Iced Earth - The Crucible of Man

[rms]

I saw this on one of my blogs and figured i'd give it a whirl. I can't really listen to any of my IE albums except Horror Show and Burnt Offerings these days...


Im like 7 tracks in(couple 2m quickies in this album) and it's pretty average at best, first track starts out amazing with some horror show-ish vocals and good riffage but that's about the only positive so far for me...

 

[Iced Dog]

The timing is about right for the leak, I'm most surprised about no voiceovers, and a pleasant surprise it is, THANK YOU SPV As for the music...WOW, I dug FA, but this tops it after one listen. Matt sounds great, the choirs are used tastefully, there's more overall aggression, no segue tracks (though I like them)...just "killer" stuff all around. The weakest tracks ATM are I Walk Alone and Crucify The King, but even those are decent. My fave is The Dimension Gauntlet...this is pure fucking Iced Earth \m/ Divide And Devour is like a sledgehammer with some cool ethereal voices thrown in the mix, Something Wicked Part 3 has a middle section that harkens back to The Coming Curse, and Come What May is a cool, mulitfaceted epic track at the end. Man I can't wait to pick this up...and even more so, that boxset with both albums, including all singles and extra segue & acoustic tracks...Jon said the packaging will be like a hardback comic book

 

[General Zod]

Liking it more with each listen. However, I can't say I'm blown away yet. Overall, the disc is just too mid-tempo for my liking. More importantly, the songwriting just isn't that strong. I'd say the single, "I Walk Alone", is probably the CD's strongest track.

Zod

 

[Palabra de Dios]

I never have gotten into enough downloading programs to DL leaks and stuff...I'll just wait till it comes out, with EAGER anticipation.

 

[DreamThief]

I never have gotten into enough downloading programs to DL leaks and stuff...I'll just wait till it comes out, with EAGER anticipation.

It's not hard, you just leave a blank CD or a flash drive under your pillow and the download fairy brings you heavy metal.

 

[rms]

Liking it more with each listen. However, I can't say I'm blown away. Overall, the disc is just too mid-tempo for my liking. More importantly, the songwriting just isn't that strong. I'd say the single, "I Walk Alone", is probably the CD's strongest track.

Zod

id say the beginning of the first track, it made me think this would be a good album then the mid tempo crap for like 12 songs in a row

 

[The Invisible Guest]

I've just about lost all interest in Iced Earth .. they just don't do it for me any longer. I didn't like FA at all, and I'm guessing I won't care for this new one either. I probably should give it a whirl, but I've been putting it off because there's a great chance I'm not going to like it. The Glorious Burden was also a snoozer in some respects .. I liked it initially, but tired of it quickly. I basically never revisit it these days. What happenend to the good ol' days of IE?

Britt

 

[DoomsdayZach]

I can't really listen to any of my IE albums except Horror Show and Burnt Offerings these days...

Sorry to get off the point, but what the fuck dude? Stormrider is the BEST iced earth album hands down, both in story and songwriting, and no one should be complaining about the performance of John Greeley because he owned. And the S/T album has some amazing material on it and Gene Adams also killed on that.

OT: I can't say i'm overly excited here just because Jon's songwriting has been lacking for a few albums, both Iced earth and the last D&W album. While Glorious Burden, Crimson King and (i'm sure though i never gave it a lot of time) Framing Armageddon had some strong tracks, overall just lackluster albums. I expect more of the same with this, despite Barlow's return to the band. I may download it later and give it a quick spin though.

 

[rms]

Stormrider is to same-y for me, those 2 albums show the best by IE diversity and all that shit for me. Get bored of stormrider really fast, never did bother with s/t tho

 

[Palabra de Dios]

The s/t Iced Earth CD has some of their best songs and riffs in my opinion...I just don't like Gene Adam's performance as much as I did Barlow's on the re-recorded Days of Purgatory 2CD...but the s/t is a worthwhile listen to appreciate where the band has been and to hear those songs in their ORIGINAL context (Barlow changed a lot of the melodies of some of those songs because they fit his vocal range).

