Incorruptible

It is tempting to think that the extremeness of the peaks and valleys of a decades long career is the measure of a band's greatness. When recounting the wildly different and arguably superior/inferior output of the big names associated with any style of metal, but particularly the mainline ones that have attracted the largest fan bases, this is a sentiment with a fair degree of weight. Opinions may vary, but overall, one of the bigger names in said spectrum of metal has been blessed with a few impressive high points and a generally moderated lower qualitative range in their remaining output. Iced Earth is something of a cautionary tale as most of their best work is to be found at the very beginning of their 25 year plus history, and subsequent output has proven a bit more inconsistent when considering the general strength of the Barlow-fronted Horror Show, Ripper Owens' Framing Armageddon and Stu's debut entry Dystopia, while surrounding efforts have proven weaker and uneven. Following the lazily written and reductive retread Plagues Of Babylon, it stood to reason that Schaffer and company would need a drastic shift in direction to breath new life into the Stu Block incarnation of this band.

Incorruptible could be described as many things: a hybrid of old and new, a more cosmopolitan affair, or the best thing that has come out of Iced Earth in at least 10 years, but a drastic change is not one of those. This is still the same balancing act between heavy but not overtly complex thrash metal and the older mode of Iron Maiden influenced USPM, with only a few notable changes on the periphery that make much of the difference between just cutting it and putting out something that is fun and bears listening to repeatedly in rapid succession. The return of long time engineer Jim Morris, who was absent from Plagues Of Babylon but otherwise involved in every album going back to The Dark Saga has definitely brought about a revitalized sound, along with the return of Brent Smedley behind the drums to put on a performance highly comparable to his solid runs on Framing Armageddon and Dystopia. However, the most consequential change in personnel that affects the quality of this album is the introduction of guitar virtuoso Jake Dreyer, who is a rookie with limited prior output but probably the most technically proficient shredder that Iced Earth has had since Randy Shawver left.

Be all of this as it may, the ultimate boon to this album is the songwriting, as Jon Schaffer has brought in a refreshed and vital array of influences to the table. Each song tells its own story, hitting a unique lyrical subject that is surrounded by a highly fitting musical backdrop that is immediately associated with the textual pictures being painted. A theatrical prelude complete with an orchestra and bombastic war drums kicks off a thrash-infused anthem to the Viking era with the opener "Great Heathen Army", as Stu Block shifts between vocalizations embodying the husky bellows of Barlow and the glass-shattering Halford shrieks of Tim Owens. Things take an even more curious turn on the pirate-themed "Black Flag", which shifts from a dreary Running Wild styled quiet intro, which then builds into a slow paced march comparable to Sabbath's "Heaven And Hell", just before launching into an upbeat shuffling groove out of the "Children Of The Grave" playbook. Other points of intrigue include the vile, fast-thrashing beast "Seven Head Whore" (it sounds like the even more evil and twisted older brother of "Violate" off The Dark Saga), the tribal influenced and power metal infused instrumental "Ghost Dance (Awaken The Ancestors)" and the straight up pounding bruiser "Defiance".

Generally speaking, the ebb and flow of this album leads to its only arguable flaw, namely a pacing that comes off as a tad bit lopsided. Schaffer goes maybe a tad bit heavy on the balladry this time around with three largely acoustically driven numbers, each of them standing fairly well on their own and "Raven Wing" being particularly compelling as a shortened reminiscence on "A Question Of Heaven", but being clumped together at the center of the album. But regardless of placement on the album, the songwriting is far more focused and redresses this in a manner that the clunky and slower moving The Crucible Of Man failed to accomplish. Furthermore, the epic closer "Clear the Way (December 13th, 1862)" makes the entire listening experience instantly worthwhile, in spite of the pacing issues. It bears some similarities to the gargantuan epic closer to The Glorious Burdern in structure and in that if recounts part of the U.S. Civil War. However, here the subject is the Battle of Fredericksburg and particularly the massive loss of life suffered by the Irish regulars on the Union side (many of them draftees too poor to buy their way out of dying) to a brilliant display of Irish-sounding folk melodies and driving power metal brilliance, bring a needed sense of realism and loss to the subject of war that was less apparent in Schaffer's last go at the subject.

