I have been listening to this so much over the last week, it is fucking amazing. One of the best pieces of metal I have ever heard, no exaggeration. It boggles the mind that the same mind that wrote this whole epic also comes up with cheesey shite like 'When The Eagle Cries', and mediocre stuff like 'Hollow Man'. Not to worry though, Gettysburg is worth the price of the album alone, it is just incredible. If it was released as a seperate EP or something, it would be a contender for my favourite IE release alongside BO. God I can't wait for the DVD!
Ripper sounds amazing, I never imagined he would fit the music so well and sound so good, and I NEVER thought I would be left thinking 'Matt who?', especially since I love Matt's vocals so much. I also didn't think it would be able to stack up against the other trilogies Jon has written, but it outstrips them by a mile. I think its main strength is that all three songs are excellent and the quality doesn't slip throughout the whole thing, where as with say the Something Wicked trilogy, The Coming Curse is clearly the best song of the 3.
Listening to it again today I noticed a few parts that have a very Maiden-ish feel about them, more so than I have noticed in any other Iced Earth material. As far as epics go, I think Jon has even outdone Maiden this time, hell he has outdone everyone. The emotion and atmosphere at the start of Hold At All Costs (the Brother Against Brother part leading into the awesome riffing), and at the climax in High Water Mark (Armistead's speech) literally send shivers down my spine and knocks me around every time. Absolutley. Fucking. Brilliant.
Ripper sounds amazing, I never imagined he would fit the music so well and sound so good, and I NEVER thought I would be left thinking 'Matt who?', especially since I love Matt's vocals so much. I also didn't think it would be able to stack up against the other trilogies Jon has written, but it outstrips them by a mile. I think its main strength is that all three songs are excellent and the quality doesn't slip throughout the whole thing, where as with say the Something Wicked trilogy, The Coming Curse is clearly the best song of the 3.
Listening to it again today I noticed a few parts that have a very Maiden-ish feel about them, more so than I have noticed in any other Iced Earth material. As far as epics go, I think Jon has even outdone Maiden this time, hell he has outdone everyone. The emotion and atmosphere at the start of Hold At All Costs (the Brother Against Brother part leading into the awesome riffing), and at the climax in High Water Mark (Armistead's speech) literally send shivers down my spine and knocks me around every time. Absolutley. Fucking. Brilliant.
