The Official Iced Earth Thread v. "Tastes Like Treason!"

[MykeHavoc]

Weirdly enough, I was on a Dystopian movie kick recently and watch all the films that inspired the album, so this is right up my alley at the moment. Hope we'll get a single soon.

[wolfking]

Pretty cool cover.  Still not sure about the song titles, but can't wait for the album nevertheless.

[jjrock88]

I like it!  Still interested to hear what the band will sound like with the new singer/

[Adami]

Stu Block is an insanely good singer. The only thing that could possibly hold him back is Johns lack of good song writing ability as of late.

[AndyDT]

The new songs seem like more dark fantasy. Having said that it might well be one of the last metal albums I buy if at all.

[MykeHavoc]

Jon said Stu gets songwriting credit on 10 of the 12 songs (I imagine lyrics and melody lines), so the album working or not working is just as much in his hands. I anticipate its release, but I have to keep the expectations to a minimum or else I'll be disappointed.

As for the cover, it's cool, but Set looks like he's been badly cropped off the Framing Armageddon album and placed here. The texture of the art doesn't even match the background.

[BanksD]

Hey guys i'm curious,and i'm pretty sure that this has been dicussed here before, but what are you guy's top 10 Iced Earth songs?

Mine:
1. Dracula
2. The coming curse
3. Dante's Inferno
4. Wolf
5. Watching Over Me
6. Birth Of The Wicked
7. A Question of heaven
8. Burning Times
9. I Died For You
10.Consequences

[Zook]

Oh I suck at top tens or lists of anything for that matter. That's why I never participate in the "Top Whatever Threads". I'm not even sure I agree with my DT album rankings

For right now, my top 3 would probably be:

1. A Question Of Heaven
2. Dante's Inferno
3. Dracula

Something to ponder. It's hard with Iced Earth because of the trilogies. Would I count them as one piece of music or individual songs?

[Adami]

Jon said Stu gets songwriting credit on 10 of the 12 songs (I imagine lyrics and melody lines), so the album working or not working is just as much in his hands. I anticipate its release, but I have to keep the expectations to a minimum or else I'll be disappointed.

As for the cover, it's cool, but Set looks like he's been badly cropped off the Framing Armageddon album and placed here. The texture of the art doesn't even match the background.

Helping with vocals is indeed a big deal, but since ALL of the music is being written by John......I'd say he is more responsible.

[Zydar]

Top 10 you say?

1. The Hunter
2. Watching Over Me
3. I Died For You
4. Melancholy (Holy Martyr)
5. Declaration Day
6. The Reckoning
7. Wolf
8. Blessed Are You
9. Colors
10. Burnt Offerings

Something like that.

[Ħ]

The Crucible of Man

There's your problem.  Go and get Dark Saga, Something Wicked, Burnt Offerings, Horro Show or Night of the Stormrider.

Agreed, and alhough Jon Greely isn't the best vocalist by any stretch, he does a decent job, and Night of The Stormrider has Schaffer at his absolute best. Though Something Wicked This Way Comes has their best "sound" in my opinion, and might be the best place to start as the album is more accessible.  Burnt Offerings is Iced Earth's darkest gloomiest album and has their 16 minute masterpiece, Dante's Inferno. Dark Saga took me the longest to get into, but it's good for what it is, a concept album about Spawn, short and to the point. It contains my favorite IE song, A Question Of Heaven. The live version is better though. Horror Show hasn't aged the greatest for me, but I loved it for a while. It contains another favorite of mine, Dracula.

best

I listened to Night of the Stormrider and it was much better....still not really my thing.  I'm kind of moving away from the whole metal + shredding + operatic vocal style nowadays.

[adameastment]

I just got the Something Wicked box set, and The Dark Saga LP/CD.

Pretty damn good band!

[MykeHavoc]

Jon said Stu gets songwriting credit on 10 of the 12 songs (I imagine lyrics and melody lines), so the album working or not working is just as much in his hands. I anticipate its release, but I have to keep the expectations to a minimum or else I'll be disappointed.

As for the cover, it's cool, but Set looks like he's been badly cropped off the Framing Armageddon album and placed here. The texture of the art doesn't even match the background.

Helping with vocals is indeed a big deal, but since ALL of the music is being written by John......I'd say he is more responsible.

Melody lines are just as important as riffs are to me, so like I said, I hold him almost equally responsible. Words are words. But notes are music.