It has become a cliche to say it given the long history of fumble and recovery that has painted their career, but Iced Earth is most definitely back. The generally positive feedback that has chased this album since its release several months back is most definitely deserved, as this band has corrected just about every misstep that made Plagues Of Babylon an unmemorable dud that just barely managed to be edged out by The Crucible Of Man for the worst album in Iced Earth's catalog. It may also prove to be the beginning of a more cinematic sound for this band down the road as the massive production and more ambitious musicality on display is about up to par with the ambitious conceptual work heard on Horror Show. It is unclear if they are going to feature Set Abominae being submerged in a worldwide deluge on the next album or maybe encased in ice amid a frozen wasteland, but if the music contained within follows this same winning formula, the metal world will be in for yet another real treat.

It has been somewhat of a rollercoaster for Iced Earth during the past few years. Since the release of the rather average ‘Plagues of Babylon’ in 2014, guitarist and all round General of Iced Earth, Jon Schaffer had to place the band on hold whilst undergoing surgery to ease fused vertebrae on his spinal cord. As well as this, it hasn’t always been plain sailing in the Iced Earth camp, drummer Brent Smedley had left the band and after 3 years, returned to the fold. The line-up shuffle continued with lead guitarist Troy Seele stepping down and being replaced by Jake Dreyer, known for his work with Jag Panzer, DeathRiders and White Wizzard.

For a career bordering nigh on 30 years, it can’t be denied that Jon Schaffer knows how to write a song and after a 3 years absence, there is a welcome return for Iced Earth with their 12th studio album, ‘Incorruptible’ released this year on the 16th June. Admittedly, ‘Incorruptible’ begins with a rather slow burning intro to ‘Great Heathen Army’ before the pummelling drums of Smedley and crashing guitars of Schaffer and Dreyer bring the song into fruition as vocalist Stu Block gives his best war cry of: ‘Valhalla!’

Stu Block is a hugely versatile vocalist and it may have taken the best part of 6 years for Block to begin finding his feet in Iced Earth. Block has all the range and power of Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens and the dynamism of Matt Barlow, with imitation being the finest form of flattery. However, with ‘Incorruptible’, Block has stepped into his own and plays out ‘Incorruptible’ with an accelerated vigour beyond that of his first offering with ‘Dystopia’. Block nails the berserker scream during ‘Great Heathen Army’ and not only is this a great way to start off an album, but it certainly sets the bar high for the remainder of ‘Incorruptible’ with ‘Great Heathen Army’ easily being one of the best songs on the album, leaving the question, why don’t Iced Earth write more songs like this?

This sentiment can be reiterated with the following song ‘Black Flag’, a mid-tempo pirate themed romp that can single handedly possibly be the best song that Running Wild never wrote. Iced Earth manage to add the certain degree of integrity and panache that is needed to seriously write a pirate themed song and with ‘Black Flag’, they pull this off so easily that once more, it begs the same question as above leading us to believe that it may have taken awhile, but it looks like Iced Earth have found their feet once more. It’s no secret that over the course of their career, Iced Earth have drawn heavily on religious themes, most notably from the ‘Book of Revelations’, particularly to inspire Schaffer’s ‘Something Wicked’ concept and ‘Incorruptible’ is no different with ‘Seven Headed Whore’. Released prior to ‘Incorruptible’, ‘Seven Headed Whore’ is an aggressive slice of Armageddon which harks back to how Iced Earth sounded in the late 90’s.

Circumstances aside, Schaffer may have subconsciously needed this break because ‘Incorruptible’ features the best song that Iced Earth have released since ‘The Glorious Burden’ back in 2004 in the shape of the American Civil War themed ‘Clear the Way (December 13th, 1862)’. ‘Clear the Way’ is not a 30 minute dirge like Schaffer’s Gettysburg concept, but rather a 10 minute epic which marches forward with a chorus so memorable that it will not just be stuck in your head for days, but actually one of the best songs on ‘Incorruptible’.

A lot of the songs on ‘Incorruptible’ are immediately fun to listen to and do take slightly longer than normal to click; ‘Raven Wing’, ‘Brothers’ and ‘Defiance’ are easy to sing along to, but difficult to recall without the music behind them. However, this certainly does not affect the pace and enjoyability of the album with the only song bordering on pointless is the instrumental, ‘Ghost Dance (Awaken the Anscestors)’. As an instrumental, it is actually much better than a lot of similar songs by their peers, particularly with the ‘Supernaut’ style beat halfway through with the panpipes adding an extra dynamic, however, ‘Incorruptible’ would still be as good without ‘Ghost Dance’.

