Iced Earth questions for Spawn
- Thread starter Wrathchild
- Start date
Blitzkrieg
Master Exploder
I don't like downloading albums before I buy them, as the songs are always inferior quality and you are not as impressed as you should be. I guess it makes the album sound super sweet when you crank the cd though.
First impressions are important.
Blitzkrieg
Master Exploder
I have The Reckoning and heard the original samples on the website from ages back, but that was just so I could keep up with all the discussion on the net. I am not getting anything else until I pick it up next week.
1.) Star-Spangled Banner
I didnt bother getting this, its a metalised version of the US national anthem.
2.) Declaration Day
This ones pretty good, it has a choirish chorus again which I hate, but what can you do, otherwise not bad. Lyrics arent exactly Tolstoy, but all in all its quite passable, its about the pilgrims when they first got to the US.
3.) When the Eagle Cries
I dont like this song. Its repetitive and has bad lyrics.
4.) The Reckoning
I hate the chorus, like the rest. Most people have heard this so you know whether you like it or not
5.) Greenface
You shouldnt write crap lyrics to good music, it really ruins it. REALLY ruins it. So does Tim going "On land, in the air, at sea" in a choir voice. Silly. Lyrics killed this one for me. Theres a nice scream in the chorus though. This is about Navy Seals, because Jons friend is one. I think its nice to write a song about animals that only get appreciated when they balance a ball on their nose.
6.) Attila
I really like this one, sounds a bit like Stormrider stuff, not as aggressive but you will see what I mean when you hear it. Cool drum intro, with a little bit of chanting, and then it kicks in to the traditional/played out (depending on how much you like old Iced Earth) gallop with a double bass chorus 
And Ripper does one of the best screams ever, its not a pansy clean scream, its one that sounds like he was actually killing people with a baseball bat in the studio when he did it, I REALLY like it. In fact its now officially up there with Toms scream at the start of Angel Of Death. Great song.
7.) Red Baron/Blue Max
I didnt like this at first when I heard the clip, but its grown on me and I think its pretty damn great now, especially when Ripper does the "Ace of aces" bit and screams so high dogs everywhere will go completely nuts. The boy certainly has a set of lungs on him. Should sound really good live too. Not that we will ever find out in person. Probably.
8.) Hollow Man
CRAP. Next.
9.) Valley Forge
Passable, not quite the traditional IE filler thats been polluting the later albums sometimes, but not great. Sounds like a Demons And Wizards track if you take away the lyrics actually. This one has the gallop going again, but on acoustic guitar this time. The lyrics are a bit silly, but its not a terrible song, just could have been better had he worked on the lyrics more.
10.) Waterloo
This ones a bit repetitive riff wise, and has really boring lyrics. Filler IMHO.
11.) When the Eagle Cries (Unplugged)
Its crap... ACOUSTIC STYLE!
12.) The Devil To Pay
Ill have this one in about half an hour.
13.) Hold At All Costs
I thought the lyrics werent too good when I first listened to it but after giving it a few more listens ive changed my mind, its from the viewpoint of a soldier so the lyrics are ok from the perspective, still not Tolstoy though. It has a nice acoustic starting, then goes into a great riff, with a cool harmony break after each verse. Its 7 minutes long and pretty damn cool.
14.) High Water Mark
Awesome drum intro, sorta like Trust by Deth, and the orchestra comes in and sounds most excellent indeed to put it mildly, the starting goes for 2 minutes and is some of IEs best music ever, brilliant buildup.
This one starts lyrically with Lee and Longstreet arguing over the attack over an acoustic guitar and orchestra. Then they attack and 2 very cool riffs come in.
Then after some singing about the charge starting a whole bunch of battle sounds go off over an orchestral bit with a drum beat, it sounds really good, it will be awesome in surround sound.
Then it goes instrumental for a bit, lots of orchestra stuff, Jon should have gotten them ages ago, it sounds awesome. Then theres more battle sounds over the orchestra, and it ends with General Lee going on about how he got his ass kicked. I like it. Its 12:35 long.