[Zook]

The last show with Matt Barlow is streaming now for those interested:

https://www.ndr.de/unterhaltung/musik_konzerte/wacken/livestream/index.html

[Dr. DTVT]

Picked up Festivals of the Damned DVD last week, watching the Ripper show at Wacken now.  I think this show alone is worth the money...can't wait to watch the Barlow shows. 

[CrimsonE]

There was a time when IE was one of my favorite bands, but they've pretty much been uninspired for the last 5-7 years or so, and they certainly haven't reached the level of perfection they had up until Live in Athens (which is what got me into the band).

The Something Wicked albums were passable enough, but nowhere near as epic as Schafer was promising.  Framing Armageddon had a few good to great songs, but pretty much trailed off halfway through.  On the other hand, Crucible of Man was a mess, and I don't know if that was because of yet another shift in singers, or because Schafer can't write good songs anymore.

It's a shame that since 2000, with rare exception, Schafer's best work was not in IE, but with Demons & Wizards.  Let's hope that the new project restores at least some of the band's former glory. 

[Zook]

Although I enjoy Demons & Wizards, it's still hit and miss for me. Heaven Denies, Fiddler On The Green and Down Where I Am are my favorite D&W songs. Also, some of those D&W riffs go back to the Purgatory days.

[aurorablind]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrqW2Q8RWR0&feature=related

Heartwarming  Matt 

[AndyDT]

Anyone seen Barlow's shaved head look?

[Zydar]

Anyone seen Barlow's shaved head look?

[wolfking]

That pic is not long after he joined the force, if I recall.  I remember seeing that for the first time, quite a shock,

[AndyDT]

Forgot about that. I meant his Facebook look.

[Zook]

You-AH, Have the RIGHT, to reMAIN-ah, SILEEEENT-AH!

Been listening to a lot of Iced Earth lately. Kinda rediscovered Days of Purgatory. I never really cared for the Stormrider tracks all that much. I thought they were done better live, but after listening again, they're pretty awesome... Except Travel In Stygian. For some reason the production on this song is terrible, and Jon removed some lead and acoustic parts for no reason. I don't like the way TiS was edited on the re-master, but it still sounds better than on here. Also, Iced Earth's tempo is incredibly slow, so I sped it up back to normal for my iPod. The drumming for Colors is really awesome too.
Winter Nights I really miss Jon's thrash style. I hope with his new found inspiration, we'll hear some classic Schaffer on Dystopia.

I also have a new appreciation for Imhotep. I never really liked this song, but after listening to Horror Show the other day, it's not a bad song after all. And Something Wicked is my second favorite IE album.

I love this band. So many line up changes, so much drama and looneyness from Schaffer, but I love this band.

[Jaq]

I got into Iced Earth in 2002 or so, after Horror Show's release; my first purchase was Alive In Athens and I went out over the next two weeks and bought everything I could get my hands on. I loved this band, pretty much the perfect band when I was in the mood for straight up, all out, heavy metal. I remember borrowing money until I got paid to buy Dark Genesis when it came out, and the only disappointment I had there was the covers CD, which was strangely flat and lifeless, but screw it, by then I'd heard Schaffer hated Century Media and that was likely to be a contract filler on the way out.

Iced Earth gets a deal on SPV, but then, horror of horrors, Matt Barlow leaves. This was, however, instantly overcome by the announcement that Ripper Owens had joined the band. I had a lot of problems with Judas Priest during Ripper's tenure, but none of them were with him; I thought he was awesome. The day The Glorious Burden came out I bought it, raced home to play it...and only just liked it. I wasn't crazy in love with it like I had been with every other Iced Earth CD.

Since the release of that CD, though, I've grown to feel, where Iced Earth is concerned, that I'm Charlie Brown, and Jon Schaffer is Lucy, holding the football that is a promised, awesome time for Iced Earth, only at the last second the damn football gets pulled away. Not an accurate comparison to the situation, but how I feel. The Something Wicked albums ranged from average to flat out dreadful (the concept was awesome for the original trilogy, but not worth a double album.) The band's line up changes became, frankly, almost hilarious. (The two jobs in music with the least job security? Bassist and lead guitarist of Iced Earth.) Ripper was dumped unceremoniously for Barlow, who just didn't have his heart in it anymore.

Which brings us to now. With Stu Block on board, this is, for me, the last chance for the band. I'm running at that football, and I hope to god I get to kick it into orbit. Because I really, REALLY liked Iced Earth for a couple of years there. I'd like that band back.

