It's official - MATT BARLOW REJOINS ICED EARTH!

[ProgMetal_Lover]

Damn! I just got home from work and checked on this forum and I see this thread,you all shoulda seen my fucking jaw drop to the damn floor! I been playing live in Athens in spurts all this week and never in my feeble minded brain would I have thought that Matt Barlow is ALIVE in Iced Earth again(I was stoked he was gonna sing again and with Pyramaze). Some serious shit must have come down to replace Tim Owens with the Master,I wish Tim good luck with whatever he's gonna do now,and I'm EVEN more stoked! Barlow! Barlow! Barlow! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYHAWWWWWW!

 

[TwizstedJesus]

Simple statement,Jon is the most inconsistant,say anything to help his cause,babbling musician in the world."Tim is great,this is how I always imagined Iced Earth to sound,blah blah blah etc...."..."Matt wasn't dedicated,when we recorded The Glorious Burden you could hear in his vocals that he didn't have that enthusiasm etc,blah blah..."...Now Matt is Iced Earth,that is the sound etc...Tim got buggered again by another big metal band...its BS,its unfair,and Tim may finally do what he should have been doing all along.Beyond Fear and Winters Bane are both great bands that deserve a little more attention than they get.
Welcome back to I.E. Matt,but Jon doesn't deserve you.I think this union will last maybe all of 2 discs before I.E implodes

 

[Angrafan]

While it's great frigging excellent news, the sceptic in me thinks, "Hmmm, so the fans determine the direction of the music, not the mastermind?" Ok, ok, I'm an A-hole, but Ripper added a new element; not appreciated by all but it was cool. Now we go back. Maybe it'll rock; maybe it'll be something that tries to achieve the past and falls woefully short due to an effort to resurrect the past. Yea, I'm annoying, but I hate to see fans dictacte inspiration. Call me an a-hole, but I can't help but be skeptical.

That's the first thing I thought too...

 

[steelreign]

Actually, I am way more excited about the possibility of Ripper re-joining WINTERS BANE than Barlow coming back to IE. In my opinion, "Heart of a Killer" is probably one of the best true heavy metal albums in history (and I have most metal albums in history).

I'm curious to see how long Barlow will last this time around....

 

[Landisb]

Well although I'm thrilled on one level, I have to admit I was hoping to see Owens doing the entire Gettysburg this time around. Barlow has the range, but I don't know if his voice can live up there in the highs as long as that song requires. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised when they tour, assuming we don't get another unforseen plot twist on As the Rock World Turns.

 

[Ascension]

Simple statement,Jon is the most inconsistant,say anything to help his cause,babbling musician in the world."Tim is great,this is how I always imagined Iced Earth to sound,blah blah blah etc...."..."Matt wasn't dedicated,when we recorded The Glorious Burden you could hear in his vocals that he didn't have that enthusiasm etc,blah blah..."...Now Matt is Iced Earth,that is the sound etc...Tim got buggered again by another big metal band...its BS,its unfair,and Tim may finally do what he should have been doing all along.Beyond Fear and Winters Bane are both great bands that deserve a little more attention than they get.

l whole heartedly agree with you. He has lost all credibility with me...especially with the increased album sales comment. Just when l thought he had pushed IE to the edge of his creativity which resulted in the epic FA...he bails and resorts to going back to what IE was...which was stale as hell.

Welcome back to I.E. Matt,but Jon doesn't deserve you.

l was with you up until this point..they do deserve each other. Neither seems to be able to make their mind up about what they want to do. Oops...my bad...Jon does. He just wants to sell out. :Smug:

I think this union will last maybe all of 2 discs before I.E implodes

Matt will probably decide to be a fireman.

 

[Iced Dog]

Though I think, now, the Something Wicked 1 & 2 just won't flow as well. No doubt, Barlow is an amazing vocalist and fits IE's music perfectly, but I figured after Revelation Abomination (assuming that's still the name of it) comes out, we'd be able to listen to both albums and hear one consecutive piece split over two discs, since it is all the same story.

Think about it this way, Tim has a lighter melodic soaring voice that fits better to the foundation of the story, while Matt has a heavier, more brooding style that will lend itself better to the darker apocalyptic nature of Part II. Maybe fans get the best of both worlds out of this

 

[Caduceus Follower]

Well although I'm thrilled on one level, I have to admit I was hoping to see Owens doing the entire Gettysburg this time around. Barlow has the range, but I don't know if his voice can live up there in the highs as long as that song requires. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised when they tour, assuming we don't get another unforseen plot twist on As the Rock World Turns.

I once saw an IE show with Matt. They played about 2 and a half to three hours, ending with Dracula. All sounded absol. great, only on the end of Drac I could notice that Matt was getting a bit exhausted....and that's very understandable. Dracula is a killer song to sing, even when that's the only one you do.
I think he can nail the Gettysburg, the only thing I have doubts for is 'the reckoning'. That's typically Owens style, great respect for how he did that. Also the little special high falsetto scream of 1 to 2 minutes Ripper lays down to impress the audience once in a while. For the rest I see Barlow nailing all songs of the Ripper era.

