After having waited this important album for years, expectations were very
high and there have been some worries. Since the original
trilogy Matt left, evey member of the band have changed but Jon stuck with his
vision of writing the followup. He always stated how much he cares about
this project and was waiting the right time. And the right time has come!
The songle Ten thousand Strong and the song that played in Wacken,
A charge to keep made us excited.
Finally the wait is over and I bought Framing Armageddon last morning when
they opened. I was doing a road trip for 7 hours so I listened it 6 times
from beginning to the end without interruptions during that trip. even after
first spin I could say this but now I can only state one thing:
THIS IS THE BEST IE ALBUM EVER DONE! I know how strong this sounds and I'm
an old and long time fan. Jon once more proved how kind of song writing wizard he
is and his strongest talent is his ability of storytelling. After Jon who wrote
all and played all guitars Tim is the other star of the album. He crowns the
amazing vocal melodies Jon wrote with his classic and also never heard before
singing technics.
Knowing the story and following is a must for this album. At least you have to
listen from beginning to the end with lyrics. If you don't do that the final
score of teh album migth drop 1 grade and that would be an aweful waste.
For those who don't know, in 98's Something Wicked This way comes album
there was a trilogy at the end. According to the story told there, human race
comes to the Earth form space and invade it by massacring the native people,
Setian Race. After that few Setian survivors hide for for millenia and
wiat for the Chosen One that is described in The Prophecy. This savior would
make them reclaim the world back. While waiting the birth of the Chosen one
(Set Abominae), they blend in human societies, divide them and have big impact
on the history of mankind.At the end of the triology SA is born and the long
wait is over. Something Wicked part 1: Framing Armageddon and the continuation
of it Smething Wicked part 2: Revelation Abomination(due next year!!) retells
this story with details. FA covers up to the birth of the SA amd RA the rest.
What makes this story so great is that it overlaps with the mankind's actual
history. It gives answers to the wars, divisions, the religions and to
fundemental philopshical questions like "where do we come here?",
"What's our purpose?".
Now let's analyse the album song by song , following the story:
Overture: A great opening intro song to the story. Cello is so emotional
and nothign could sound better there. The classical triology melody is
also heard. We instantly feel that something special awaits us.
Something Wicked part 1: A classical IE opening song (means great). The
first words of the song "I can see clearly now..." is the same with the
opening of "The Prophecy" . That's very nice for us, old fans. First here
Tim starts to rips us. At the beginning he sings with a different voice
THEN around 2:00 the singing style changes and the vocal melody and his voice
there is so emotional and touchy.
The chorus:
Faith in the prophecy
We'll take this tragedy, unite as one
Fate, show man no sympathy
Something Wicked feeds, thy will be done
is meant to be sung in concerts all together. The verses that strat with
So heed my word and Ten thousand souls are so intense. I kept wanting
more, at least one more body of text like those. With the drum outro I feel
this song is too short . The album is 68 min long but almost every song
makes me feel to want more.
Invasion : Very short piece which helps the story telling. It signals the
human invasion of Earth.
The motivation of Man: One of the very few songs that are written from human perspective.
Men invades the earth for the power and knowledge. They will no longer feel
inferior. That's their motivation. Jon wrote here another great vocal melody
for Tim.
Setian Massacre : The songs starts with Tim's scream. it contains the same
vocal melody as Invasion. The lyrics are very strong and tells the massacre.
All they've ever known is dead!
All they have ever loved is dead!
All they have ever dreamt is dead!
The only hope is waiting for the chosen one. First time ever it
talkas about "The clouding". Many times we will hear about it
from now on but basically it signifies the lost state of men.
They lose their memory and they don't know from where they came.
A charge to keep: When it was played it Wacken it had affcted me very much.
It has a simple yet beautiful rthym and it's the ballad of the album.
The chorus is amazing. It tells the reflections of the person who's
gonna lead Setians during the difficult times. That person asks for
strenght from God to bear his burden.
Reflections: Acoustic song that gives us important info about the story.