 

[Jasonic]

I love Iced Earth and consider them one of my all-time fav bands. That being said, I can't say I as am excited for the new one as I was when say, Horror Show was first released. I will most likely still purchase the album, but the "wow" factor is completely gone, even with Matt's return.

 

[edgeofthorns]

Wow, what's wrong with everyone? Is everyone feeling OK today? I never thought I'd see the day when people weren't excited about a new IE release with Barlow on vox! Of course, I haven't heard it, but I can't imagine this being too much of a disappointment.

~Brian~

 

[eaeolian]

Sorry to get off the point, but what the fuck dude? Stormrider is the BEST iced earth album hands down, both in story and songwriting, and no one should be complaining about the performance of John Greeley because he owned.

He's 90% of the reason I can't listen to that album - especially the remaster. His vocal doubling is AWFUL, IMO.

Fabulous songs, I just prefer Barlow's vox on them - I actually prefer the "Alive In Athens" versions to everything else.

As for the new one, I'm warming up to it after a few spins. It's lacking a bit in the speed department, though...

 

[DoomsdayZach]

Wow, what's wrong with everyone? Is everyone feeling OK today? I never thought I'd see the day when people weren't excited about a new IE release with Barlow on vox! Of course, I haven't heard it, but I can't imagine this being too much of a disappointment.

~Brian~

Well, back in the day I never thought I'd see the day that Jon wrote such bad albums that neither Hansi nor Barlow could save them, but he's done that. I'm not saying he can't pull out a good song here and there, but the songwriting has to be better than average for even a great vocalist to make it good. Case and point (which many will disagree with), Pyramaze.

He's 90% of the reason I can't listen to that album - especially the remaster. His vocal doubling is AWFUL, IMO.

Fabulous songs, I just prefer Barlow's vox on them - I actually prefer the "Alive In Athens" versions to everything else.

As for the new one, I'm warming up to it after a few spins. It's lacking a bit in the speed department, though...

Barlow has never done justice to those songs. I like the phrasing from both Gene and John on the first two albums over Barlows choices. Don't get me wrong, i LOVE barlow, Love the albums he sings on and LOVE Alive in Athens (one of the best sounding live albums ever along with select few others), but at the end of the day if i want to hear those songs, i want to hear the original versions.

 

[Jasonic]

Just so many other newer fresher sounding bands these days to go bananas over a new ICED EARTH.

You know what to expect. You know exactly what the live setlist will be. Very little surprises from them. Just kind of hard to get terribly excited over IE these days.

Still will always be one of the greatest ever. No one can take that away from them.

 

[rms]

I think there are way better bands than IE and much better voices than Barlow, you're crazy about that one

 

[DonCoryson]

I listened to this cd twice and then deleted it. It was a chore making it through the entire album.

Anyone who thinks that this album is good is delusional. There is so much more (and better) music out there why would you even waste your time listening to this album ten times or so, and forcing yourself to find something you like on here.

this album SUCKS!

 

[edgeofthorns]

I listened to this cd twice and then deleted it. It was a chore making it through the entire album.

Anyone who thinks that this album is good is delusional. There is so much more (and better) music out there why would you even waste your time listening to this album ten times or so, and forcing yourself to find something you like on here.

this album SUCKS!

Well, maybe you're listening to a fake, since it's not been officially released yet.

~Brian~

 

[Metaldrumz]

I listened to this cd twice and then deleted it. It was a chore making it through the entire album.

Anyone who thinks that this album is good is delusional. There is so much more (and better) music out there why would you even waste your time listening to this album ten times or so, and forcing yourself to find something you like on here.

this album SUCKS!

LOL.

I find a lot of Jon Schaffer's riffs bland and recycled sounding.

I dont think it sucks, I just dont think its good either.

 

[rms]

Well, maybe you're listening to a fake, since it's not been officially released yet.

~Brian~

there hasnt been a positive review in this thread and your still thinking its amazing....fanboy