 

[Kenso]

I once saw an IE show with Matt. They played about 2 and a half to three hours, ending with Dracula. All sounded absol. great, only on the end of Drac I could notice that Matt was getting a bit exhausted....and that's very understandable. Dracula is a killer song to sing, even when that's the only one you do.
I think he can nail the Gettysburg, the only thing I have doubts for is 'the reckoning'. That's typically Owens style, great respect for how he did that. Also the little special high falsetto scream of 1 to 2 minutes Ripper lays down to impress the audience once in a while. For the rest I see Barlow nailing all songs of the Ripper era.

only time will tell, i think barlow will add his own touch to where he cant fill rippers shoes on the ripper material, making it enjoyable for most.

 

[JenniferLynn]

Ya know.. I was just thinkin' - yeah I know shock... - But I've read some posts where some - from what I understood it to say - implied Ripper singing the old stuff just wasn't the same...

Uh... what about Barlow singing the GB and FA stuff??? Seriously...

(I understand some hear think Barlow can do it all - sing it own it... so on and so forth.. I'm talking Tim's voice and Barlow's voice are different and where some think Ripper couldn't pull off the Barlow stuff, what makes everyone think Barlow can easily pull of the Ripper stuff... Personally, me.. can't see it.. err hear it... you know what I mean)

I'm NOT Bashing.. just trying to get past all the 'Barlow is god and can do no wrong' views...

PS - out of curiosity - how long has it been since he's sung??
PPS - I find the previous comments by Jon compared to the new ones just something that seems to be not so uncommon... change of heart is possible... believe me, I know..

 

[J-Man]

I am really curious as to how the guys in Pyramaze took this new? It seems odd that their sudio diary hasn't been updated in a while, hmmmmmmmmmmm i wonder even with the comment i saw that "Matt is still in Pyramaze".

 

[Dark One]

Other than general curiosity, I really don't care about the whats, the whys, the hypocrisy, the underlying truths, etc.

Matt's back in IE. As a fan, I'm happy.

Jason

 

[Kenso]

Other than general curiosity, I really don't care about the whats, the whys, the hypocrisy, the underlying truths, etc.

Matt's back in IE. As a fan, I'm happy.

Jason

haha straight to the point

theres more conpsiracy theories surrounding iced earth on this forum than 9/11 on youtube

 

[Formerly known as Chris F5]

You know, IE has never been one of my favorite bands. I like them, but they've never been a huge thing to me, so i don't really have a dog in this race. I like Barlow's voice, especially on the last couple of albums he did. I think he's unique in this kind of metal because his voice can be gruff, melodic, and has a different, I dunno, timbre than most metal singers. I like Barlow, and while Ripper is a great metal vocalist, Barlow is a better fit here.

But Schaffer...Schaffer is really out there, in my opinion. When Barlow left, it was because he said he wanted to do other things with his life and that he couldn't make a living in IE. Jon put out statements both praising Barlow for going to be a cop and also kind of implying Barlow lacked dedication to music and didn't deserve any more money than he got, or at least that's how I fuzzily remember it. Then Jon brings Ripper on board saying that its how he always wanted IE to sound...I remember that exact sort of statement around the time The Glorious Burden came out.

Now, Jon says Iced Earth isn't Iced Earth without Barlow. The man is inconstant. If I were Matt, I wouldn't put all my eggs in that basket!

Jon Shafer=Coach Pitrino(for any Falcon NFL fan,we all know that drama)

 

[Iced Dog]

Jon Shafer=Coach Pitrino(for any Falcon NFL fan,we all know that drama)

haha...nah, Jon wasn't the one moving around. A better analogy would be...

Shaffer = George Steinbrenner (and Barlow could be his Billy Martin)

 

[Rider of Theli]

Other than general curiosity, I really don't care about the whats, the whys, the hypocrisy, the underlying truths, etc.

Matt's back in IE. As a fan, I'm happy.

Jason

QFT.

 

[Ascension]

Jon Shafer=Coach Pitrino(for any Falcon NFL fan,we all know that drama)

LMAO...we Falcons fans know it all too well.

 

[Ascension]

(I understand some hear think Barlow can do it all - sing it own it... so on and so forth.. I'm talking Tim's voice and Barlow's voice are different and where some think Ripper couldn't pull off the Barlow stuff, what makes everyone think Barlow can easily pull of the Ripper stuff... Personally, me.. can't see it.. err hear it... you know what I mean)

l'm with you on this thought process. People were putting Ripper down for seemingly not being able to reach the "lows" & supposedly not having the dark emotion in his vocals. On the opposite foot, l don't think Matt can reach the high ends & match the energy Ripper injected in the new material. Yeah someone will post that Matt can stretch on the highs...but l will tell you he is nowhere near that end of the range that Ripper achieves & sustains in a performance. He is nowhere close to being equal.

 

[Magius]

...they do deserve each other. Neither seems to be able to make their mind up about what they want to do. Oops...my bad...Jon does. He just wants to sell out. :Smug:

Putting the Ripper vs. Barlow debate aside, how exactly is Shaffer selling out with Barlow? Clearly Ripper has been responsible for elevating Iced Earth to a new level of commercial success. By replacing Ripper with Barlow Shaffer actually puts some of those gains in jeopardy. Shaffer claims that he made the switch based on fan feedback, which would be tho opposite of selling out for commercial reasons.

 

[nailz]

l was with you up until this point..they do deserve each other. Neither seems to be able to make their mind up about what they want to do. Oops...my bad...Jon does. He just wants to sell out. :Smug:

How does giving the fans what they want equate to selling out?