Not all changes are good ones. At first 3 Inches of Blood have a new drummer and there is nothing wrong about that. The other thing is that Jamie Hooper has left the band. One special thing about 3 Inches of Blood was always the dual vocals; Cam Pipes and Jamie Hooper screaming and grunting, driving each other to total madness. Now only Cam Pipes is left and sometimes guitarist Justin Hagberg adds some grunting screams. This is a step back.

First song "Battles and Brotherhood" is a strong opener and brings true metal with lots of NWOBHM influences and lots of aggression. One old school riff after the other is thrown towards you. Cam Pipes vocals are still strange and you either love them or hate them. After that the attention fades away and some songs get a bit more simple and less interesting. Songs such as "Rock in Hell" and "Call of the Hammer" are too simple and too much AC/DC-like. When I compare the new album with the 2007 album 'Fire Up the Blades', I don't get very happy. Even the best songs on this album don't give me the same feeling that most of the songs on that album did.

Still I think there will be fans that will like the new album, which has some fine old school riffing, but it leaves me with a dry mouth and a disappointment.