Tirades of Truth: Iced Earth - Dystopia

So let me be up front of my fondness of Iced Earth. Before Shadows Fall, Trivium, Killswitch Engage, and all the other bands, there was Iced Earth. They were the first metal band I got into after the classic metal bands like Metallica and Megadeth. In fact, it was because of their tour opening for Megadeth that I heard of Iced Earth.

My first Iced Earth album was Something Wicked This Way Comes, which I picked up mainly because of the album artwork. I was blown away by both the music and vocals. The guitar riffs were totally amazing. I couldn't believe how heavy they were. It was like Iron Maiden on steroids, instead of Harris' galloping bass, we had a guitar doing the same thing...awesome. Then of course were the vocals. Matt Barlow's vocals were incredible. They could go heavy, but not anything as raw as John Bush or James Hetfield, but more of a powerful heavy. Of course, the crowning moment of the album was the Something Wicked Trilogy. I knew I found a great band.

I picked up most of their back catalog and was impressed by everything I heard. Jon Schaffer's guitar playing dominated every song and when you put Barlow's vocals on top of it, it was magical. Well as we all know, Barlow left the band after 9-11 to become a police officer. He was replaced by Tim Owens of Judas Priest fame. They released a couple of albums with Ripper and they just didn't feel like Iced Earth. The Glorious Burden was solid, but mainly because it was a concept album and it was totally different than anything they had done before. However, when they started to do the double album based on Something Wicked, I was worried. And with good reason. Ripper just wasn't Barlow. He was good, in fact Ten Thousand Strong is the best song off of Framing Armageddon and it's so good that I don't even think that Barlow could do it justice.

Long story somewhat shorter, exit Ripper enter Barlow (again). The second album of the Something Wicked story didn't suffer from the vocals, but from the music. Which in hindsight was present on the last 3 albums going back to The Glorious Burden. Schaffer went for this mid paced grandiose sound. And while it worked for The Glorious Burden, it didn't work for the other albums. Sure there were faster songs, but they were far and few.


So exit Barlow (again) and enter Stu Block. Now both vocalists were in my top 10 list years ago and after this album, Stu probably moved up a couple of notches. The first thing I noticed about Dystopia was how much Stu sounds like Barlow in his mid-range. Schaffer was quoted about finding Stu's mid-range vocals and I put it off as hype, but he definitely found something he didn't have with Into Eternity. Stu could do the death screams, clean, and Halford-esque screams, but this new mid-range is impressive...most impressive.


He doesn't sound like a Barlow clone, you can tell subtle differences between the two, yet he fits the music better than Ripper did. Speaking of Ripper, Stu also goes into his Halford/Ripper vocals during the album (Equilibrium, Boiling Point). When Ripper did it on his two albums it bothered me, here it works. The only thing I can tell is that he doesn't stay high forever, just for a moment, then it's back to the mid-range.

So what about the music? Well the album starts off with the title-track and the first thing I noticed was the return of the classic galloping guitar. Now there are some mid-paced songs on here, End of Innocence, Anguish of the Youth, Anthem for example, but they work. Kind of like the way Melancholy worked on Something Wicked, musically it's a great song.

The thrash songs are here as well. Boiling Point, Days of Rage bring back memories of early Iced Earth. Sure the songs are kind of recycled, but they still work. When I listen to Days of Rage, I get Disciples of the Lie in my head which then turns into Violate. Maybe it's the guitar work and pacing of the song, but they sort of all blend together, which is fine for me.


This album definitely threw me for a loop, almost the way Blaze Bayley's & Charred Walls of the Damned's last albums did. Out of no where a classic metal album comes out and it shows me that down inside I am still a classic metal guy. This thing is a definite "return to form" album for the band, easily the best thing since they put out Horror Show. Where would I rank this? It's not their best, but top 5? Probably.

What does this do to my Top 10 list? Throws a huge wrench into it. I still don't think it can top Trivium's album, but heck who would have said Blaze Bayley would have made number one on my Top 10 last year?

Music Non Stop: new (sort of) Iced Earth

I am a pretty big fan of Iced Earth. They were one of the first bands I started listening too outside of Metallica & Megadeth. Matt Barlow's vocals were a huge part of that. He sounded like Paul Stanley (KISS) at times. He was the voice of Iced Earth, heck he's #3 on my top 10 vocalist list. After 9-11 he decided he should do something and quit the band to be a police officer. He was replaced by Tim Owens, who is a great vocalist, but it didn't fit Iced Earth. So Barlow came back to record another album, but realized he couldn't do it anymore. So enter Stu Block of Into Eternity fame. Now Stu has a pretty killer range. I listed him on my top 10 vocalists awhile back too.

