3 Inches Of Blood

If songs about invading hordes, swordplay and other such lighthearted macho compensation — sung in ball-squeezed tones — are your thing, then this Vancouver metal outfit may strike your chain-mail-wearing, war-gaming fancy. It's fitting that the members of 3 Inches of Blood are so fixated on the concept of pillaging, because that's exactly what they've done with Iron Maiden's sound. In fact, it's not even that 3 Inches cops Maiden as a whole; somehow, the band has managed to siphon a career out of just two songs — "Invaders" and "The Trooper." Nice work if you can get it; and for good measure, 3 Inches adds some thrash elements and modern guitar thickness to galloping rhythms that were a hallmark of British metal's second wave. Up the Iron.