It is fantastic to have Jon Schaffer back to full health and Iced Earth firing on all cylinders. ‘Incorruptible’ is a special slice of progressive metal and the easily the best thing that Iced Earth have released in more than a few years and don’t be surprised if ‘Incorruptible’ is riding high at the end of the year for a place in the best releases of 2017.

I find Iced Earth's discography to be consistently inconsistent, with a few glorious highs and several dreadful lows, and yet, somehow, they remain one of my favorite metal bands. Blame it to their unique version of the power/thrash hybrid, anchored by the signature sound of the galloping rhythmic riffs of leader Jon Schaffer, and by their preference towards versatile and powerful frontmen that can easily and proficiently produce both an operatic wail or a thrash metal shout (and in the case of current singer, Canadian vocal monster Stu Block, even a black metal rasp), but I'm always curious about what they are up to, no matter the changes in line up. Not being able to see them live for the first time in my life, last year at Mexico City's Knotfest, was a painful punch in a year already filled with iniquitous stuff (Agalloch's break-up might top the list), but I hope they do return one day. In the meantime, I can happily affirm the band's twelve LP, the unconventionally simple-titled Incorruptible, is a good one.

2011's Dystopia saw the band return to more than decent form. Perhaps it has something to do with using that also simple title, as Megadeth's last year effort with the same name was similarly solid enough. But Iced Earth followed their release with the 2014 meandering Plagues of Babylon, confirming their inconsistency once again. Now it seems, it was the turn of a good album, and Incorruptible delivers. For starters, the album is structured in the way of their classics of old; a barrage of nine songs, ranging from three to six minutes of duration, and the tenth and finishing blast, a 9-minute closer. The songs are more direct that the compositions from their previous record, a welcomed change. They're however, not as fast or outstanding as their most beloved classics. “Heathen Army” opens the album with an Age of Empires/Game of Thrones-styled brief intro and then it explodes in a fast/mid-paced rollercoaster about famed Viking hero Ragnarr Loðbrók's exploits, death (sorry for the spoilers, but you can skip the lyrics) and the subsequent wars on that Viking period, with Stu's magnificent vocals and a healthy dose of muscular riffs as the soundtrack.

The songs are mostly mid-paced but diverse, and none could be considered filler, thank Dio. “Raven Wing” is one of my favorites, a song about shamanism, GoT’s 'wargs' or as we used to call them in ancient Prehispanic lore; nahuales. That is, a person with the ability to possess animal spirits or bodies. Musically, like most tracks here, it recalls “Anthem” from Dystopia, a mid-paced uplifting number with a mighty performance by Mr. Block, which actually is the standard for the whole record. “Seven Headed Whore” is the most aggressive and fastest number, trying to recapture the violence of classics like “Stormbringer” or “Violate” and more or less accomplishing it. And of course, we have closer “Clear the Way”, a tale about and tribute to the Irish fighters in the American Civil War. Speaking of them, those guys have fought everybody else's wars, and even fought against the Americans on the Mexican side two decades before, when Americans invaded Mexico. As an Irish friend of mine says (in thick Irish accent, of course), “any place where there's plenty of alcohol and a good fight, we'll be there”. The composition is not as good as the two 9-minute closers of their first two releases, “When the Night Falls” or the amazing “Travel in Stygian”, and it's in fact one of the weakest tunes of the disc, but is not too bad either. Kinda feel they were involuntarily trying to conjure up Running Wild's style, but in a flawed an unnecessary way.

The production is muscular and clear, even though the bass guitar is marginally subdued. The lyrics are not that good, but to be honest they have never been this band's forte. Not that is matters a lot, as 25 years old Jake Dreyer is the new and exciting addition to Iced Earth's line up, taking lead guitar duties on this album, and boy, does he shreds! I wish they let him get loose a bit more, as his performance is excellent but somewhat too controlled. He does shine brightest on the instrumental “Ghost Dance”, one of the best surprises of the record, and also on “Brothers”. Stu remains on fire, Schaffer's riffs are good enough, and the rhythmic section does its part, nothing too fancy, but no weak spots either. Set Abominae makes it to another decent cover artwork, defiantly proclaiming “here it is, mortals; Iced Earth's thirteenth LP”. While this won't make it to most people's list of outstanding 2017 albums, it is a welcomed addition to Iced Earth's discography. I do hope they won't replicate their 'lets-copy-Anthem-for-all-tunes' formula in their next release, but for the time being, Incorruptible satisfies.