I was interested on how he would fit into Iced Earth...well wonder no more. They re-recorded Dante's Inferno with Stu on vocals and I have to admit it's pretty good. He sounds like a better fit than Tim Owens ever did. His vocals fit the music naturally, sometimes he sounds just like Barlow. I will say that he adds a little bit of the "death grunts" in there, and it fits perfectly. He doesn't go cookie monster, but lower than Barlow did. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. Now if we can just get some of those classic riffs from Night of the Stormrider and Burnt Offerings...


by the way this is a 17+ minute song...enjoy the ride.

Music Non Stop: 2010 surprises

As the year comes to a close I will go ahead and share with you two bands that almost came out of nowhere with great albums that will most likely be in the Top 10 and one of these looks like it will end up #1.

First up is Charred Walls of the Damned, what a mouthful right? Anyway, this has been labeled a "super-group" by some. Richard Christy left Iced Earth to be a side kick for Howard Stern, cool and weird at the same time I guess. So he decided to go ahead and make an album after about 6 - 7 years. So you put Richard on drums (known for work in Death and Iced Earth), Steve DiGiorio on bass (from such bands as Death, Iced Earth, Sadus, and Testament among others), Tim "Ripper" Owens on vocals (from Iced Earth, Judas Priest, and his solo band), and you round it off with Jason Suecof on guitar. Who? you might ask. Jason is more known for his producing skills Trivium, DevilDriver, God Forbid, The Autumn Offering) than his guitar playing, but he is a fine musician. In fact it's his solo on The Autumn Offering's Embrace the Gutter that made me pick up the album.

Ok so onto the album. What can I say... this is the album that Iced Earth should have released after The Glorious Burden. I don't mind the continuing of the Something Wicked Trilogy, but in terms of music, this is what Iced Earth could/should have sounded like. I mean it shouldn't surprise anyone, look at that line-up, 3/4 of them played in Iced Earth. The music is crisp and beautifully played. Ripper does a great job here. Let me say this, I am by no means a fan of Ripper. He's good. His best album for me was TGB because he showed some variety and wasn't trying to copy Halford (not his fault either). His solo stuff was average. But here he shines again. It's enough of the mid-range and enough of the high stuff for me. I love this album. And it came as a welcomed surprise when most bands are starting to sound alike, these guys stand out. Check out their Myspace, HERE.

Next up is Blaze Bayley. He of course came from Wolfsbane and more known Iron Maiden. He got screwed in Maiden and was forced out after two albums. So when I heard stuff from his solo debut I was shocked. I was so much better than Maiden, it was up there with Bruce Dickinson's solo material. Here is the lead track from the debut;

awesome. Anyway, the follow-up was good as well, but their 3rd album was pretty bad. I gave up on the band when everyone left. So when they released The Man Who Would Not Die, I didn't look at it (big mistake). This year came Promise and Terror. I caught the lead track and video and was instantly hooked. I sounded like it was right off the earlier albums.

The album is full of great tracks. God of Speed has one of the best riffs I have ever heard in a song and Comfortable in Darkness sounds like it was off of Iron Maiden's X-Factor, dark and brooding. This is a great album and it's great to see Blaze get some credit for it. Check out his Myspace, HERE.

Just a couple of surprise albums this year and there is one more, but not as good as these. Top 10 is just around the corner.

Who Decides: Top 5 Iced Earth studio albums

So I was looking at my Last.Fm profile last week and realized that I have listened to Iced Earth about 300+ times in the past two weeks. I can't explain the increase, but I will say Iced Earth is a great band. Earlier Iced Earth was classic thrash metal, minus the blistering solos. Horror Show saw some new elements sneak in like power metal and even a little sludge/doom.

Now I remember hearing about Iced Earth through the Megadeth forums. They went on tour with Megadeth one year and everyone on the boards kept talking about how good they were. Most fans suggested Something Wicked This Way Comes (SWTWC). I remember deciding between SWTWC and The Dark Saga, which had Spawn on the cover (and I was a huge Spawn fan at the time), but I went with the fan favorite and wasn't disappointed. The album is a classic. The guitars were reminiscent of Metallica/Megadeth and the vocals were clean singing...and reminded me of Paul Stanley. So from there I picked up Alive in Athens, Days of Purgatory, and then Horror Show. Which everyone said was bad, but it wasn't...it is a solid album in it's own right. Iced Earth plays epic type metal. Concept albums, trilogies, whatever you can think of that's Iced Earth.

Iced Earth lost some steam, but the albums up to The Glorious Burden are great. Anyone of them is a great listen. So onto the list.