Now we see that the person in the previous song is the leader of a
council of 13. The Elder lives in that council and watcher's eye are with
them. Their future depends on this council untul SA is born.
Ten Thousand Strong: The awesome single of the album. It has classical IE
heaviness and tempo. The chorus is amazing. What Setians posses is what's
humans are after. They have to hide and wait. Mother Earth are with them and
is sad with currennt situation. Despite the sorrow and sadness they have to
be prepared. Also this song states that they erase human memories and they
no longer know where they come from. It's one of my faves since the single is out.
Execution: Some important Setian person is being executed here, probably
the leader of the Council. Similarities with the original triology and
Tim's scream are awesome.
Order of the Rose: It contains one of the best vocal melodies. Tim shines in
every song differently. Order of the Rose is a secret Setian society that
works on human decline. They are coming to key human positions and
they are oppurtunistic. They see menkind's need for the religion and they
quench their thirst with the prophets, priests and make them divided in
the name of God. It's the first song that tells about dividing by
religion concept. One of my faves.
Cataclysm: Instrumental passage that supports the story. I think "The clouding"
starts to happen here.
The Clouding: One of the most importnat songs of the album cause it's the
only song that tells the story from both views and gives away important
info. First half is from a man which tells about his concerns. His unable
to find answers to his philosophical questions. With time new tongues are
emerging and they are getting away from each other. Tribes are forming.
In the second part of the song the song gets crazy and it tells about
human race's weaknesses.
Lies, the human core is lies
Fate, we sailed human fate
Pain, mankind will know pain
Death, they will know pain
These lines are great. The humanity is unable to live in harmony with the
Mother Nature and they are "clouded".
Infiltrate and Assimilate: It tells about the story of Sets are blending
in human societies and assimilating them. It's one of the rare songs that
has other writing credit than Jon. Setians let humans create new cultures,
countries fasist or free so that they are always in conflict. Domino Decree
concept from the original triology is told first time here. With the
domino effect they are planiing to destroy mankind.
Retribution Through the ages: Millenia pass but their plans are intact and
working. Kingdoms, armies are forming. Human population multiplies. For gold,
land they are always fighting. Setians see humans like their puppets, they are
manupulating them while they are waiting SA's birth. The chorus of the
song is great for live shows. Tim is so good on main verses.
Something Wicked Part 2: Amazing etnic percussion solo starts the song and
others join in time. Great very original intrumental song. Jon uses
all the different instrumenmts so well to give the feel of the story. I hope
it gets played live. It would be nuts live.
The Domino Decree: From the beginning it's one of the most striking songs ever
on the album. The music is great. What's interesting is Tim is on the writing
credits but not for the vocals but the music! An instant classic!
Everything is going as planned. The empires rise and fall. Human thread is
diminishing and the situation what Setians want are happening.
Framing Armageddon : The title track of the album and it's not for nothing!
It tells the key idea of creating 3 religions and making people fight for
them. The prophet and religion names are used geniously. This is one of
the songs you love at the first listen. The final part of the song is
crazy, it makes a peak and Tim is so strong. FRAMING ARMAGEDDON!!!!!
When Stars Collide (born is he) : The times has come! Set Abominae is born!
Very beautiful song.
The Awakening : Beautiful outro song with choirs. It will lead us to the
second CD. It's a great way to pause for after an amazing 68 minute trip.
It's not the period it's just a comma.
At first 3-4 songs captivated me but the whoel album is one entity and evey
single second gives great satisfaction. I was lucky to listen it 6 times
in a row without interruption so that's why I think I'm able to write a review
about it. Otherwise it would be unfair to write in such a short time. It's
an amazing album that requires special attention.
As usual the booklet art is great. As a comics fan Jon always says that he
could publish a companinion comics that would go with this story. The artwork
inside reflects these very well. 666 logo is perfect. We could see it at the
the Wacken stage. The story is so rich for marchendising.
A couple reflections on the story:
- Setians believe in God but they are introducting religion concept to cause
trouble to mankind. They are in harmony with Mother Nature and she loves em.
