Iced Earth

Perun said:
My guess is that the best "farewell" Ripper could get is a complete re-recording of Framing Armageddon with Matt...
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From the latest German Rock Hard issue (translated by yours truly):

RH: You said that when you wrote the "Something Wicked" material, you had Tim's voice in your mind. How come that the new album still works so well with Matt? After all, both styles are quite different.

JS: When I compose, I often think of those high-pitched, Halford-esque vocals that Tim can do so well. But there is much more to Iced Earth. With this band, it is about a certain vision, for which you have to be extremely versatile. If, for example, I only needed a voice like that of James Hetfield or Dave Mustaine for my music, I could take over the mike myself. But the stuff I compose by far exceed my capabilities. That's why I need people like Matt, Tim or Hansi [Kürsch]. But I'm not writing songs for a specific singer. I write songs! And then somebody has to deliver them.  What Matt can do better than anyone else is transmit emotions. He has his very own passion and is not afraid to let it out. There you can see that he is a real man. Everybody else would be much too unsure for that. In that relation, Matt is unique.

RH: Then it would suggest itself that he re-recorded the vocals for "Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1)".

JS: Yes, we will do that. We are planning to release a box set with both parts. It is supposed to become a huge package. It will contain additional music and we will create additional artwork which will dive even deeper into the storyline of the albums. We will also completely remix "Framing Armageddon", because in hindsight, I am not entirely satisfied with some of the facets of the sound. It somehow lacks the punch. We will also take a different approach on the mastering.


If it wouldn't have been so painfully obvious, I'd make a living with prophecies now. My next prophecy would be that Tarja Turunen will return to Nightwish after their next album.
Anyway, the entire interview is a showcase of what a huge arsehole Schaffer is, and it's basically him saying "fuck you" to Tim Owens over two pages, and saying what a great guy he himself is over the other two.
 
Well, we all saw that Ripper did Framing Armageddon songs better than Matt did the few on I Walk Among You.  I'm still waiting to hear Part 2, but I'm pretty sure he's not going to be a huge step up from Ripper on that album.

Perun, you forgot that probably they'll re-re-record the Something Wicked trilogy too just so the latest version of it is with Matt, not Ripper. ;)  And probably Schaffer will pull off a Metallica and sue Ripper for something.
 
Holland's FaceCulture has posted the first in a four-part series of interview clips featuring Jon Schaffer. Watch the footage here in six parts. Very good interview imo, especially the first three parts are interesting enough to not miss.

Audio samples of Iced Earth's new full-length studio album, "The Crucible of Man (Something Wicked Part II)", have been posted online on the group's MySpace page.

There's also a couple of complete songs, or at least some long samples!

Who the hell is the fat dude on the left bottom? He surely looks different from the dude I saw live, last two times!
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Damn, this American food... <_<
 
Forostar said:
Who the hell is the fat dude on the left bottom? He surely looks different from the dude I saw live, last two times!
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Hey, I think that about pretty much all the band members.  To me, Iced Earth is just Jon, Ripper/Matt, the drummer, the bassist, and the "other guitarist".  I don't even try to keep up with the line-up because it changes so often that it's just a waste of time.  I guess that's Brent Smedley on bottom right, but I have no idea who the other two guys are.  One of them is Freddie Vidales (the bassist I think) if I remember correctly, but which one I have no idea.
 
Invader said:
Hey, I think that about pretty much all the band members.  To me, Iced Earth is just Jon, Ripper/Matt, the drummer, the bassist, and the "other guitarist".  I don't even try to keep up with the line-up because it changes so often that it's just a waste of time.  I guess that's Brent Smedley on bottom right, but I have no idea who the other two guys are.  One of them is Freddie Vidales (the bassist I think) if I remember correctly, but which one I have no idea.
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The bass player is standing, Brent is indeed bottom right. I find him important as well. The dude I didn't recognize might be the same guy or not, but he sure looks fatter on this pic.
 
Jon's pose on that pic looks a lot like the one my Grandma used to have.
 
LOL
The bloke on the far left looks like he really doesn't want to be on the pic. Kinda like my brother :D
I think it was also him who looked out of place during the gig...
 
Forostar said:
Holland's FaceCulture has posted the first in a four-part series of interview clips featuring Jon Schaffer. Watch the footage here in six parts. Very good interview imo, especially the first three parts are interesting enough to not miss.
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Aside from the birth of his daughter and the story of the two cds there was nothing "new" in that interview. Not to mention he didn't really go into any detail in anything. The interviewer had to pry the story about the school teacher out of him...
 
Well, I liked it the way he spoke about my 3 favourite bands (Maiden, Priest, Sabbath) and Kiss. Some stuff I didn't know and I thought it was nice to see him talking more down to earth and relaxed, and not about Ripper and Barlow.

Good stuff. The stuff about his teacher was new and might explain a part of his personality.
 
Forostar said:
Good stuff. The stuff about his teacher was new and might explain a part of his personality.
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Funny you should say that, because when he says, "Those are experiances that have made me who I am today..."

I thought, "Oh, you mean an asshole?" hahaha, I know, I know, unfair, but honestly he looks like a guy that holds on to stupid grudges...

But you're right, it was nice to see him talk and not sling shit.
 
Nice interviews.  I liked the bit where he explained the Something Wicked storyline a bit; it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but it was good to hear the basic story coming from the man himself.

