Iced Earth!

^^ Kudos to you, Metallic Blaze - "The Dark Saga" is my favorite IE release as well \m/

Awesome band, though I only own that one album at the moment. Had some other stuff, but sold it off during a pinch, and haven't re-acquired it back yet. Maybe one of these days I'll go back to IE collecting again, starting w/ "Something Wicked" which also majorly ruled.

Coincidentally I listened to Night Of The Stormrider a couple of days ago. That's still my favorite album. I loved them until The Glorious Burden came out. When I was 12 years old these guys were, together with KISS, Candleamss and Priest, my favorite band in the world. Looking back their first three are killer, The Dark Saga is cool, Something Wicked is pretty damn good and Horror Show has its moments. I was soooo dissapointed when The Glorious Burden came out. It sucked! But I digress... Night Of The Stormrider kicks ASS!!

What's funny though, I heard their cover of Highway To Hell on some Dutch dating show. I was pretty amazed, haha.

"Night of the Stormrider" is indeed a good album.

Why don't you like "The Glorious Burden" though? Are you not a fan of Tim "Ripper" Owens or something?

Yeah, that. Plus I just think the songwriting is just not up to par. Songs like Greenface and Red Baron plain out suck. Declaration Day and Atilla are okay tunes though. I do really like the artwork.

I was cranking "The Crucible of Man" earlier today.

This is a good example of an album that really needs to be given time to grow on a person.

There is just so much here. It takes time to appreciate it all.

Anyone else like the latest Iced Earth album?

Metallic Blaze wrote:

I was cranking "The Crucible of Man" earlier today.

This is a good example of an album that really needs to be given time to grow on a person.

There is just so much here. It takes time to appreciate it all.

Anyone else like the latest Iced Earth album?

Good luck with that.

There are probably fans out there but I got my copy secondhand and willingly re-resold it.

Yeah, I really like the last Iced Earth album. It's not my favorite, but it's not their worst album either.

I like Framing Armageddon better, I think.

Both are quite difficult albums to get into.

Metallic Blaze wrote:

I searched for an Iced Earth thread, and it appears there are none active. Several in the RIP section, but that was it.

Anyway ... who is a fan? I freekin' LOVE Iced Earth! They don't have a bad album IMHO!

I know a lot of people don't care for Ripper Owens, but I thought he was a great addition to Iced Earth. The Glorious Burden is one of my Top Five Favorite Albums of the Decade.

JBall_Z wrote:

Metallic Blaze wrote:

I searched for an Iced Earth thread, and it appears there are none active. Several in the RIP section, but that was it.

Anyway ... who is a fan? I freekin' LOVE Iced Earth! They don't have a bad album IMHO!

I know a lot of people don't care for Ripper Owens, but I thought he was a great addition to Iced Earth. The Glorious Burden is one of my Top Five Favorite Albums of the Decade.

I agree. Tim "Ripper" Owens fit Iced Earth like a glove. I was actually disappointed when Matt came back. I wanted him in Pyramaze.


But alas, we don't always get what we want.

I never had a problem with Tim stepping in as vocalist. I just lost interest in the "epic" songwriting style/direction the last few albums have taken. I'm not a fan of orchestral music in my metal.

I love TGB and FA was a good album. Tim could belch his ABC's and i'd probably buy it. Crucible has too much filler. Favorite is Horror Show, has a great vibe.

I was never a big Tim fan due to Barlow's voice probably being my favourite part of Iced Earth, but he certainly wasn't a bad choice. It's just a shame the first album he was on was pants, but it was fantastic on Framing Armageddon. Crucible of Man was very disappointing - a few stellar cuts and a whole load of filler. I'm hoping that changes next time around, because Matt sounded phenomenal on it.

1.Something Wicked
2.The Dark Saga
3.The Glorious Burden

7thSaviour wrote:

1.Something Wicked
2.The Dark Saga
3.The Glorious Burden

We have the same top 3 (albeit, the top 2 are reversed).

