ICED EARTH SURVIVOR 2018: Results -> A Question Of Heaven wins!

Are you satisfied with the results?

  • Total voters
    10
Good to see some opposition vs the Stu era. I am already beginning to think (many of) its songs will end up higher than pre-Barlow era material.
Mosh said:
Plagues has a different drummer. I can go into more detail later.
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Sorry my mistake. I thought both had the same drummer.
 
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Forostar said:
Good to see some opposition vs the Stu era. I am already beginning to think (many of) its songs willend up higher than pre-Barlow era material.
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The sad part of the Stu era is that I actually like Stu's voice in the band, it's just that Schaffer's songwriting is so uninspired and lazy anymore. Based on the writing credits it also seems like Stu's ear for vocal melodies is not great (or at least not great with Schaffer's riffs). I wish Stu had been around for the stronger songwriting of The Glorious Burden and Framing Armageddon, because I'd rather listen to him than Ripper.

And looking ahead, I don't love the pre-Barlow material either. I don't even like Burnt Offerings very much.
 
I know. Looking at all these comments, I think iconic pieces like Travel in Stygian will fall down as hell.
 
Forostar said:
I know. Looking at all these comments, I think iconic pieces like Travel in Stygian will fall down as hell.
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It better not. That's Top 5 Iced Earth, easy!

I am, however, basing my entire opinion on the Days of Purgatory and Alive in Athens version, as I will do when voting for the songs from the original albums that have Barlow-ized ultimate versions.
 
I have 11 votes and I'm using every single one of them on the Plagues of Babylon album. It's actually garbage. The only songs I'm not voting for are the title track and Cthulhu, which are both really good and easily the only thing worthwhile on that entire pile of trash.

The tracklist makes no sense, the vocal melodies and lyrics are even worse and more awkward than they are on the latest album, and the whole collection lacks any coherence or identity. The SoL cover is atrocious, the Highwayman cover is so weird and unnecessary, and that Outro is a fucking disgrace. It's like they knew the album sucked and were just poking fun at every idiot that bought it by putting a 23 second 3rd grade-level in-joke as the final track on the record.

There are songs on Incorruptible that are sub-par, but none of them are as bad as 11 of the tracks on Plagues.

Mosh said:
Spirit of the Times - Not only is this another boring ballad, but it's a cover of a boring Sons of Liberty song. WTF. This song is so bland and it plods so hard. The guitar solo at 1:28 sounds like Troy noodling before an actual take. Did Jon record his warm up as a joke? Although on second thought that might actually be Jon playing. Also what is going on with Stu's vocals? There's a lot of bad singing on this album, but this particular track takes the cake. On top of that, the sound of his voice is just weird and unnatural, especially on the sibilance. Did they over do it with the de-esser? (Paging @MrKnickerbocker ) I don't get it, it's not like the album wasn't long enough. This did not need to happen. A worst IE song contender.
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Definitely sounds like they were leaning real hard into the de-esser and like they put a very shitty filter on there. It might also be poor mixing on multiple lead vocal takes, i.e. making what should be "ghost tracks" of the main vocal too loud in the mix thus creating an unnatural finished product due to slight inconsistencies in each take. On Stu's front, it also sounds like he's using more of a "stage" voice on this song as opposed to the mixed breath/gritty approach he uses for most of the record.

Russell Allen's vocals in Highwayman sound like they are processed in the same way, making them feel thinner and more nasal-y than they should be.
 
Burnt Offerings is by far my favorite Iced Earth album. I even go back to it more than AIA at this point.

I have mixed feelings on Stu. I like his voice but it often seems like either his abilities are being squandered or he’s trying too hard to be something he’s not. Jon has a great talent in the band who could easily be Iced Earth’s greatest singer, but he is not being properly utilized.
 
Stu is a great frontman and is honestly wasting his voice trying to sing like Barlow. He had awesome deep growls and could scream like a banshee but I think that trying to sing much deeper than normal is ruining his voice. You can clearly notice that he's struggling with high screaming on the last few tours.
 
Forostar said:
Good to see some opposition vs the Stu era. I am already beginning to think (many of) its songs will end up higher than pre-Barlow era material.
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Not sure why you're already praising "opposition vs the Stu era" when you haven't heard the latest album. For all you know it might become your favorite IE album.
 