Originally written for Metal Recusants [metalrecusants.com]

Iced Earth has always been a band with big hits and misses for me. Incorruptible might not be a masterpiece but it's easily the band's best record in more than a decade.

Let's get the negative points out of the way. Jon Schaffer's songwriting is far from being surprising. All songs can be resumed as melodic mid-tempo tracks with strong heavy and power metal vibes and occasional restrained thrash metal riffs. While not being bad, the two opening tracks kick the record off on a rather low note because they sound like many other Iced Earth songs with the classic trademarks listed above. These two tunes already have too many similarities to really stand out despite an interesting instrumental overture to ''Great Heathen Army'' and cool lyrics about pirates in the case of ''Black Flag''. Several tracks overstay their welcome and feel stretched. This is also due to the fact that choruses are often repeated to death which is the case for both ''Raven Wing'' and ''The Veil''. The fact that some songs end with bland fade-outs instead of proper finales is also a sign for lazy songwriting.

However, after an average first half, Incorruptible gets better and better in the second half. ''Ghost Dance (Awaken the Ancestors)'' is an instrumental track that finds the right balance between gripping power metal riffs and creative sound elements inspired by First Nations chants and melody lines. ''Brothers'' is without a doubt this record's anthem and in this case the chorus is so addictive and powerful that I don't mind that it's repeated so many times. This song should get a mandatory spot on the band's concert set lists for years to come. The best track is the closing epic ''Clear the Way (December 13th, 1862)'' which reminds me of Iron Maiden's heavy metal epics of the eighties. Emotional melody and vocal lines meet a vivid rhythm section, atmospheric parts in the overture, middle section and coda and very interesting lyrics inspired by historical events. Even a few decently employed bagpipe melodies make their comeback and add a special note to this track. Anyone who likes classic heavy metal epics will fall in love with this track that might be one of the best in Iced Earth's career.

Despite a few minor flaws, Incorruptible is a diversified, engaging and passionate heavy metal record with great production, skilled guitar work and strong vocals that might at times remind of Stu Block's predecessors without copying them. He basically manages to take the best from Matt Barlow and Tim Owens in particular and adds his own touch to it. Let's add that the album is a grower since even the weaker tunes blend in rather well and get more memorable after a few spins. After the vapid Plagues of Babylon, Incorruptible is a very solid return to form and Iced Earth's best record in more than a decade.

Iced Earth, my all time favourite band as far as metal goes unfortunately hasn't managed to break new ground at least in a while. Where it is not to say that they have been unsuccessful in providing decent albums with good tracks, sufficed to say however good are none the less complacent. One such as myself finds a yearning for something new and never finding it with them. It seems their best since Night of the Stormrider or Burnt Offerings was either Something Wicked This Way Comes or Horror Show. Since we've had the mediocre Glorious Burden, and even though solid enough Framing Armageddon, we've also had the most awful Crucible of Man. The fans were finally graced supposedly with Dystopia which though was also relatively solid and definitely fun was ultimately in my eyes nothing new. A lot of potential was wasted and the creativity was lacking. Iced Earth was always best when they were most creative and because of the vast amount of cheese in its writing both lyrically and musically on Dystopia, it was difficult to take it seriously. On the other hand, the title track was quite awesome and Stu Block proved to be an excellent vocalist and frontman worthy of Jon Schaffer's empire. The next release Plagues of Babylon proved to be a much stronger album much more epic, solid, well written, dark, but not as fun an album. Still longing for something more, where they would one maybe give us another NOTSR, they still haven't given us that, and probably never will. However, it is not a reason to lose hope. Thanks to albums like Horror Show, which prove solid, melodic and beautiful making metal by numbers still proved worthy allows one like myself to consider why another Stormrider however great is not necessary.

