Band review #2: Iced Earth

[SilverSpoon]

Well, I'm bored again, so I will continue my band review saga. At the old forum I did a short one about Canadian extreme metal band Cryptopsy, but I had only listened to one of their albums when I did it (None So Vile) so I wasn't as informed as I should have been. Now I will do a review of my favourite band, Iced Earth.

http://www.icedearth.com

Iced Earth was formed in Indiana in 1984 under the name of Purgatory. Leading the pack was rhythm guitarist Jon Schaffer, who is the only original member still in the band today. Much of their music deals with horror themes, death, mythical stories, etc. They're kind of a traditional metal band with some elements of power metal and thrash, drawing influences from bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Metallica, AC/DC, and KISS. The Maiden influence is especially noticable with the galloping riffs Schaffer writes, reminiscient of the galloping riffs heard in many Maiden songs. According to the official site, Iced Earth is "a much faster horse" compared to Iron Maiden. The galloping is somewhat of a trademark for Schaffer now. It's his style of playing. Very few songs are without it. But what I like most is how he does it with such speed and precision. He's like a machine. I consider him to be one of the best rhythm guitarists in the metal world.

After moving the band to Florida and taking on the name Iced Earth, they recorded their infamous demo called Enter the Relm, and later their first album (self titled) under Century Media in 1991. Their second album, Night of the Stormrider, was released in 1992 and featured new vocalist John Greely, replacing Gene Adams. It's a concept album about a man who turns away from religion in anger and becomes and agent of evil and death. Their third album released in 1995, called Burnt Offerings, featured yet another vocalist by the name of Matthew Barlow, who would end up staying with the band until about 2003. Barlow was a HUGE step up from the first two vocalists, who sort of imitated Rob Halford...poorly. Barlow can growl like a demon, wail like a police siren, and croon you into an emotional frenzy. Interesting things...Barlow ended up marrying Jon Schaffer's sister, and Schaffer married Barlow's sister. Happy metal family. Once he joined, though, Schaffer's riffing seemed to take a step back to let Barlow shine through. Their fourth album in 1996 was called The Dark Saga, and was another concept album, this time about the story of the comic book character "Spawn." In 1997 they went back to all the old material and re-recorded it with Matthew Barlow for the Days of Purgatory disc. Personally, I think it's 10 times better than the originals since Barlow is a much more capable vocalist. 1998 brought the album Something Wicked This Way Comes, which has a hallowed "Something Wicked Trilogy" ending the album. Three songs telling a story Schaffer created about the coming of the anti-Christ. Their 2001 album, Horror Show, would be Barlow's last with the band. Each song, with the exception of one, tells the tale of a classic horror movie monster (Dracula, the wolf man, Jekyll & Hyde to name a few) and features Barlow's most amazing vocal performance. And their latest album, 2004's The Glorious Burden, is another thematic album with new vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens, who was fresh off the Judas Priest boat after replacing Rob Halford. With Tim, Iced Earth's vocals went back to their early days since he is basically a Rob Halford imitator, but does a damn fine job! The theme of The Glorious Burden is history, and particularly big wars and events. Some things they go over are the battle of Waterloo, the Vietnam war, America's independence, Attila the Hun, and they close the album with a 32 minute epic about the battle of Gettysburg during the American civil war. It's split up into 3 songs which flow nicely into each other to make one gigantic song, each covering one day of the battle. It's certainly a great live setpiece!

That's pretty much their history up until now. Schaffer says he is working on two albums right now that continue the "Something Wicked" story. It'll be two concept albums, released six months apart from each other, with a total of three hours between them. Apparently it was supposed to be released this year, but so far there has been no news about it.

One interesting thing about this band is that it is totally controlled by Jon Schaffer. He has often stated that the band is just a means for him to get his songs out, and he will do whatever it takes for that to happen, which is why there has never been a steady line-up. If you ever look at a line-up for each album, at least one member will be different, whether it be a drummer, bass player, lead guitarist or vocalist. For example, he didn't think original vocalist Gene Adams was up for the task for the second album, because he wrote it with more demanding vocals, so he fired him and hired John Greely. He's an employer and they are his employees.

Some tracks I would recommend (by album):

Iced Earth (1991):
-Colors
-Iced Earth

Night of the Stormrider (1992):
-Stormrider
-Travel in Stygian

Burnt Offerings (1995):
-Dante's Inferno
-Brainwashed

The Dark Saga (1996):
-The Hunter
-A Question of Heaven

Something Wicked This Way Comes (1998):
-Watching Over Me
-The Coming Curse

Horror Show (2001):
-Dracula
-Phantom Opera Ghost

The Glorious Burden (2004):
-Waterloo
-Gettysburg (1863)

And now for a sound sample! Here's some clips of four of their songs. First one is When the Night Falls. You can get a sense of the galloping I was talking about. The second is Watching Over Me, to show their ballady side. The third is Dracula, showcasing Matthew Barlow's vocal talent, and the last is part of Gettysburg, showcasing Tim Owens' vocals.

Click to download

A friend gave me a copy of The Glorious Burden a couple weeks ago. I liked the entire album. Thanks for the info.