PLAGUES OF BABYLON:
Plagues of Babylon - Not bad; the main riff is very Slayer-esque, which is a good thing. The chorus isn't that great, though, and the drumming is completely unmemorable. I didn't hate it though, I rather liked it overall.
Democide - This was a nice sound as well; again though, the drumming is shit. More Slayer riffs, too - I like that!
The Culling - I liked the build-up to the chorus, and the payoff is very nice - the chorus is a pretty cool one. Drumming is a bit better too.
Among the Living Dead - Was okay. This one felt more like a Metallica / Anthrax tune. I prefer Among the Living, all told.
Resistance - The Queensryche song is much better. This is okay, but unmemorable.
The End? - As this album progresses, it gets more and more unmemorable. Halfway through I got the feeling that they were trying to emulate Hallowed Be Thy Name, and if they were, they failed.
If I Could See You - Not bad, all told, but I've heard better ballads than this.
Cthulhu - It's okay, but not special or anything.
Peacemaker - I... am kind of conflicted on this. It seems like it wouldn't be that good, but it turns out to be a rather involving song so... yeah.
Parasite - Again, okay but unmemorable.
Spirit of the Times - It's.... see above.
Highwayman - By all accounts, I should not like this song... but I do! One of the highlights of this unmemorable thing.
Outro - I want this to win the entire survivor. This piece is fucking pointless, fucking stupid, and not fucking funny. Eh, that said I like it when a band does this kinda thing but yeah.

Meh album. Started strong but fell fast.
 
Voting for:

Raven Wing
The Veil
Among the Living Dead
Resistence
The End?
If I Could See You
Cthulhu
Parasite
Spirit of the Times
Outro
 
I think the pro-Stu comments in this survivor are down to a growing realisation that he's not half bad as a vocalist, when the opinion most often heard before now was "he's not Barlow". I still think Barlow era IE will do best by a long shot, with maybe only Clear the Way hanging on to the top ten out of all Stu stuff.
 
I'm pretty certain 'Clear the Way' will make the top ten, but I also think a few pre-Barlow songs like 'Travel in Stygian' and 'Pure Evil' will make it as far as ever. 'Night of the Stormrider' is my favourite Iced Earth album and if Jon had stuck with that singer then I think they've have made some pretty good albums together, but apparently he was a mad racist so Jon fired him.
 
Night Prowler said:
Not sure why you're already praising "opposition vs the Stu era" when you haven't heard the latest album. For all you know it might become your favorite IE album.
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Who knows. But there are other albums in this game.
Ariana said:
So? If you want to prevent this, maybe you should vote too.
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I will vote. But doing it now does not feel fair. I need to hear it. I guess I have to order the album soon. My local record store didn't have it last weekend (idiots).
 
Mosh said:
Burnt Offerings is by far my favorite Iced Earth album. I even go back to it more than AIA at this point.

I have mixed feelings on Stu. I like his voice but it often seems like either his abilities are being squandered or he’s trying too hard to be something he’s not. Jon has a great talent in the band who could easily be Iced Earth’s greatest singer, but he is not being properly utilized.
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What is a good example where we hear his voice and where his ability is not squandered? In other words: where do we hear Stu the way he is his own, and where he is at his best.

There must be some example(s), or else people can't know he has talent, or even be the best singer of Iced Earth (big words).

I'd like to pay specific attention to this when I will listen to his work.
 
I think it's pretty obvious that Stu got picked for the job in IE since he can emulate the low of Barlow and the highs of "Ripper" Owens, so he's the best of both worlds. I wish he would use the high shrieks more often though...
 
Plagues of Babylon

I think this album starts out very strong. Title track opener, Plagues of Babylon, then Democide, The Culling and Among The Living all have some very powerful riffing and aggressive vocals. But it seems that, as the album progresses through tracks like Resistance and The End? the riff sets used and the choruses all become all too similar and undistinguishable and this makes the album plod a fair bit. If I Could See You is as stock ballad as they come. Nothing special there. Cthulhu is great and builds up great, it brings some fun back into the listening experience again. As a point to the recent discussion about Stu Block, it seems Stu sounds the most like himself when he does clean singing like the intro to Chtulhu or on the next track Peacemaker. I like Parasite with it's twisted riffing, nice performance by Stu also but would have benefited from some high shrieks here and there, at only 3 minutes it manages to be a cool little track . The two covers, Spirit of the Times and Highwayman are totally unnecessary and shouldn't be included on a studio album, bonus tracks on a limited edition maybe, but not on the regular release. The outro is just stupid and doesn't cast a positive light on the album overall.
 
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