Leading us now to Incorruptible invokes both some concerns and positive anticipation without first listen. Where being skeptical of Iced Earth is wise, to outright dismiss their newest release without any consideration is definitely unwise. Where you might not love them or even hate them, they must not ignored without good reason. This album is also of no exception. They however did release some singles and they proved rather solid, even outright awesome showing us that they might be giving us something truly worth embracing. Is this album perfect? By no means. Many flaws are rather obvious but nothing to its detriment. At the bear most, the flaws are only to a few demerits which otherwise prove a solid release. Possibly their best in a long time. Songs like Great Heathen Army, Black Flag, The Relic, Seven Headed Whore, Ghost Dance, and Brothers really deliver well, especially the title track. Jon wrote some very wonderful compositions that make you clench your fist in respect. Simply no big complaints if anything unforgivable. Simply put, they are epic, new, and even moving at times. More so, he went very much out of the box on certain tracks. Songs like Raven Wing, and Defiance are also relatively strong maybe even standouts however are flawed in so much that both musically and lyrically are very cheesy. Among its headliners cheesiness is a fate that though brings demerit definitely does not however damage. It's an improvement over Dystopia which was a cheese platter making one face palm if one had high standards such as myself. Many have mentioned that Iced Earth ripped off Loverboy's When It's Over with their song The Veil, which many found disappointing. I on the hand did not, I found it solid, and ultimately, better than Loverboy's original. Especially since they haven't quite made a song like this before, with the exception of Anthem. Though many accuse the chorus for being a little on the nose as a rip off, I would argue rather it was the song as a whole, but it wasn't a bad thing however true. Overall, apart from the cheesiness, often basic Iced Earth arrangements heard throughout the record, and typical formulas, in a lot of ways, they are not done to any major discredit leaving the complaints for the most part silent.

The only major beef I had was the 'epic' of the album Clear The Way. When they first released it as a single, I laughed out loud rolling my eyes in disregard because the first half of the song was pathetically awful. Where it possesses an Iron Maiden quality mixed with Blind Guardian style to its credit, unfortunately to its detriment the riffs were poor, less than stock, weak with the chorus's lyrics to be pathetically wanting. This was detrimentally cheesy ultimately epic because of its length. The life force of what qualifies an epic was dead. Of course, the rest of the song was pretty good, overall, it falls flat among the rest. This was the weakest point and it left me feeling disappointed mostly because Jon has written incredible epics; When Night Falls, Travel in Stygian, Dante's Inferno, Question of Heaven, The Coming Curse, Come What May and the list goes on. This however was probably the worst epic made next to Tragedy and Triumph.

Overall the standouts are awesome, the throwaways are solid, and the final epic the weakest link. This album happens to be the best Iced Earth album in a long time. It might not achieve the status of the classic Dystopia to fans which I regret because I find this to be far better than than Dystopia. The sound remains true to Dystopia and Plagues resulting in its love child. Stu's vocals are at their best, Jon's writing though might not be at his best, it didn't need to be. Definitely a worthy release restoring hope for greater things to come.

Since the Iced Earth template hasn’t undergone any dramatic changes since the late 90s, the real question always comes down to how good the songwriting on an album will be. This has been especially true with the 2010s era fronted by vocalist Stu Block; 2011’s Dystopia was an explosive power metal outing while 2014’s Plagues of Babylon saw the band sinking into mid-tempo mediocrity. In an amusing subversion, Incorruptible seems to stay between the two in terms of quality and ultimately comes out as being a decent Iced Earth album.

If there’s one thing that can be said about Incorruptible, it doesn’t feel quite as cookie cutter as anticipated. The usual blend of upbeat songs, mid-tempo rockers, and ballads is set in place but the songs themselves don’t feel as formulaic or directionless. This was made surprisingly apparent by the album’s singles, as “Raven Wing” is a building ballad without falling into Iced Earth’s typical verse-chorus trap and “Seven Headed Whore” turned out to be one of the band’s most aggressive tracks thanks to the shrieking vocals and extreme metal influences.

The band also sounds more energetic than on Plagues of Babylon. Some of that energy could be attributed to returning drummer Brent Smedley and the recruitment of Witherfall/White Wizzard guitar hero Jake Dreyer, but it’s most likely due to Jon Schaffer’s decision to just make his crunchy triplets more impactful this time around. The vocals also feel more expressive, still largely opting for that Matt Barlow impersonation though allowing for some scurvy inflections on the pirate-themed “Black Flag” and a few Ripper-styled screams on “Defiance.”