So, to sum up: The lyrics are pretty bad overall, it sounds like Jon just took them straight from a textbook and put no real thought into them whatsoever. Expect a lot of "They arrived at dawn, prepared for battle, the war was on" kind of stuff. It almost feels like being at school again, but lots more metal.
Once you get past the lyrics its not too bad of an album. Its one of IEs worst, but still better than most of the dross released these days. I give 6.5, maybe it will get a 7 once ive given it a few days to grow on me, in fact it probably deserves a 7 so ill give it one now.
The high points are great and what I would expect from an IE album, but the filler is awful (WTEC, Waterloo, Hollow Man im looking at YOU), and lyrically the album goes from passable/average to embarrassingly bad depending on the song.
There should have been more orchestra too, it sounds brilliant and fits the songs really well. Id say its worth buying, what I consider to be ok/not bad songs like Declaration Day and Valley Forge other people might like a lot, as they arent bad songs in the sense of completely worthless, just could have been better with a bit more work.
Anyway, Red Baron, Attila, Hold At All Costs, High Water Mark and Devil To Pay (Im assuming this track for the moment as I havent heard a bad word about it) are all brilliant and so thats 40 minutes worth of *great* metal, and then 3 songs of ok metal and some filler, you can decide if thats enough for you, im sure it will be for most people.
Im just glad the Something Wicked album will pull Jons head from his arse and make him write much better lyrics.
I didnt bother getting this, its a metalised version of the US national anthem.
2.) Declaration Day
This ones pretty good, it has a choirish chorus again which I hate, but what can you do, otherwise not bad. Lyrics arent exactly Tolstoy, but all in all its quite passable, its about the pilgrims when they first got to the US.
3.) When the Eagle Cries
I dont like this song. Its repetitive and has bad lyrics.
4.) The Reckoning
I hate the chorus, like the rest. Most people have heard this so you know whether you like it or not
5.) Greenface
You shouldnt write crap lyrics to good music, it really ruins it. REALLY ruins it. So does Tim going "On land, in the air, at sea" in a choir voice. Silly. Lyrics killed this one for me. Theres a nice scream in the chorus though. This is about Navy Seals, because Jons friend is one. I think its nice to write a song about animals that only get appreciated when they balance a ball on their nose.
6.) Attila
I really like this one, sounds a bit like Stormrider stuff, not as aggressive but you will see what I mean when you hear it. Cool drum intro, with a little bit of chanting, and then it kicks in to the traditional/played out (depending on how much you like old Iced Earth) gallop with a double bass chorus And Ripper does one of the best screams ever, its not a pansy clean scream, its one that sounds like he was actually killing people with a baseball bat in the studio when he did it, I REALLY like it. In fact its now officially up there with Toms scream at the start of Angel Of Death. Great song.
7.) Red Baron/Blue Max
I didnt like this at first when I heard the clip, but its grown on me and I think its pretty damn great now, especially when Ripper does the "Ace of aces" bit and screams so high dogs everywhere will go completely nuts. The boy certainly has a set of lungs on him. Should sound really good live too. Not that we will ever find out in person. Probably.
8.) Hollow Man
CRAP. Next.
9.) Valley Forge
Passable, not quite the traditional IE filler thats been polluting the later albums sometimes, but not great. Sounds like a Demons And Wizards track if you take away the lyrics actually. This one has the gallop going again, but on acoustic guitar this time. The lyrics are a bit silly, but its not a terrible song, just could have been better had he worked on the lyrics more.
10.) Waterloo
This ones a bit repetitive riff wise, and has really boring lyrics. Filler IMHO.
11.) When the Eagle Cries (Unplugged)
Its crap... ACOUSTIC STYLE!
12.) The Devil To Pay
Ill have this one in about half an hour.
