Iced Earth

This is so weird...

He regroups with his old band, from which he's already taken a ton of material and repurposed it for Iced Earth, gets the original IE singer back, and releases a song with the same title as one of the more iconic IE tracks...it's just so bizarre.

That said, I do really like the song. Gene sounds great, 1000% better than his debut performance. Between the verses and the wailing I get a kind of Ghost-meets-King Diamond vibe that really works. I immediately enjoyed this more than any Iced Earth song since The Clouding.
 
Jon has his own studio now, so why not record a few songs with old friends.

I wouldn't be opposed to a full album with this lineup, could be fun. Redemption time for Gene Adam as a vocalist, at least.
 
Night Prowler said:
Jon has his own studio now, so why not record a few songs with old friends.

I wouldn't be opposed to a full album with this lineup, could be fun. Redemption time for Gene Adam as a vocalist, at least.
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Definitely. I'd be very open to that idea. It would also give Jon some time off from IE and maybe a refresh on his songwriting.
 
Ok this is awesome. I love how you can hear elements of other Iced Earth songs in there. It gives you more context for how those later songs came to be. This song by itself is great though. It's like a lost classic IE track. Way better than any of the unused material heard on Days of Purgatory. Even better, the vocals and production sound great. It's like a mix of Stormrider, Burnt Offerings, and Horror Show. Awesome combination and, if the rest is like that, this EP will be the best thing Schaffer has done since the 90s. I really hope he does more with this group.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
and releases a song with the same title as one of the more iconic IE tracks....
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I guess these titles are the original, old Purgatory titles. With a connected to the lyrics in these old songs. He reused the titles later in IE but now he (and Purgatory) stick to the old authentic stuff, titles included. Because this material has older origins, and the different music, I can see these as very different things. Would be weird to give the old song a new title. Less authentic.
Mosh said:
Way better than any of the unused material heard on Days of Purgatory.
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There was just one song, previously unreleased: Winter Nights.
 
Ok well that happens to be the best of the bunch, so I really want to hear more Purgatory stuff.
 
Night Prowler said:
I wrote earlier about Pod Cast In Stone, those guys interviewed Bill, Gene and Jon separately and apparently this prompted them to get together to hang out and that's how this came out. And yeah, some parts of the songs are similar because they reused them later. But this still is a cool little thing to do. And the cover is great. Maybe Greg Seymour gave up on drumming, who knows.

Gene Adam sounds better now than he did on the debut. Finally learned how to scream properly, it seems :D
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Can't find the Owen one here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvExpNxL1KM_QlMMWmwQYMw/videos
 
Forostar said:
Major like.

Very interesting. Now all people Schaffer worked with in the 80s (and 90s) with Purgatory/Iced Earth have a playing credit on an official release.
Apart from the recently deceased bass player Richard Bateman.
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Of course, demos also exist. Here are the pre-Iced Earth (album) works. Info mostly taken from metal-archives, YouTube comments and a few other sites.

Please comment if you like. Did I miss something, do you know more of a certain release or line-up?
I'll add links to sound (vids on YouTube) later.

I
1985 / Purgatory - Burning Oasis:
1. Burning Oasis 10:20
2. Jack 03:55 Show lyrics
3. Lobotomy
4. Jason
Dave Abell Bass (this is metal archives info; not sure about this since wiki says Abell joined in 1987, and Richard Bateman stayed until (somewhere in) 1986)
Greg Seymour Drums
Bill Owen Guitars (lead)
Jon Schaffer Guitars (rhythm)
Gene Adam Vocals
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II
1985 / Purgatory - Psychotic Dreams:
1. Jack 03:44 Show lyrics
2. In Jason's Mind 05:10 Show lyrics
Bill Owen Guitars (lead)
Jon Schaffer Guitars (rhythm)
Greg Seymour Drums
Gene Adam Vocals
Richard Bateman Bass
17700.jpg


III
1986 / Purgatory - Horror Show:
1. Jack 03:55 Show lyrics
2. In Jason's Mind 05:11 Show lyrics
3. Dracula 07:20 Show lyrics
Dave Abell Bass (this is metal archives info; not sure about this since wiki says Abell joined in 1987, and Richard Bateman stayed until (somewhere in) 1986)
Greg Seymour Drums
Bill Owen Guitars (lead)
Jon Schaffer Guitars (rhythm)
Gene Adam Vocals
17855.jpg


