Trial of Champions is the second EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 by Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 power metal

Power metal

Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...

 band 3 Inches of Blood

3 Inches of Blood

3 Inches of Blood is a Canadian heavy metal band formed in 2000 in Vancouver, British Columbia, currently consisting of Cam Pipes, Justin Hagberg, Shane Clark, and Ash Pearson...

. It was released in digital download

Music download

A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

 format on October 17, 2007 by Roadrunner Records

Roadrunner Records

Roadrunner Records is an American record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands. It is currently a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.-History:...

. The title track was inspired by the Fighting Fantasy

Fighting Fantasy

Fighting Fantasy is a series of single-player fantasy roleplay gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volumes in the series were published by Puffin in 1982, with the rights to the franchise eventually being purchased by Wizard Books in 2002...

 game book of the same name, and features a similar plot in which an enslaved gladiator

Gladiator

A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...

 fights his way to victory, and ultimately kills the emperor. "In the Time of Job When Mammon Was a Yippie" is a cover of a song by progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 band Lucifer's Friend

Lucifer's Friend

Lucifer's Friend was a 1970s German Rock band. Allmusic author, Eduardo Rivadavia, noted the group as, "early practitioners of heavy metal and progressive rock." They also incorporated elements of jazz into their music. The band have also been cited as one of the pioneers of doom metal.-History:The...

, from their debut album

Lucifer's Friend (album)

Lucifer's Friend is the first album by the band Lucifer's Friend, released in 1970.-Side one:# "Ride in the Sky" – 2:55# "Everybody's Clown" – 6:12# "Keep Goin'" – 5:26# "Toxic Shadows" – 7:00-Side two:...

. "Key to Oblivion" is a B-side from the band's previous studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

, Fire Up the Blades

Fire Up the Blades

Fire Up the Blades is the third studio album by Canadian heavy metal band 3 Inches of Blood. It was released on 26 June, 2007 by Roadrunner Records and is the band's final release through the label. The band confirmed in February 2006 that they had begun to write new material, and by then had about...

.

Track listing

Personnel

• Cam Pipes
  Cam Pipes
  Cam Pipes is the lead vocalist in the Canadian heavy metal band 3 Inches of Blood. He performs a falsetto vocal style reminiscent of King Diamond...
  
   – clean vocals
• Jamie Hooper – screaming vocals
  Screaming (music)
  Screaming is a vocal technique that is most popular in subgenres of heavy metal, punk and hard rock, including metalcore, deathcore, post-hardcore, groove metal, black metal, and grindcore...
  
  
• Justin Hagberg – lead guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  
• Shane Clark – rhythm guitar
  Rhythm guitar
  Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
  
  
• Nick Cates – bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Alexei Rodriguez
  Alexei Rodriguez
  Alexei Rodriguez is a Puerto Rican drummer, once known for his time in Canadian heavy metal band, 3 Inches of Blood and the metalcore band Walls of Jericho. He is currently the drummer for the Los Angeles-based band, Prong....
  
   – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Joey Jordison
  Joey Jordison
  Joey Jordison , is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known for his work as the drummer for the nu metal band Slipknot. He grew up in Waukee, Iowa with his parents and two sisters, and was given his first drum kit at the age of 8...
  
   – producer