Matthew Barlow probably sucks treat

Matthew Barlow has been the reason why I never got into ICED EARTH, until I got the earlier albums. His voice sounds forced, and anoying. I got DAYS OF PURGATORY, and some songs he just can't pull it off.
I just want to know what do you think, I hope to get used to his vocals one day, and star to dig their music with Barlow

I'm with you. Barlow's voice really turned me off to Iced Earth. I own Days of Purgatory and Horror Show and don't like either one. I did end up getting Tribute to the Gods a few years ago and he did a really good job there.

he is a decent singer. the vox on Burnt Offerings are my favorite. he uses alot more of his higher range on that one. best album they ever made imho.

I agree MC666! Burnt Offerings is the only one I like by them. His vocals on it were indeed awesome.

I don't think the guitar player Jon is very good either. To me he tries too hard.

Matt is the reason i love Iced Earth he is on of my favorite vocalist. Hearing this almost makes me laugh.

The vocals I heard on Horror Show were decent, but I agree with them sounding a bit forced.

Reminds me of the guy from Nightwish, who sounds equally as forced. "I wish I had an angel for one moment of lust!" Yeesh, calm it down bro.

He is a good vocalist!

Matt Barlow is probably my favourite metal vocalist. Like Metalrob, this topic amuses me because of that. But hey, different folks, different strokes.

Tim Owens is the main reason I don't like the last two Iced Earth albums. Talk about sounding forced; Owens sounds like his nads are in his throat. Freakin' Halford wannabe.

I'm soooo glad Barlow is back in IE.

I like him. Laterz.

I don't understand the title of this thread at all. "sucks treat?" Double-You-Tee-Eff?

However, Matthew Barlow MADE Iced Earth. The band just doesn't sound right without him up front.

His vocals annoy me and I'm a big fan of Tim Owens-era IE. I don't get the Barlow thing and think he's one of the most overrated vocalists in Metal. That being said, I hope he proves me wrong with the new one.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

His vocals annoy me and I'm a big fan of Tim Owens-era IE. I don't get the Barlow thing and think he's one of the most overrated vocalists in Metal. That being said, I hope he proves me wrong with the new one.

Wow, we're polar opposites on this one Scott. Owens really annoys me; especially in Iced Earth. He tries to make every band he's in sound like Priest even if the music is totally unPriest-like. That ruined both Glorious Burden and Framing Armageddon for me.

I don't think Barlow is one of the best singers out there but his vocal style fits IE's music IMO. So I'm glad he's back.

I'm a Ripper Owens supporter and thought he did a great job on GLORIOUS BURDEN (especially considering how he was brought into the fold on such short notice and still did a bang up job) but the FRAMING ARMAGEDDON disc was a let down for me. Not so much due to Owens, but the entire album just kinda left me cold. I am interested in IE's forthcoming EP/single that will feature Barlow's vox on a couple of FRAMING ARMAGEDDON tracks to see if that improves the tunes any.

There are samples of Matt redoing some of the Framing Armageddon tracks (along with a sample of the new single) on Iced Earth's Myspace - http://myspace.com/icedearth . I personally think it's a great improvement, but I was never a huge Tim fan. However, I can't blame Tim for The Glorious Burden, which is IMO the weakest IE album. It has some great moments, but a lot of it just strikes me as filler (although "The Reckoning" and "Gettysburg" are brilliant). I quite liked Framing Armageddon, despite all it's filler nonsense and thought Tim did a good job with it, so I don't actually have anything against him as a singer. I just think Matt's voice is far more suited to the band.

Powermacho; I've got to ask, what songs on Days Of Purgatory can't Matt "pull off"? Vocally, I'd say that album is far superior to the original stuff (musically though, something's very wrong with the mix at points), especially the Gene Adam tracks. The only song I think that came off a bit weak was "Colors", it doesn't sound fantastic (although the live version on The Melancholy EP is brilliant). By the way, I'm not having a dig, I'm just genuinely curious.

Not to be a buttwipe, but didn't we already have this Matt Barlow bashing section a couple months back?

http://www.heartofmetal.net/heart-of-metal-f1/matt-barlow-rejoins-iced-earth-t3227.htm

This is like beating a dead horse ad infinitum to the umpteenth power. :

spectrefate wrote:

Not to be a buttwipe, but didn't we already have this Matt Barlow bashing section a couple months back?

http://www.heartofmetal.net/heart-of-metal-f1/matt-barlow-rejoins-iced-earth-t3227.htm

This is like beating a dead horse ad infinitum to the umpteenth power. :

Totally different thread, dude. That old one was "Matt Barlow rejoins Iced Earth." This one is "Matthew Barlow probably sucks treat." See the difference?

Fat Freddy wrote:

Totally different thread, dude. That old one was "Matt Barlow rejoins Iced Earth." This one is "Matthew Barlow probably sucks treat." See the difference?

Oh you're right! I didn't see that! My bad. I totally see the reasoning behind a new thread now. Thanks!

sometimes it depends on what era of a band you get into first. i got into iced earth after "the glorious burden," and i like owens better as iced earth's singer. so going back and listening to the old IE albums sounds weird to me. not "bad," just different.

the only thing i actively dislike about barlow is the way his voice sounds during the between-song banter on "alive in athens." it's like he's talking in his "metal singer" voice and it cracks me up.

What makes Barlow such a good vocalist IMO is the things that he can do with his voice as a bass/baritone. The majority of metal vocalists are tenors and people that aren't usually have a difficult time succeding in metal (except for doom, goth, and other darker forms of metal) but Barlow by using various techniques can get his voice into higher territory than it should physicaly be able to go. Also he is and extremely versitile vocalist; apart from metal he can also sing operatic (he used to sing in choirs and on a theatrical stage) and country.

I agree with DB... Barlow's bass/baritone style gives his voice a more dramatic/theatrical flair than a lot of metal vocalists too, which works particularly well on the darker I.E. stuff like the "Something Wicked" trilogy and much of the "Horror Show" material.

spectrefate wrote:

Oh you're right! I didn't see that! My bad. I totally see the reasoning behind a new thread now. Thanks!

Don't be an Eyesore.

Don't repeat threads.

you people act like it costs all of us money if there are two similar threads on the board. is it that big a deal?

I don't want to argue about this. However, there is no need for 5 threads about the same topic. Especially if it's one of these "I hate" threads. This thread could have just been a continuation of the other I mentioned.

On the other hand, "you people" act like it costs money to use a search function.