Iced Earth

Brothers and sisters,
Stay tuned for the release of the first singles from Incorruptible starting with Seven Headed Whore tomorrow, Friday April 28th. Then roughly 24 hours later on Saturday April 29th we will see the release of Raven Wing. The metal will flow!
Thanks and we hope you enjoy!
Jon Schaffer

:shred:
 

Song itself is just good but I'm more impressed by the production, probably the best one since The Glorious Burden, if not Horror Show. New studio already paying its dividends.
 
Meh. Sounds like the same old Iced Earth chorus with some more brutal, but very flat and buzzsaw riffing. Not excited by that at all. Solo was nice, though, for what it was.
 
Pretty much every IE album has at least one song like this: Boiling Point, Divide Devour, Framing Armageddon, The Reckoning, Jack, Stand Alone, Violate etc. I think that the song that comes out tomorrow will be different.
 
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True. These song types have always been my least favorite side of Iced Earth. I know they started as a thrashier power metal band, but I don't think this type of song has ever suited their vocalists well in the slightest (especially Barlow).
 
Night Prowler said:
Pretty much every IE album has at least one song like this: Boiling Point, Divide Devour, Framing Armageddon, The Reckoning, Jack, Stand Alone, Violate etc. I think that the song that comes out tomorrow will be different.
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Of those types of song this is probably one of their better efforts, musically. Not sold on Stu's vocals though. I always feel like he's stuck between a Barlow impression and his own thing which doesn't work for me. It was a nice tune though.

Guitar solo was great, Troy leaving is already paying off.

Production is decent but way too polished. Kinda makes the whole thing sound bland. That said, I think most IE albums have that problem.
 
Very, very good! Gotta love that solo and harmonies. Reminds me of Helloween.

But all sections are good. The guy sounds a lot like Barlow. Not sure if he can help it much though. Perhaps he sounds best like this and was picked because of it. Songs of this quality make the matter less important to me.
 
These new songs aren't doing much for me - yet. They both seem like growers, even if they are the typical Iced Earth formula.

Regarding the Stu era, I think Dystopia was a strong album - with the title track, Anthem, and Dark City being particularly excellent (I'm also partial to Soylent Green). While Plagues had a few great songs - including the outstanding Horrow Show-esque Cthulhu, which is easily the best Stu song - it was far weaker than its predecessor.

Night Prowler said:
Framing Armageddon
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Easily my favorite song of this "thrashy" type. I love the intensity of the whole thing - the rushed verses, the choir section, and of course that ending. Probably Ripper's most massive performance with them, as I felt his (heavily-layered) voice always worked better on this song type than on the mid-tempo tracks or the ballads.
 
The best thing about this song is that bridge: which is admittedly awesome. Who is the lead guitarist on this record? Cause it sounds very good. The vocals do nothing for me, it just sounds like an Iced Earth song we've already heard. The production sounds incredibly dry and bland.

Some bands (Maiden, Clutch) I am happy to listen to as though they are AC/DC, i.e. "doing exactly what they do" on every record. I'm not content to do this with Iced Earth. They literally have 3 different song types anymore: fast falsetto shrieker, occasionally acoustic power ballad with arpeggios, and mid-tempo rocker. We've already heard the best of these kinds of songs that the band will ever write and they all have Matt Barlow singing on them. Even when I like the new stuff they put out I feel like I'm liking it because it reminds me of an older song.
 
Don't understand the production criticism, the last two were definitely dry and bland but this one finally brought back some punch.

Lead guitarist is ex-White Wizzard guitarist Jake Dreyer. He plays live for Kobra & The Lotus (think you posted that band before, @MrKnickerbocker) and was also supposed to replace Christian Lasegue in Jag Panzer (@Mosh) but the band split up instead. I just discovered he founded a prog metal band with other members kicked out of White Wizzard. Listening to it now:

 
Turned it off after the vocals came in. I already know where this is going and don't need to hear generic IE ballad #193418358

My problem with Iced Earth is that they create expectations that they are progressing musically. Whether it's a 20 minute epic, a two part concept album, or even just a new singer. Not only are they not really progressing, but they haven't tweaked the existing formula in years. At least Maiden build on what they're doing and you get occasional curveballs like Empire Of the Clouds. Also having multiple songwriters helps. With IE, Jon Schaffer doesn't seem to want to relinquish any creative control despite the revolving door lineup which has brought in fresh new talent (Stu when he is singing naturally/whoever the new guitarist is).
 
Some people are overly harsh here. What do you expect? Iced Earth is no prog metal. They are no Opeth or DT. Why not listen to the music and enjoy the melodies for once?

You can't do that as soon as you turn the song off when the vocals come in. These are two songs. Not as if we just heard the whole album.
 
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MrKnickerbocker said:
The best thing about this song is that bridge: which is admittedly awesome. Who is the lead guitarist on this record? Cause it sounds very good. The production sounds incredibly dry and bland.
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The solo is outstanding, but I didn't even notice it until it was mentioned because I don't listen to Iced Earth for guitar solos (same with Sabaton). I can't list one in their entire catalog that stands out to me whatsoever; if you mention one my reaction will probably be along the lines of "That song has a solo?" There's about 2.3x10^6 other bands that I can listen to for shredding solos.

Mosh said:
I already know where this is going and don't need to hear generic IE ballad #193418358
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Their ballads outside of A Question of Heaven (which is amazing) are literally the same song every time - the format never changes. If you played me the beginnings of Ghost of Freedom, Melancholy, I Died for You, Watching Over Me, etc. I would be unable to tell them apart. However, Raven Wing is more reminiscent of Cthulhu from the previous album (except slower and not nearly as good).

Forostar said:
Iced Earth is no prog metal.
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They've done proggish songs before (Dante's Inferno, Gettysburg), but I definitely agree. My favorite aspects of Iced Earth are their intensity and heaviness combined with those demonic screeching vocals.

Some of my favorite Iced Earth moments, from memory...

- chorus of Pure Evil (Alive in Athens)
- Travel in Stygian (Alive in Athens)
- most of Dante's Inferno
- A Question of Heaven (makes you forget you're listening to an album about Spawn of all absurd things)
- Reaping Stone, because it doesn't sound like everything else
- the last three songs on Something Wicked
- pretty much all of Horror Show, minus Wolf (I always thought it was overrated)
- last verse of Declaration Day (chills)
- Gettysburg trilogy
- second half of The Clouding
- end of Framing Armageddon (again, chills... this is where Ripper excels)
- Cthulhu
- Ripper singing Dracula live (for the laughs)
 
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