Avigrus
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With each listen i find myself liking this more and more. At first i didn't really like it, but now i think its pretty good.
More Iced Earth - an opinion
- Thread starter sixxswine
- Start date
chuj666
....and a bottle of grog
Can't wait to see them live...the new album is great, good that Barlow's back. I never really like Iced Earth with Ripper Owens
Talked to Jon this afternoon...if you're a fan you're gonna fucking love the interview. I'll work my ass off to throw this up on the site ASAP....
I've been a casual fan of IE for some time. The first album I bought was Horrowshow, and on hearing it I immediately bought the other ones. I've always liked them, but they've always had elements I don't like as well. I find their music a bit one dimensional at times. I reeeeeally don't like John's whole patriotic thing either. It just comes off as ape-like chest beating to me, and I find that tiresome. No offense to anyone who connects to that, by the way. Also, to be frank about it, Jon has really drawn A LOT from Iron Maiden. Sometimes there is borderine theft going on. Musically in places, though at an acceptable level, but definitely where imagery is concerned. I mean, just look at the cover of the Reckoning (the trooper single), or the cover of the new one (some random Maiden tour shirt with Eddie planting the flag in the world....and another one of eddie destroying the world in the Piece of Mind era). But I digress....
The above is really why I love the recent albums all the more. This because IE used to annoy me in ways, but their current output has overcome that. That's how good they've become. I wasn't thrilled with The Glorious Burden (the patriotic thing), and I questioned the choice of Tim Owens at the time...hey, what can I say, that's how I felt.
So, Framing Armageddon comes out, and I read the great reviews, and I figure I better get it...and I'm blown away by it. Suddenly I hear a more three dimensional quality to Jon's writing...I feel the ballads are waaaay better than anything he's written before...and the drama of the record works. It's truly great.
Then, Tim leaves....and I think..."Geez, I was just thinking this band was world class, or starting to be...and now this..."
Sure, it was Barlow coming back, but I was so won over by Tim O. on Framing that I just cringed at the return of Matt. Not to mention, this all happened right in the middle of a story arc that has been important to Jon for years...and well, I just thought it was gonna be a disaster.
But, it's not. I think Crucible as nearly as good, if not as good as Framing...really. It's dramatic, and Matt Barlow is awesome on it. His range is better than ever before. He sings with searing clarity at points...and sings with that harsh mode of his in such abandon.....
And, I think Jon could have just done the obvious thing and made the album overtly heavy, or even overtly accessible, but he didn't do that. Instead he fit the music to the vision he had, and I really feel that what he has on his hands with Crucible is an album in the mode of Seventh Son (fine, enough Maiden comparison - but it's okay now...haha). That is to say, it's a big, meandering album, and there are more songs in the style of The Clairvoyant, than there are in the mode of, say, Can I play With Madness. That is, less singles, more meat. I think the record is awesome.
So, my point is, because the gamble of changing singers paid off (against all odds in my book, despite Barlow's track record with IE), and because the albums are so good, and I believe that Jon has accessed a new place in his talent...well, I think Iced Earth has moved to a new level over the last couple of years...and this despite the fact that Jon was probably a bit heartbroken at Matt's departure...
I guess I'm saying these albums defy the odds in my mind. And, they are excellent, EXCELLENT albums. Cohesive, and they fit together well.
For my money, Framing Armageddon and Crucible of Man comprise one of the coolest events in metal in the last couple of years, all things considered.
And yes, I'm a lot more friendly with Glorious Burden now too...haha.
This is the high water mark for Iced Earth in my book. They are a world class band at this point. I didn't expect that, and my hat is off to Jon for his singular vision, talent, and drive. Great stuff.
This is why it's fun to be a fan of metal....because things like this happen. The last few records (including Glorious) comprise one of the great runs in metal in my mind.
Iced Fucking Earth. I never thought I'd say that. I don't know how many people who didn't grow up in the 80s wonder what it was like...but it was like this. Cool bands put out cool records, and the next year the did the same thing over again.
Bitchin'
Pardon the length of this...
The above is really why I love the recent albums all the more. This because IE used to annoy me in ways, but their current output has overcome that. That's how good they've become. I wasn't thrilled with The Glorious Burden (the patriotic thing), and I questioned the choice of Tim Owens at the time...hey, what can I say, that's how I felt.
So, Framing Armageddon comes out, and I read the great reviews, and I figure I better get it...and I'm blown away by it. Suddenly I hear a more three dimensional quality to Jon's writing...I feel the ballads are waaaay better than anything he's written before...and the drama of the record works. It's truly great.
Then, Tim leaves....and I think..."Geez, I was just thinking this band was world class, or starting to be...and now this..."
Sure, it was Barlow coming back, but I was so won over by Tim O. on Framing that I just cringed at the return of Matt. Not to mention, this all happened right in the middle of a story arc that has been important to Jon for years...and well, I just thought it was gonna be a disaster.
But, it's not. I think Crucible as nearly as good, if not as good as Framing...really. It's dramatic, and Matt Barlow is awesome on it. His range is better than ever before. He sings with searing clarity at points...and sings with that harsh mode of his in such abandon.....
And, I think Jon could have just done the obvious thing and made the album overtly heavy, or even overtly accessible, but he didn't do that. Instead he fit the music to the vision he had, and I really feel that what he has on his hands with Crucible is an album in the mode of Seventh Son (fine, enough Maiden comparison - but it's okay now...haha). That is to say, it's a big, meandering album, and there are more songs in the style of The Clairvoyant, than there are in the mode of, say, Can I play With Madness. That is, less singles, more meat. I think the record is awesome.
So, my point is, because the gamble of changing singers paid off (against all odds in my book, despite Barlow's track record with IE), and because the albums are so good, and I believe that Jon has accessed a new place in his talent...well, I think Iced Earth has moved to a new level over the last couple of years...and this despite the fact that Jon was probably a bit heartbroken at Matt's departure...
I guess I'm saying these albums defy the odds in my mind. And, they are excellent, EXCELLENT albums. Cohesive, and they fit together well.
For my money, Framing Armageddon and Crucible of Man comprise one of the coolest events in metal in the last couple of years, all things considered.
And yes, I'm a lot more friendly with Glorious Burden now too...haha.
This is the high water mark for Iced Earth in my book. They are a world class band at this point. I didn't expect that, and my hat is off to Jon for his singular vision, talent, and drive. Great stuff.
This is why it's fun to be a fan of metal....because things like this happen. The last few records (including Glorious) comprise one of the great runs in metal in my mind.
Iced Fucking Earth. I never thought I'd say that. I don't know how many people who didn't grow up in the 80s wonder what it was like...but it was like this. Cool bands put out cool records, and the next year the did the same thing over again.
Bitchin'
Pardon the length of this...
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