most fans introduction to 3 Inches of Blood was probably through Advance and Vanquish, a very good intro that I enjoyed. It was one of my purchases through the “4 CDs for one cent” schemes we’d occasionally get in the mail or in a magazine.

3 Inches of Blood’s First Adventure: Battlecry Under a Wintersun

Normally, I’d go into side A and side B separately, but the version available on Apple Music features some bonus tracks that piqued my interest. Full disclosure: I listened to the follow-up release Advance and Vanquish way before I got to the debut. Hell, I listened to everything post-Battlecry Under a Wintersun. This is the kind of power metal I dig. It’s as if U.S power metal OGs Omen or Jag Panzer had their Painkiller and just stayed in that mode.

It’s a different kind of power metal than Canadian OG Thor delivered two decades earlier. The debut dropped in 2002 and comes packing a cool album, 11 tracks on the initial release, and comes in at just under 37 minutes. Our longest track here is “Hall of Heroes” at just over four minutes.

For most of the tracks, you’re getting a speedy 3IOB and that’s something I greatly appreciate. Even on tracks where Cam and Jamie are screeching and screaming to the tempo of the strings and percussion, the others are still just blazing through the song giving each tale told some degree of urgency or severity.

Lyrically, it’s a lot of wars, battles, and fantasy themes. You also get what comes with those themes: stories of bravery, anthems, figures to beware of—this album could’ve served as the start of a concept series of albums.

Verdict

As a debut, it’s a decent start for 3 Inches of Blood. My sole gripe would be that Battlecry Under a Wintersun would’ve benefited greatly from the experience, line up, and production value of Advance and Vanquish. I mean greatly. What hurts the debut is the production in regards to the vocals.

Something about how the voices are mixed or layered over each other doesn’t do it for me. It’s certainly not on the band since the song “Destroy the Orcs” makes it from the debut to Advance and Vanquish and sounds great. It’s not uncommon for production of that time or creative direction to hobble an otherwise good album. In the case of Battlecry, it’s just on that specific part.

The band hung up the gear in 2015 but were sharpening their blades again in 2023 with the Fire Up the Blades and Here Awaits Thy Doom era members. From an interview in April 2026, the band acknowledged that the music and distribution industries are very different from 2015 but aimed to start “trickling” out new stuff in 2027.

While I’m looking forward to new music from 3 Inches of Blood, I say give Battlecry Under a Wintersun a remaster. When it was released, this album showed a lot of the potential the band had. With a few years and better production 3 Inches of Blood would be a banger machine.

Every release had songs to slam and they were one of my consistent releases along with 2000s and early 2010s Darkthrone and Stormwarrior. I knew I was at least going to enjoy their album that year. If I had listened to this before Advance and Vanquish, I might not have put them in rotation initially. It’s a cool album but not an essential listen in their discography.

Strongest Tracks: Destroy the Orcs, Lady Deathwish*, Curse of the Lighthouse Keeper, Balls of Ice