- Humanity has the technology to come from space and invide the Earth. But
they somehow decline and goes back in tech tree and live middle ages etc.
I think they lose those knowledges during clouding. Also from where they are
coming from?
- Jon's one of the biggest success of story wirting is his ability to
match real human history with this story.
Overall:
Tim is a great singer. With this album he reaches another peak. Those
who badmouth him are ridiculous. It's great that Jon and Tim are
working well together. We have already seen many great things from them
and I'm sure we will see many more. After Jon, Tim makes the biggest
addition to this album.
For Jon, whatever I'll say won't be enough! in 98 I fell in love with Wicked
when it was out. Before and after it, he wrote great stuff. The
followup of wicked story was always in minds and we have been waiting
it anxiously. Writing the story, music, lyrics and recording all the guitars
and basses ALONE is a giant's work. Like a DIRECTOR, like he takes care
of everything about the band, he dealth with this album by himself alone,
deciated 2 years for it and once again he made his fans happy. He improved yet
once more his most strong ability, song writing. Sadly in our age the albums
are short lived and yet he managed to create a concept album that will
stand the test of time. If this album was out in 80's it would be a legend
like Mindcrime. Sadly it will only reach a limited number of the people.
When TTS was out I said this and now I'm repeating with greater awe:
YOU ARE A BIG LEGEND JON!
I'm an old and long time IE fan. After having listened this album one and
half day, I'm telling this is the best IE album ever. I'm not important
but if it's possible to say this let's face that we have something
huge here. At my age there are not many albums that excite me that much and
attract me home to listen to it once more. For makng this possible
I thank Jon one more time.
Please listen to it with headphones or with a good system from begiing
to the end with the booklet. With mp3s on computer you would
be unfair to this album.
The tour of this album can't be missed. Jon has to play this album
from beginning to the end and record it! It's going to be historical.
Especially when we think the second CD is coming next summer!
Promo Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixfKi8juufs
TSS video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcyEK-3xV4o
A charge to keep in wacken :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkJW5ZrAB20
Take notice of 666 logos.
high and there have been some worries. Since the original
trilogy Matt left, evey member of the band have changed but Jon stuck with his
vision of writing the followup. He always stated how much he cares about
this project and was waiting the right time. And the right time has come!
The songle Ten thousand Strong and the song that played in Wacken,
A charge to keep made us excited.
Finally the wait is over and I bought Framing Armageddon last morning when
they opened. I was doing a road trip for 7 hours so I listened it 6 times
from beginning to the end without interruptions during that trip. even after
first spin I could say this but now I can only state one thing:
THIS IS THE BEST IE ALBUM EVER DONE! I know how strong this sounds and I'm
an old and long time fan. Jon once more proved how kind of song writing wizard he
is and his strongest talent is his ability of storytelling. After Jon who wrote
all and played all guitars Tim is the other star of the album. He crowns the
amazing vocal melodies Jon wrote with his classic and also never heard before
singing technics.
Knowing the story and following is a must for this album. At least you have to
listen from beginning to the end with lyrics. If you don't do that the final
score of teh album migth drop 1 grade and that would be an aweful waste.
For those who don't know, in 98's Something Wicked This way comes album
there was a trilogy at the end. According to the story told there, human race
comes to the Earth form space and invade it by massacring the native people,
Setian Race. After that few Setian survivors hide for for millenia and
wiat for the Chosen One that is described in The Prophecy. This savior would
make them reclaim the world back. While waiting the birth of the Chosen one
(Set Abominae), they blend in human societies, divide them and have big impact
on the history of mankind.At the end of the triology SA is born and the long
wait is over. Something Wicked part 1: Framing Armageddon and the continuation
of it Smething Wicked part 2: Revelation Abomination(due next year!!) retells
this story with details. FA covers up to the birth of the SA amd RA the rest.
What makes this story so great is that it overlaps with the mankind's actual
history. It gives answers to the wars, divisions, the religions and to
fundemental philopshical questions like "where do we come here?",
"What's our purpose?".