I bought The Crucible of Man yesterday, by the way.  I've given it three listens so far.  I like it, though there seem to be few standout tracks like on Framing Armageddon.  The songs aren't that great on the first half (though I LOVE the beginning of Behold the Wicked Child), and A Gift or a Curse seems downright boring.  Minions of the Wrath and The Revealing should be the same song, they're both too short and could have easily been blended together.  The album picks up with Crown of the Fallen and The Dimension Gauntlet (fittingly right when the storyline picks up), and I Walk Alone is probably one of the best songs.  Harbinger of Fate is sub-par, but after this the album is gold. Crucify the King, Sacrificial Kingdoms, Something Wicked Part 3, Divide Devour, and Come What May are all good songs, and the Epilogue is a nice flashback to Overture on Framing Armageddon. 

I noticed that on Something Wicked Part 3 there's a nice throwback to The Coming Curse, borrowing a riff from the middle.  Something Wicked Part 1 (the song) borrows its opening lyrics from Prophecy (I can see clearly now, a painful vision indeed).  So does Something Wicked Part 2, which is just an instrumental, have some kind of flashback to Birth of the Wicked?  Have I missed something?

Edit: Come What May is epic, and I love it.  I just realised that.  It's the longest song, and Matt's vocals shine on that.  It's the most emotional song of the album and it sort of reminds me of emotional songs like Prophecy or A Question of Heaven.

I like the album, though I don't find that Matt makes a huge difference on the vocals.  Tim would have done most songs no problem and some songs sound like they were written for Tim, not Matt.  However, I have to say that Matt's vocals sound really epic on this album, and so does the entire album in fact.
 
Bought it yesterday and after one listening I must say that the albums first 9 tracks are really good. They got me on the edge of my seat! After that (10-15) we get less strong melodies and more (endless) repetitions.
It's almost like Schaffer needed some music to complete his concept.
 
I sort of hope they don't play a whole lot of it when I go to see them on the 23rd.  I'd love "Come What May", "The Dimension Gauntlet", "I Walk Alone", and I'd like to see  1 or 2 others, but I mainly want to hear the classics.

If they don't play "Travel In Stygian" I'll unload a world of pain upon Schaffer, after getting his autograph of course.
 
Funny you say that, Foro, because I thought that the album seems to "accelerate" as it progresses.  Every track seems better than the one before it, almost.  The last six (okay, not counting Epilogue) tracks were my favourites off the album.  And I've come to think that Come What May is the best thing Schaffer has written since Dracula (not counting Gettysburg).

Ah well, great minds don't always think alike, then, do they? :)
 
:)
Tastes differ, mate! I really like most melodies better from those first 9 tracks. A few more spins might improve my appreciation for the rest.
 
I agree with Invader.  For me, the album is sort of meh up until "I Walk Alone", and then after that it picks up in quality perceptibly.
 
Do we have the same track order?

The way I hear it:

10. "Crucify the King"   Barlow Schaffer 5:36
11. "Sacrificial Kingdoms"   Barlow Schaffer 3:58
12. "Something Wicked (Part 3)"   Barlow Schaffer 4:32
13. "Divide and Devour"   Schaffer Schaffer 3:15

All these tracks are not that melodic, have hardly any variation and are very monotonuous and repetitive. They just pass along without any exciting moments, same chords repeated and repeated. Track 13 contains a chorus a la Blind Guardian, not something particular I was looking forward too. All these four together I really find boring compared to the exciting 3 minute track "The Dimension Gauntlet" alone. This could be a great live favourite together with "Crown of the Fallen" (connected).

Maybe you guys don't like slower or calmer songs? I really like "A Gift or a Curse?" where Schaffer sings together with Barlow. Their voices blend nice together. Very intense, atmospheric and sensitive stuff, without getting too sweet.

14. "Come What May"   Schaffer Schaffer 7:24
I admit: this one is growing on me, though the guitar harmonies look too much like Metallica's Fade To Black, to be special.

15. "Epilogue"   (instrumental) Schaffer 2:21
not special, just a rehashed version of one of the tracks of the previous album.
 
Yes, we have the same track order.  I like 10-13 very much because they are rather heavy and I like the riffing.  Sure, they are not very melodic, but I don't find that a problem.  However, I would agree with you that The Dimension Gauntlet and Crown of the Fallen are great songs, though I think they should be one song since they blend so well together.

I do like slow/calm songs (A Question of Heaven is one of my favourite IE songs ever), but many of those on this album I find very boring.  A Gift or a Curse is boring and even annoying to me, and I don't think Schaffer should have thrown in his vocals on that song.  I think Iced Earth used to be a lot better at this kind of songs (A Question of Heaven, Prophecy, etc.), but this album fails to impress me.  Same goes for The Clouding on the previous album; Schaffer just can't write these emotional songs well enough any more.

Someone on another forum remarked to me before I got the album that Come What May gets very close in emotion to A Question of Heaven.  On first listen I didn't agree at all, but it has grown on me tremendously and probably will grow on you too.  This song alone shows just why exactly Matt is the voice of Iced Earth; it's his best vocal performance since Dracula.

And I'm pretty sure the Epilogue is supposed to be a rehashed version of another song; of Overture, in fact, which is the first song on the previous album. It closes the circle, so to speak, and I found Come What May + Epilogue a very satisfying ending.
 
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