I can’t stop listening to 3 Inches of Blood’s “The Forest King.” Whoever produced this smartly lent weight to the very skillful guitar tracks by putting them a few notches higher in the overall mix. The drums are commanding, but they aren’t featured as prominently as they are by 3IOB’s contemporaries and I think that, combined with the band’s playful musical nod towards metal clichés, makes the instrumentation on this song sound like it’s from a different era. I mean, don’t they seem very comfortable with the epic bridge? Everything from the simple kick/snare stomp over the bass solo to the sweet sweet dual guitar action sounds like a spotlight moment for all featured musicians, the sort of stuff that fills stadiums and commands complete attention. But 3IOB isn’t filling stadiums and I don’t think they ever will. They are far too abrasive to have that kind of crossover success, which is maybe one reason why I like them so much. They sound like metal fans playing music for other metal fans without much of the pretense and thrashing-is-a-way-of-life-not-something-you-do-for-fun-ness of many of their contemporaries. For a band with such a ridiculous and pornographically violent band name, they are pretty fucking charming.

"The Forest King" - Fire Up The Blades