Now let's analyse the album song by song , following the story:
Overture: A great opening intro song to the story. Cello is so emotional
and nothign could sound better there. The classical triology melody is
also heard. We instantly feel that something special awaits us.
Something Wicked part 1: A classical IE opening song (means great). The
first words of the song "I can see clearly now..." is the same with the
opening of "The Prophecy" . That's very nice for us, old fans. First here
Tim starts to rips us. At the beginning he sings with a different voice
THEN around 2:00 the singing style changes and the vocal melody and his voice
there is so emotional and touchy.
The chorus:
Faith in the prophecy
We'll take this tragedy, unite as one
Fate, show man no sympathy
Something Wicked feeds, thy will be done
is meant to be sung in concerts all together. The verses that strat with
So heed my word and Ten thousand souls are so intense. I kept wanting
more, at least one more body of text like those. With the drum outro I feel
this song is too short . The album is 68 min long but almost every song
makes me feel to want more.
Invasion : Very short piece which helps the story telling. It signals the
human invasion of Earth.
The motivation of Man: One of the very few songs that are written from human perspective.
Men invades the earth for the power and knowledge. They will no longer feel
inferior. That's their motivation. Jon wrote here another great vocal melody
for Tim.
Setian Massacre : The songs starts with Tim's scream. it contains the same
vocal melody as Invasion. The lyrics are very strong and tells the massacre.
All they've ever known is dead!
All they have ever loved is dead!
All they have ever dreamt is dead!
The only hope is waiting for the chosen one. First time ever it
talkas about "The clouding". Many times we will hear about it
from now on but basically it signifies the lost state of men.
They lose their memory and they don't know from where they came.
A charge to keep: When it was played it Wacken it had affcted me very much.
It has a simple yet beautiful rthym and it's the ballad of the album.
The chorus is amazing. It tells the reflections of the person who's
gonna lead Setians during the difficult times. That person asks for
strenght from God to bear his burden.
Reflections: Acoustic song that gives us important info about the story.
Now we see that the person in the previous song is the leader of a
council of 13. The Elder lives in that council and watcher's eye are with
them. Their future depends on this council untul SA is born.
Ten Thousand Strong: The awesome single of the album. It has classical IE
heaviness and tempo. The chorus is amazing. What Setians posses is what's
humans are after. They have to hide and wait. Mother Earth are with them and
is sad with currennt situation. Despite the sorrow and sadness they have to
be prepared. Also this song states that they erase human memories and they
no longer know where they come from. It's one of my faves since the single is out.
Execution: Some important Setian person is being executed here, probably
the leader of the Council. Similarities with the original triology and
Tim's scream are awesome.
Order of the Rose: It contains one of the best vocal melodies. Tim shines in
every song differently. Order of the Rose is a secret Setian society that
works on human decline. They are coming to key human positions and
they are oppurtunistic. They see menkind's need for the religion and they
quench their thirst with the prophets, priests and make them divided in
the name of God. It's the first song that tells about dividing by
religion concept. One of my faves.
Cataclysm: Instrumental passage that supports the story. I think "The clouding"
starts to happen here.
The Clouding: One of the most importnat songs of the album cause it's the
only song that tells the story from both views and gives away important
info. First half is from a man which tells about his concerns. His unable
to find answers to his philosophical questions. With time new tongues are
emerging and they are getting away from each other. Tribes are forming.
In the second part of the song the song gets crazy and it tells about
human race's weaknesses.
Lies, the human core is lies
Fate, we sailed human fate
Pain, mankind will know pain
Death, they will know pain
These lines are great. The humanity is unable to live in harmony with the
Mother Nature and they are "clouded".
Infiltrate and Assimilate: It tells about the story of Sets are blending
in human societies and assimilating them. It's one of the rare songs that
has other writing credit than Jon. Setians let humans create new cultures,
countries fasist or free so that they are always in conflict. Domino Decree
concept from the original triology is told first time here. With the
domino effect they are planiing to destroy mankind.