IV
1986 / Purgatory - Burning Florida [Live Bootleg] (source)
1. Intro
2. Burning Oasis
3. Survivors of the Flame
4. Wild Child
5. Young Rebels
6. Creature of the Black Lagoon
7. Lost in Time
8. Mausoleum
9. Stormrider
10. Jack
11. Sleaze Queen
12. In Jason's Mind
13. In Your Dreams
14. Lobotomy
15. Purgatory
oxOuYSp.png

purgatory-burning-florida-1986-back.jpg

Richard Bateman or Dave Abell Bass
Greg Seymour Drums
Bill Owen Guitars (lead)
Jon Schaffer Guitars (rhythm)
Gene Adam Vocals (NOTE: I made up these these credits, I haven't found out yet who is playing here, especially bass; see III & I as well)

V
April 12th, 1989 / Iced Earth - Enter the Realm:
1. Enter the Realm 00:54 instrumental
2. Colors 05:05 Show lyrics
3. Nightmares 03:42 Show lyrics
4. To Curse the Sky 04:46 Show lyrics
5. Solitude 01:43 instrumental
6. Iced Earth 05:33 Show lyrics
Gene Adam Vocals
Randy Shawver Guitars (lead)
Jon Schaffer Guitars (rhythm), Vocals
Dave Abell Bass
Greg Seymour Drums
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VI
In 1989 another Iced Earth demo came out, Studio Demos '89. This is actually a collection of demo songs that the band had written over the years and recorded*. They were compiled together and used to select the best songs. All of the songs either made it onto the debut album or were later recycled into other songs. Haunted House was later rewritten as Tearing Down the Wall and appears on the first Demons & Wizards album, and Plea of Insanity later became Jekyll & Hyde on the Horror Show album. (source)
1. Haunted House*
2. Written on the Walls
3. Life and Death
4. The Funeral
5. Plea of Insanity
Gene Adam Vocals
Bill Owen & Randy Shawver Guitars (lead)
Jon Schaffer Guitars (rhythm), Vocals
Richard Bateman & Dave Abell Bass
Greg Seymour Drums (NOTE: I made up these these credits, I haven't found out yet who is playing on which song)
* does this mean they were also recorded over the years? Or were they (all) re-recorded in 1989? I have only heard Haunted House so for me it's too early to know.
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*Haunted House surfaced on a bootleg compilation called Enter the Realm of Purgatory.
 
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If you and others would like to check my previous post, I'm most confused about the Purgatory bass players. According to metal-archives Abell and Bateman rotated!

1. Abell on Burning Oasis
2. Bateman on Psychotic Dreams
3. Abell on Horror Show

I sure would like to know more about this.
 
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Excellent, thanks. Will do (hopefully tomorrow, perhaps later).

Perhaps he can tell who plays on all the listed releases, even the (perhaps) different line-ups on the 1989 collection (2nd 1989 demo)
 
Probably! There are plenty ex and current members in that group, including Barlow.

I think Ripper Owens and Richard Christy never responded to the podcast invites, but most of the ones they contacted did.
 
Nice. A.o. interesting "personal reviews" some nice tributes, e.g. to Eddy Van Halen. Schaffer can describe all this very well I'd say:
 
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Today we bring you an interview with the one and only Greg Seymour as we talk about the early days of Purgatory, recording the Enter the Realm demo and remembering the late great Richard Bateman.
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This one with David Abell (Iced Earth & Purgatory; 1986 - 1996) was a big pleasure to listen to. Very informative, honest and interesting answers. Loved the stuff about Burnt Offerings and Dark Saga. I like Burnt Offerings even more now.
Recommended.
 
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Easily the worst lyrics to any song Jon Schaffer has ever been a part of, but the music is really good. Sounds like Classic IE (because it is). I wish the newer IE material would go back to having vocal melodies like this that lay nicely in the song without overstepping their bounds or trying too hard.

However, once again, these lyrics are re-goddamn-diculous.
 
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