The video for “The Wretched Forest,” directed/produced by Steve Stemac and edited by Ryan Kendrick of Digital Bohemia, transcends historical time periods, taking us back to when quests for the Holy Grail and slaying dragons were more than mere legend spoken by elders.

“The Wretched Forest,” from Dx3’s recent Black Market Activities release “Battle Sluts,” is in itself a perilous quest to revive the artistic premise on which creative music videos once began, with its 6 mm style film and fantasy-based story line.

Prepare to immerse yourself in a legend of honor, integrity and heroic valor before the video premiers on Tuesday by checking out songs from the band’s release “Battle Sluts” on its MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/destroydestroydestroy

Or on the Black Market Activities MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/blackmarketactivities

Check out more work from Steve and Ryan of Digital Bohemia at:
http://www.digitalbohemia.com

Cut from the same heavily bearded and classically inspired cloth as 3 Inches of Blood and Skeletonwitch, and with tongue planted firmly in cheek, DDD’s mix of thrash, power metal, heavy metal and melodic death metal is hardly groundbreaking, but for some reason, as with their two previously mentioned bands, throw in some heavy handed synths (far more so than the debut), and even some Viking chants/choirs then lyrics about vast battles, winged beasts, the undead and of course sluts of battle, and you can’t help but grin and throw the horns.

The orchestral epic “The Second Coming” signals the arrival of the sophomore record with a grandiose sense of pomp before “Battle Upon the Artic Plains” trots into view with a majestic power metal gait and war horns and closes with some rousing choirs. “The Scorpion Gate” gallops with a killer melodic urgency before and austere closing few moments complete with Lord Byron -ish spoken words. By this point, I’m hooked and the rest of the album is a grin inducing ride into cheese land, but I have to admit, musically the band appears to have grown into their themes, with a far more advanced grasp of melody and structure as “Realm of Ancient Shadows” and “Born of Thunder” shows-just damn good, mid paced, epic power/heavy metal songs by any standard, just with Bryan Kemp delivering harsh blackened rasps. Granted, the sense of almost Bal-Sagoth like pomp and Rhapsody (of Fire) level of cheese can be overbearing, especially for a US band on Black Market Activities, but DDD really seem to have grown into their chosen style and themes without it sounding too forced, or simply like a metalcore band playing power metal with fantasy lyrics. Heck, there’s even some well done female vocals that grace “The Winged Panther” and penultimate track “Return of the Geishmal Undead” , with more rousing chants is just downright epic. Oh, and be sure to stick around for the drunken beer song “Battle Slut Drinking Song” for a good laugh.

The gauntlet has been thrown to metal heads who will no doubt hate this lot simply based on their metalcore backbone, gimmicky image, thong clad front man and almost piss taking lyrics, but personally serious or not, Battle Sluts is a damn fun metal record that all metal heads should give a try.