13.) Hold At All Costs
I thought the lyrics werent too good when I first listened to it but after giving it a few more listens ive changed my mind, its from the viewpoint of a soldier so the lyrics are ok from the perspective, still not Tolstoy though. It has a nice acoustic starting, then goes into a great riff, with a cool harmony break after each verse. Its 7 minutes long and pretty damn cool.
14.) High Water Mark
Awesome drum intro, sorta like Trust by Deth, and the orchestra comes in and sounds most excellent indeed to put it mildly, the starting goes for 2 minutes and is some of IEs best music ever, brilliant buildup.
This one starts lyrically with Lee and Longstreet arguing over the attack over an acoustic guitar and orchestra. Then they attack and 2 very cool riffs come in.
Then after some singing about the charge starting a whole bunch of battle sounds go off over an orchestral bit with a drum beat, it sounds really good, it will be awesome in surround sound.
Then it goes instrumental for a bit, lots of orchestra stuff, Jon should have gotten them ages ago, it sounds awesome. Then theres more battle sounds over the orchestra, and it ends with General Lee going on about how he got his ass kicked. I like it. Its 12:35 long.
So, to sum up: The lyrics are pretty bad overall, it sounds like Jon just took them straight from a textbook and put no real thought into them whatsoever. Expect a lot of "They arrived at dawn, prepared for battle, the war was on" kind of stuff. It almost feels like being at school again, but lots more metal.
Once you get past the lyrics its not too bad of an album. Its one of IEs worst, but still better than most of the dross released these days. I give 6.5, maybe it will get a 7 once ive given it a few days to grow on me, in fact it probably deserves a 7 so ill give it one now.
The high points are great and what I would expect from an IE album, but the filler is awful (WTEC, Waterloo, Hollow Man im looking at YOU), and lyrically the album goes from passable/average to embarrassingly bad depending on the song.
There should have been more orchestra too, it sounds brilliant and fits the songs really well. Id say its worth buying, what I consider to be ok/not bad songs like Declaration Day and Valley Forge other people might like a lot, as they arent bad songs in the sense of completely worthless, just could have been better with a bit more work.
Anyway, Red Baron, Attila, Hold At All Costs, High Water Mark and Devil To Pay (Im assuming this track for the moment as I havent heard a bad word about it) are all brilliant and so thats 40 minutes worth of *great* metal, and then 3 songs of ok metal and some filler, you can decide if thats enough for you, im sure it will be for most people.
Im just glad the Something Wicked album will pull Jons head from his arse and make him write much better lyrics.
Mark
Not blessed, or merciful
MeKaChrOme
:-)
- Aug 22, 2001
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The gettsyberg stuff is cool. The riffs are good, and the lyrics are interesting at times. The rest of the album is ordinary to say the least...
Its 2 marks above average, and yet 3 marks away from classic status. So we just need 3 more of you and we have a classic metal albumMark said:So, all in all it's shit? Thought it would be
Blitzkrieg
Master Exploder
That is exactly what I was expecting, but that said, I am sure I will still really like it.spawn said:
Also, don't be so sure about Jon pulling his finger out for the Something Wicked album, he might end up really fucking a good idea lol. I can't wait to hear all his tribal instruments and such mixed with some awesome metal though.
For anyone interested in a patriotic war/history album, check out Grave Digger's "Tunes Of War", it is the same sort of deal but on Scotish war history, and it RIPS.
KoichCPA
Banned
You like EVERYTHING BlitzyBlitzkrieg said:That is exactly what I was expecting, but that said, I am sure I will still really like it.
Also, don't be so sure about Jon pulling his finger out for the Something Wicked album, he might end up really fucking a good idea lol. I can't wait to hear all his tribal instruments and such mixed with some awesome metal though.
For anyone interested in a patriotic war/history album, check out Grave Digger's "Tunes Of War", it is the same sort of deal but on Scotish war history, and it RIPS.
Just once I want to hear you really savage an album and call it shit.
Southy
Proud Brisbane Metaller
Southy
Proud Brisbane Metaller
How great?? Cause if its like 
SLAYER thean yes, if its great metal like something that sucks, than no
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