The truth is that in order to understand what this album is all about, you need to hear it more than once. The sound is surprisingly unique, must be listened carefully and with an open mind so that a very talented band may be revealed with a new perspective of progressive as we know it so far.
The NY band was formed in the mid 90's and it wasn't until 2000 that they released their debut album Paint By Number. After two more releases with Planet Noise Records, Summer Camp Nightmare in 2003 and Wake Pig in 2004, they managed to raise the interest of Metal Blade Records and join the record company in 2005. So we are actually talking about a re-release with a variety of stuff added though; new artwork, new lyrics, remixes and two new songs.
The sound of 3 cannot be easily categorized. It's rather complex, with acoustic parts and it revolves around the highly distinctive voice of Joey Eppard. You could say that it is a creative Progressive Metal but with undeniable Pop/Funk elements, combined cleverly and resulting into a very interesting, uplifting outcome.
It's been a while since I've heard something with a style of its own, so loudly deviating from the norm. I would definitely recommend it...