I'm giving this band one last chance with their new album. If Stu still sounds stupid as shit and Jon just writes another Loltopia, then I'm done. I still have the older albums, and I'm still deciding whether I should even keep Loltopia. I think The Crucible of Man is a good album to end their career. Hopefully Ashes of Ares turns out to be good. Freddie is an awesome bassist, and well, Matt Fucking Barlow.
Speaking of Ashes of Ares, they announced last week that they'd signed onto Nuclear Blast Records and were going to release their debut album late summer/early fall. Jim Morris is producing.
I should also note that Freddie's not only the bassist, he's the guitarist for AoA too. He actually took a lesson or two recently from Ralph Santolla (lol also formerly of Iced Earth) to further improve his skills and bought a seven string guitar. Should be very interesting to see what Freddie whips up musically. He may just be an even better guitarist than he is a bassist.
As far as Stu goes... I completely agree that his Barlow voice doesn't work. However, I actually talked to the guy a number of times on Facebook before Dystopia came out and he was nothing but a total gent to me, and even answered various questions I asked him about the album and just other stuff in general. Then when I saw the band live last year in Raleigh, he recognized me from Facebook when I met the band. So it's weird for me. I think the guy is a total class act, and I know he really loves Iced Earth. I just wish Jon would let him sing the songs in his own natural range. It's especially unnecessary for the
Night of the Stormrider material. Those songs would sound KILLER if Stu sang 'em the way he sings Ten Thousand Strong and Independence Day.