One last thing, these are their studio albums only. If it was any album then it would be Alive in Athens. AiA is the best live album I have ever heard. The 3 disc album is worth every penny. All the classics are played here to perfection. This one album is the greatest hits up to Horror Show. If you are a fan or considering it...buy this first! Now onto the list;

5. Horror Show: I talked about it enough up there. So what is it like? It is their most diverse album musically. Definitely some power metal in there with Dracula. Phantom of the Opera Ghost is a first as they had a female vocalist sing with Matt Barlow. The album itself is about classic horror film villains. I stayed away from this album for a long time because of the complaints about it. It wasn't until I heard Jack on Century Media's Identity sampler that I realized how great this album could be. It is slower at times than most albums, but there are some great tracks.
Favorite Tracks: Jack, Phantom of the Opera Ghost, Dracula, Wolf.

4. The Dark Saga: this was the last Matt Barlow album I picked up. I was used to hearing all the songs on AiA. The studio versions are good, but something about the live version is what puts those versions over the top. Honestly, there isn't one bad song on the album. People complain about the length of the songs or the speed, but the songs are catchy as you know what. The last 3 songs make up the Suffering Trilogy. It's not as good as the SWTWC trilogy or Gettysburg trilogy, but it is what it is. It showed what was to come on SW. Every song is a winner, which can't be said of #3.
Favorite Tracks: I Died for You, The Last Laugh, Vengeance is Mine, A Question of Heaven.

3. Something Wicked This Way Comes: As I said, my first Iced Earth album. There are some filler tracks on here, Consequences & The Reaping Stone are just blah. Other than that it is a win. This jumps ahead of The Dark Saga because of one thing, the Something Wicked Trilogy. This is the trilogy that introduced us to Set Abominae, who despite Jon's best efforts, became their mascot. It was my first time listening to a song that was 20 minutes in length. It doesn't slow down or lose anything. The music is amazing. Iced Earth is great for your classic air guitar headbanging music and the trilogy doesn't disappoint. Throw in some piano interludes and you have a winner. Why isn't it higher? It took me awhile to realize that the track listing goes thrash to slow tempo back to fast, etc. It doesn't have a good flow. Plus the two fillers...
Favorite Tracks: Something Wicked Trilogy, Stand Alone, My Own Savior, Melancholy, Watching Over Me.

2. Night of the Stormrider: Let me be honest, if they redid this album with Matt Barlow on vocals it is easily #1. Musically it is a masterpiece. The speed of the title track is mindboggling. When I bought AiA, it had most of this album live, but when they remastered it I decided to buy the original. The vocalist, John Greely, isn't Matt Barlow and is kind of flat but he isn't horrible. Jon Schaffer's guitar makes up for any second rate singing. This is also a concept album which is a pretty dark story about a soldier who loses his faith and ends up killing a bunch of people. Then in the end...no remorse, whoa! I can still remember hearing the opening riff of Night of the Stormrider and just being blown away by it. I can't describe it so I will post it here as a video. It's the only song I will do this for.

The rest of the album is great as well. Pure Evil has that epic feel of changing tempos and sounding like a different song at certain points. Travel in Stygian has that great sing along chorus. From start to finish Night of the Stormrider is a winner. This albums has the most thrash influence on it. Solos are present and actually pretty good. This would go away with later albums, but here it works.
Favorite Tracks: Night of the Stormrider, Pure Evil, Travel in Stygian, Angels Holocaust.

1. Burnt Offerings: This wasn't my favorite album for awhile. It wasn't until I picked up the remaster version that I realized how good it was. Jon doesn't like it because he says it is "too dark" because it was written when he was upset at their label. This is the first album with Matt Barlow on vocals. The first song is the title track and it's over 7 minutes long. Last December is all about Matt's vocals. He carries this song. The riffs are great, but his vocals make it perfect. By the time you finish Diary, you realize this is a special album. The track starts off slow, then kicks into some serious thrash. Creator Failure might be a filler, but it gets a pass because of the albums true highlight, Dante's Inferno. This track is 16 minutes long based on the book of the same name. I can't describe it...it's just something that needs to be heard. This album is their highlight. It's not their peak, but definitely all the stars were in the right place for this one.

One last thought, how about that artwork? I know I have talked about it before, but Iced Earth easily has the best album artwork time and time again. I only picked up some of their albums based on artwork, remember this is before iTunes/Myspace when music was more readily available for sampling/streaming. It's kind of sad that cd's are going away because the artwork and linear notes/lyrics were always fun to read/look through.

Music Non Stop: Iced Earth

So I have a new tag, but not too new. I think this one will replace the old Spotlight tag. This will do the same thing and highlight some of my favorite bands.

