3 Inches of Blood "Advance and Vanquish" (20th Anniversary)

One look at the axe-wielding marauder (drawn by famed heavy metal illustrator Edward Repka) on the front of this album and you know it’s not for the faint of heart. Canadian metal band 3 Inches of Blood’s musical attack (an appropriate term indeed) featured a unique, dual lead vocal line-up of Cam Pipes on “clean” vocals and Jamie Hooper on “screaming” vocals, with bludgeoning guitars (okay, axes) provided by Sunny Dhak and Bobby Froese (Dhak, Froese, and drummer Matt Wood left after this album to form Pride Tiger). Though this record came out in 2004 on the Roadrunner label, it wears its ‘80s metal allegiances on its sleeve, harkening back to the vein-popping intensity of vintage Judas Priest and Accept. Remastered on its 20th anniversary for an orange and black “ashen dawn” vinyl pressing, with a full-color inner sleeve sporting lyrics. Storm the castle!