Retribution Through the ages: Millenia pass but their plans are intact and
working. Kingdoms, armies are forming. Human population multiplies. For gold,
land they are always fighting. Setians see humans like their puppets, they are
manupulating them while they are waiting SA's birth. The chorus of the
song is great for live shows. Tim is so good on main verses.
Something Wicked Part 2: Amazing etnic percussion solo starts the song and
others join in time. Great very original intrumental song. Jon uses
all the different instrumenmts so well to give the feel of the story. I hope
it gets played live. It would be nuts live.
The Domino Decree: From the beginning it's one of the most striking songs ever
on the album. The music is great. What's interesting is Tim is on the writing
credits but not for the vocals but the music! An instant classic!
Everything is going as planned. The empires rise and fall. Human thread is
diminishing and the situation what Setians want are happening.
Framing Armageddon : The title track of the album and it's not for nothing!
It tells the key idea of creating 3 religions and making people fight for
them. The prophet and religion names are used geniously. This is one of
the songs you love at the first listen. The final part of the song is
crazy, it makes a peak and Tim is so strong. FRAMING ARMAGEDDON!!!!!
When Stars Collide (born is he) : The times has come! Set Abominae is born!
Very beautiful song.
The Awakening : Beautiful outro song with choirs. It will lead us to the
second CD. It's a great way to pause for after an amazing 68 minute trip.
It's not the period it's just a comma.
At first 3-4 songs captivated me but the whoel album is one entity and evey
single second gives great satisfaction. I was lucky to listen it 6 times
in a row without interruption so that's why I think I'm able to write a review
about it. Otherwise it would be unfair to write in such a short time. It's
an amazing album that requires special attention.
As usual the booklet art is great. As a comics fan Jon always says that he
could publish a companinion comics that would go with this story. The artwork
inside reflects these very well. 666 logo is perfect. We could see it at the
the Wacken stage. The story is so rich for marchendising.
A couple reflections on the story:
- Setians believe in God but they are introducting religion concept to cause
trouble to mankind. They are in harmony with Mother Nature and she loves em.
- Humanity has the technology to come from space and invide the Earth. But
they somehow decline and goes back in tech tree and live middle ages etc.
I think they lose those knowledges during clouding. Also from where they are
coming from?
- Jon's one of the biggest success of story wirting is his ability to
match real human history with this story.
Overall:
Tim is a great singer. With this album he reaches another peak. Those
who badmouth him are ridiculous. It's great that Jon and Tim are
working well together. We have already seen many great things from them
and I'm sure we will see many more. After Jon, Tim makes the biggest
addition to this album.
For Jon, whatever I'll say won't be enough! in 98 I fell in love with Wicked
when it was out. Before and after it, he wrote great stuff. The
followup of wicked story was always in minds and we have been waiting
it anxiously. Writing the story, music, lyrics and recording all the guitars
and basses ALONE is a giant's work. Like a DIRECTOR, like he takes care
of everything about the band, he dealth with this album by himself alone,
deciated 2 years for it and once again he made his fans happy. He improved yet
once more his most strong ability, song writing. Sadly in our age the albums
are short lived and yet he managed to create a concept album that will
stand the test of time. If this album was out in 80's it would be a legend
like Mindcrime. Sadly it will only reach a limited number of the people.
When TTS was out I said this and now I'm repeating with greater awe:
YOU ARE A BIG LEGEND JON!
I'm an old and long time IE fan. After having listened this album one and
half day, I'm telling this is the best IE album ever. I'm not important
but if it's possible to say this let's face that we have something
huge here. At my age there are not many albums that excite me that much and
attract me home to listen to it once more. For makng this possible
I thank Jon one more time.
Please listen to it with headphones or with a good system from begiing
to the end with the booklet. With mp3s on computer you would
be unfair to this album.
The tour of this album can't be missed. Jon has to play this album
from beginning to the end and record it! It's going to be historical.
Especially when we think the second CD is coming next summer!
Promo Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixfKi8juufs
TSS video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcyEK-3xV4o
A charge to keep in wacken :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkJW5ZrAB20
Take notice of 666 logos.