[Obfuscation]

I got into Iced Earth in 2002 or so, after Horror Show's release; my first purchase was Alive In Athens and I went out over the next two weeks and bought everything I could get my hands on. I loved this band, pretty much the perfect band when I was in the mood for straight up, all out, heavy metal. I remember borrowing money until I got paid to buy Dark Genesis when it came out, and the only disappointment I had there was the covers CD, which was strangely flat and lifeless, but screw it, by then I'd heard Schaffer hated Century Media and that was likely to be a contract filler on the way out.

Iced Earth gets a deal on SPV, but then, horror of horrors, Matt Barlow leaves. This was, however, instantly overcome by the announcement that Ripper Owens had joined the band. I had a lot of problems with Judas Priest during Ripper's tenure, but none of them were with him; I thought he was awesome. The day The Glorious Burden came out I bought it, raced home to play it...and only just liked it. I wasn't crazy in love with it like I had been with every other Iced Earth CD.

Since the release of that CD, though, I've grown to feel, where Iced Earth is concerned, that I'm Charlie Brown, and Jon Schaffer is Lucy, holding the football that is a promised, awesome time for Iced Earth, only at the last second the damn football gets pulled away. Not an accurate comparison to the situation, but how I feel. The Something Wicked albums ranged from average to flat out dreadful (the concept was awesome for the original trilogy, but not worth a double album.) The band's line up changes became, frankly, almost hilarious. (The two jobs in music with the least job security? Bassist and lead guitarist of Iced Earth.) Ripper was dumped unceremoniously for Barlow, who just didn't have his heart in it anymore.

Which brings us to now. With Stu Block on board, this is, for me, the last chance for the band. I'm running at that football, and I hope to god I get to kick it into orbit. Because I really, REALLY liked Iced Earth for a couple of years there. I'd like that band back.

I pretty much feel the same way as you mate. This band had been at times one of the most awesome and epic bands I had ever heard in my life but one all the singer changes happened, I just didn't care much for the band anymore. It probably was because of the hype I had for the Something Wicked albums and they both failed for me. I also didn't like how Ripper was treated towards getting Barlow back to the band even though Barlow is the perfect singer for this band. Ripper was a good fit here as well but hopefully things change and Stu Block can be Barlow #2 or even better than that if that is even possible.

[Zook]

https://www.emp-online.com/bin/shop.php?prog=shop&mid=&article=208353&funktion=PRODUCTINFO&bildrub=&product=Iced%20Earth:%20Dystopia&tc=EMPTY
 

[wolfking]

https://www.emp-online.com/bin/shop.php?prog=shop&mid=&article=208353&funktion=PRODUCTINFO&bildrub=&product=Iced%20Earth:%20Dystopia&tc=EMPTY
 

That looks seriously awesome.  Hopefully the content is a good as that set.

Apparently includes;

•CD Digipack incl. 3 Bonus tracks
•heavy metal belt buckle
•fuel lighter
•wristband
•high quality printed patch
•beer coaster 3 button set

[MykeHavoc]

The album has been released to to a handful of inside folks for download, including a close friend. He says he can't forward any of it to me, so if I go over his house anytime soon, I'll get to hear it. Otherwise, I just have to wait for it to leak. I just wanna hear the damn thing!

[Zook]

The album has been released to to a handful of inside folks for download, including a close friend. He says he can't forward any of it to me, so if I go over his house anytime soon, I'll get to hear it. Otherwise, I just have to wait for it to leak. I just wanna hear the damn thing!

You're the guy who's good friends with Ripper right?

[MykeHavoc]

yes

[Adami]

yes

Does he like The Crucible of Man as much as Portnoy likes ADTOE?

[Zook]

yes

Tell him to stay far away from Neil Patrick Harris if he knows what's good for him.

[MykeHavoc]

yes

Does he like The Crucible of Man as much as Portnoy likes ADTOE?

As far as I know, he hasn't bothered to listen to it. Although he did say that he thought Priest's Angel of Retribution was "neat"...and kind of laughed off Nostradamus

yes

Tell him to stay far away from Neil Patrick Harris if he knows what's good for him.

I'm not even sure what that's in reference to

[Zook]

Lol I knew no one would understand it, but I said it anyway. I had a dream where I put NPH in charge of keeping Ripper out of trouble and when they returned, they were both high on shrooms.

[Adami]

Lol I knew no one would understand it, but I said it anyway. I had a dream where I put NPH in charge of keeping Ripper out of trouble and when they returned, they were both high on shrooms.

Don't worry, I got it.