1. Night of the Stormrider
2. Burnt Offerings
3. Iced Earth

Metallic Blaze wrote:

7thSaviour wrote:

1.Something Wicked
2.The Dark Saga
3.The Glorious Burden

We have the same top 3 (albeit, the top 2 are reversed).

Sometimes the top 2 get reversed!

Dave the Boss wrote:

I do really like the artwork.

This is something that IE has never skimped on. The comic book vibe to many of the covers is very cool and Set Abominae is a great mascot!

Iced Earth has left SPV Records and has re-upped with their "old" label, Century Media Records (kind of odd since as soon as they jumped ship to SPV, all Schaffer did was talk about how much CM sucked...hahaha)... CM will also be releasing Jon's side project, "Sons Of Liberty" as well...

ICED EARTH Signs New Worldwide Deal With CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS - Apr. 28, 2010

U.S. metallers ICED EARTH have signed a new worldwide deal with Century Media Records. This new partnership sees the band rejoining forces with the label that released the legendary albums "The Dark Saga" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes" as well as all of the early ICED EARTH albums. In addition to ICED EARTH, Century Media will also release the recorded output from ICED EARTH mainman Jon Schaffer's SONS OF LIBERTY project.

Antje Lange, managing director of Century Media Records Europe, comments: "We are extremely happy and proud to welcome Jon Schaffer and his bands SONS OF LIBERTY and ICED EARTH back on the label. Schaffer is one of the most talented and charismatic musicians in metal and it is an honor for us as a label to work with him. Despite an already very successful past, we feel that an even bigger success is in the cards for the future."

Schaffer adds: "I am excited about the opportunity to work on SONS OF LIBERTY and ICED EARTH with Century Media. This was the label where my career began and there are many memories, some of them great, some of them not. However, we all grew up and are able to see eye to eye on the mission ahead: making sure my creativity gets the best possible outlet. I am much looking forward to this team delivering the goods and releasing some killer music."

The new SONS OF LIBERTY album, "Brush Fires of The Mind", is set for a July 13 release (one day earlier internationally). Schaffer handles all vocals and instrumentation for SONS OF LIBERTY, but the effort also features guest solos and contributions by legendary producer Jim Morris, ICED EARTH guitarist Troy Seele and world-class bassist Ruben Drake. Born from Schaffer's desire to stimulate curiosity about a pattern of global banking corruption that is undermining the independence of people and their countries, SONS OF LIBERTY aims to spearhead a multi-faceted and peaceful resistance of the tyranny being wrought every day on regular people. Schaffer, in turn, has reverently named his new project after a secret organization comprised of notable United States' patriots that formed in 1765. These patriots worked fervently to expose and resist the tyranny that the colonists were subjected to, which ultimately led to the American Revolution.

Hopefully the new IE will be without the symphonics.

TheNazgul wrote:

Hopefully the new IE will be without the symphonics.

I actually hope they keep the symphonic elements.

I hope they don't. I really want them to scale back a bit and deliver something more akin to [i]Burnt Offerings[/i[. Speaking of which, I'm surprised they've gone back to Century Media - songs like 'Burnt Offerings' were meant to be about how much they disliked that label.

TheNazgul wrote:

Hopefully the new IE will be without the symphonics.

Burnt Offerings had it's share of symphonic elements. it was just sinister in it's approach which made it seem more muscular & less flowery. i'd love for them to come up with something more wicked sounding again.

Yeah symphonics are excellent if done right. Once they start to be way out front and overpower the music,then the music suffers. I don't think Framing Armageddon was that bad an album. I haven't heard the Crucible Of Man yet (but will eventually). I do have to say though that I hope the next Iced Earth release does not have the symphonic elements to it.

I just hope the next IE album has better songs. I didn't like Framing Armageddon and I sold my copy of Crucible Of Man. The songwriting on both albums just wasn't very memorable to me.