3 | The End Is Begun
Metalblade Records | by M.R. Smith

Woodstock favorite sons 3 have been working it: signed to Metalblade Records (also home of GWAR, King’s X, and Cannibal Corpse, as well as many others,) they released the acclaimed Wake Pig, toured with Coheed and Cambria and Porcupine Tree, and still found time to write and record their 5th release, The End Is Begun, which drops in late July. Clearly, this is a band on a mission.

Led by songwriting machine/monster guitarist/singer Joey Eppard, 3 serves up an energetically diverse CD of what could be described as pre-apocalyptic melodic metal music. Self-produced and recorded locally at Jerry Marotta’s Jersville Studio with studio wizar d Roman Klun, The End delivers equal portions of punch and sparkle, while the €ve that are 3 display their considerable musical chops without too much dazzle and ash. The album starts with neo-amenco acoustic guitar triplets, developing into a sinister gypsy-style melody over rapid-€ re strumming and drumming. “The Word Born In Flame” segues thus into “The End Is Begun,” and the general instrumental tone is set: strong riff-oriented guitar and bass work (Eppard, guitarist Billy Riker, bassist Daniel Grimsland,) with appropriately aggressive drumming and percussion from Chris Gartmann (AKA Gartdrumm) and Joe Stote (also on keys) respectively. The tracks crackle with insistent rhythmic energy, while shifting between acoustic and electric dynamics, superbly captured by Klun.

Song highlights include “Battle Cry,” which starts like a Zeppelin tune in 6/4 (muso aside: 3 uses a lot of grouping of 3 in its rhythms,) and progresses into a tribal drum workout, then closes out with something that, I swear, sounds like the Allman Brothers playing a Rush song. The CD maintains gravity with the next two songs, with the Queen-like guitar gestures of “All That Remains,” and the double-bass hardcore workout “My Divided Falling,” then begins to expose its pop underbelly more towards the middle of the record. The CD maintains gravity with the next two songs, with the Queen-like guitar gestures of “All That Remains,” and the double-bass hardcore workout “My Divided Falling,” then begins to expose its pop underbelly more towards the middle of the record. “Live Entertainment,” with its repeated chord structure and snarky chorus hook (“watch you step out of line girl, and it’s live entertainment”) feels like the sleeper hit. The album then gradually ramps up to “These Iron Bones” with its insistent triplets (those 3’s again,) and its creepy breakdown falsetto: “We’re gonna get you, no matter where you turn.” “The Last Day” builds to almost epic grandiosity, unexpectedly breaking down in the coda to a peace raga with handdrums. Goodbye cruel world; pass the bongos.

3 mixes Mack truck power with jackhammer precision in their live shows, and like most worthwhile bands, need to be experienced in person. Sometimes, however, 3 feels like two bands in one: one going for the Mars Volta/System Of A Down neo-prog-hardcore sound, and one from an almost pure pop place, where the Beatles and Stevie Wonder co-exist. Part of that is the incongruity of Eppard’s R&B-inuenced tenor and unabashed falsetto being juxtaposed over more dangerously intended power riffs and lyric themes (blood, power, ghosts.) But that combo plate might just be what makes 3 get over the top of the heap, and more power to ‘em.