With this in mind, the main thing holding this album back isn’t a collection of bad ideas so much as a need to edit what it’s going for. The closing “Clear the Way (December 13th, 1862)” is easily the album’s best song and comes so close to being an epic companion to the band’s Gettysburg Trilogy, but the meandering structure over nine minutes keeps it from hitting that emotional high. “The Great Heathen Army” is also their most epic opening in some time and “Ghost Dance (Awaken the Ancestors)” is a pretty cool instrumental, but neither track is quite at an essential status.

Iced Earth’s newest album thankfully isn’t the mediocre ‘Murica metal that I had anticipated, but it isn’t quite the surprise comeback that Dystopia had been either. The lack of a conceptual theme means that the band isn’t acting too big for its britches but the meat and potatoes approach does feel a little plain without that extra fire. Incorruptible is the most accurate title ever associated with Iced Earth in their thirty year history but it might be nice if they let something corrupt them just a little…

Highlights:
“The Great Heathen Army”
“Seven Headed Whore”
“Ghost Dance (Awaken the Ancestors)”
“Clear the Way (December 13th, 1862)”

Originally published at http://indymetalvault.com

The lack of anticipation, as well as the sheer indifference, leading up to a new Iced Earth album has been the same since The Glorious Burden. Yes, I actually liked more of that album than anything that came after it. I guess what finally did it for me was the whole hype leading up to the return of the great Matt Barlow only to feel like someone let the air out of my tires. Enter the Stu Block era of the band. Dystopia was not that horrible, even though it seemed like Stu Block was trying too hard to be Barlow. Plagues of Babylon was okay as well but mostly forgettable. So, obviously, the report of a new Iced Earth album garnered a “meh” reaction from me. Even the teaser single, “Seven Headed Whore,” was not convincing enough to get me excited about this album.

So Iced Earth releases their thirteenth full length album, Incorruptible, and I just can’t stand it….I had to get it even if it was just to shit all over it. Well maybe thirteen is not lucky for some but it’s sure goddamn lucky for Jon Schaffer and the boys. To say I was pleasantly surprised is being quite mild. For the first time in a really long time I am really digging an Iced Earth album and it feels good! This is a diversified album that does not rely on Iced Earth’s old formula of running triplets all over the place. Instead the riffs are plentiful, the melodies are infectious and the songs are just that damn catchy. The songs vary from in your face blasters like the opener “Great Heathen Army” to epic numbers like the closer “Clear the Way (December 13th, 1862).” In fact, it seems that long epic numbers have been Mr. Schaffer’s achilles heel in recent years but it seems to really work here.

The lyrical approach here actually works better than their usual fare. The over the top patriotism that seemed to put a lot of people off is not here. There’s plenty of historical themes on this album but it seems that the overlying theme here is as exactly as the title alludes to. “Great Heathen Army” is based on the story of the sons of Ragnar Loðbrok and their revenge against the Saxon’s for the killing of their father by Northumbrian King Ælla. Here we have an age old story but from the perspective of the so called “bad guys.” Same with “Black Flag.” Here is the story of pirates from the side of the pirates and how the system they fought for used them and then discarded them making them into who they are. Then you have “Clear the Way (December 13th, 1862)” which is a song about the Irish Brigade and their staggering losses during the Battle of Fredericksburg. As far as the lyrical delivery is concerned, there are some “more Barlow” moments here but not as many. I’m actually enjoying Mr. Block’s vocals on this album.

The song structure on this album definitely needs mention here. The riffs are much stronger than anything they’ve done in a long time. The inclusion of guitarist Jake Dreyer may have a lot to do with this. I remember saying that Troy Steele was the best guitarist since their original guitarist Randy Shawver was in the band. Well Mr. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Mr. Dreyer is the best guitarist this band has had since it’s inception. The riffing on this album is really good, especially on songs like “Defiance” and the best song Iced Earth has written in a really long time, “Black Flag.” The solos are over the top incredible and add that extra layer to the songs. As I mentioned before, long epic numbers have sometimes come back to haunt this band. “Dante’s Inferno” is possibly the last really good long epic song from Iced Earth. However, songs like the six and a half minute “Raven Wing” and the aforementioned nine and a half minute closer are well done, not overlong, and have enough structure to not lose you.

This is actually the review I never thought I’d get to write….a gleaming review of an Iced Earth album. Hopefully this is a sign of better things to come for a band that I have been a fan of for over 20 years. I always knew the talent was there, this time the stars were in perfect alignment. Can they keep this going? I’ll remain cautiously optimistic…for now.



The Elitist Metalhead