Now I have talked about Iced Earth before. I really highlighted the artwork and some of their music. Now I left off with their Something Wicked part 1 album. A lot has changed since then. Gone is The Ripper Tim Owens and back is Matt Barlow. Now I listened to Something Wicked Part 1, Framing Armageddon and I really wanted to like this album. I mean I waited years to hear the continuation from Something Wicked This Way Comes. It just wasn't working for me. The original trilogy had such a sound. The guitars going from thrash to some acoustic to an eastern feel and then throw in some piano for good measure. This felt like a mid tempo, sludgy, mess. Or on the other songs that had some speed, it felt like The Glorious Burden all over again. Plus there were so many 1 minute songs, for dramatic effect. It didn't work. On top of it Tim Owens killed it for me. I liked the Ripper on The Glorious Burden and still don't think that Matt could do the Gettysburg trilogy, but for this album it needed Matt.

So for whatever reason, after part 2 was done being recorded out goes the Ripper and back comes Barlow. I picked up the EP with one new song and 3 re-recorded songs from part 1, with Matt's vocals over the Ripper's. While the music was still whatever, hearing Matt's vocals made the songs so much better.

They then released Part 2, The Crucible of Man. It didn't make my top 10 that year, but it was better for me that part 1. Matt's vocals are Iced Earth. There were rumors of them re-recording all of part 1 with Matt and releasing a box set, but that was put on hold when the recession hit.

I am excited to hear some new Iced Earth. I doubt it will happen anytime soon though. Matt is a police officer and Jon has a new side project call Sons of Liberty. Which takes his love of the country to new heights. It's good, but it's not Iced Earth.

I will probably talk about some of thier "epic" songs later, like The Phantom of the Opera, Dante's Inferno, or Gettysburg. Some excellent writing.

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Now playing: Iced Earth - Travel In Stygian
via FoxyTunes

Iced Earth

Well this band holds a special place in my heart and always will...why? Iced Earth was the first real band I got into after Metallica& Megadeth ran their course for me. I remembered hearing about Iced Earth on tour with Megadeth. The Megadeth boards were on fire about how good this band was so I decided to check them out. Now the first thing I noticed about the band is the high quality artwork they have for their albums. Check them out.








Now let's talk about the music. Iced Earth plays a sort of NWOBHM/thrash metal mix. Imagine Iron Maiden on steroids. Instead of Steve Harris' galloping bass line you get a heavy head banging guitar riff. My first Iced Earth album was Something Wicked This Way Comes, which is good because the sequel to that album comes out later this year. Something Wicked is a solid album from start to finish, but you quickly notice the fast song then slow song pattern for the entire album. You can't get into a rhythm to either bang your head or get out your lighter. The shining moment on the album, and this is what hooked me on Iced Earth, is the Something Wicked Trilogy. 3 songs linked together clocking in at about 25 minutes. I had never heard anything like this before. In a nut shell, the trilogy talks about this character who is destined to destroy all of mankind...oh yeah I guess I should note the fact the lyrics aren't happy, if you need more proof let's look at their 2nd album.

Night of the Stormrider is a concept album about a soldier who loses his faith in religion and decides to take it out on mankind. The really evil thing about this is that he doesn't have any regrets and would do it again. Musically, NotS is probably my favorite IE album. The riffs and time/tempo changes through out the entire album are really great. The intro riff to Stormrider is probably one of my all time favorites.

One last thing about Iced Earth...the line up changes. Until the 2 part album is released, no album has had the same line up from one album to the next...is this a problem? Not really, starting with Burnt Offerings, Matt Barlow took over the vocal duties. Now the previous 2 vocalists were good, in fact I heard the only reason the guy from NotS was dropped was because of his cocky attitude. But Matt Barlow quickly became the voice of Iced Earth. The next 4 albums and one live album are all solid albums, especially the live album. If you can find the 3 disc live album, Alive in Athens, or the 2 disc Days of Purgatory get them. They give a great overview of Iced Earth minus Horror Show and The Glorious Burden. After HS, Matt Barlow left the band due to his reaction to 9/11, enter Tim Owens of Judas Priest. Now Tim Owens is a good vocalist, but for me he is too much like Rob Halford. If I want Rob Halford I will listen to Judas Priest or Halford. TGB was a solid album, but it was missing a lot. The riffs didn't seem to be their the whole time and the vocals were always high.

So now we sit back and wait for 2 Iced Earth albums this year. I have heard the EP, Overture of the Wicked, and I am not super happy, but I am not giving up on them. This is Jon's baby, he has been waiting to finish the Something Wicked Trilogy for 2 albums now. I don't think he can mess it up.