Iced Earth's Reviews

The Glorious Burden

IE Fans, Be "REALISTIC"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First off, Tim's vocal sound doesn't work with IE. I am not bashing him because I love Matt's voice but Matt has developed a very unique sound and Owens simply sounds like hundreds of other vocalists the emerged out of the 80s when the Halford type vocalist became "The" vocal style for Metal. I was very excited when I heard that someone of Owens reputation was going to replace Barlow but after trying and trying to give it a chance it just doesn't go with the IE sound. Matt hit an amazing level as a vocalist on Dracula, Damien, Something Wicked Trilogy, and the NOTSR songs on Alive in Athens.

Unfortunatly the mismatch of music and vocal styles isn't the only problem with this CD. Many of the lyrics come across as very forced, especially on Gettysburg. The lyrics just don't flow properly. I thought it was a great concept for John's next epic but it seems like he got too caught up in stating the historical facts and didn't concentrate on writing "Lyrics". My hats off to him for the major undertaking, especially with the orchestration, but the song doesn't work. His best epics by far are still the Something Wicked Trilogy or Dantes Inferno. Another example of lyrics that seem forced is in the beginning of Valley Forge which is one of the better songs on the CD. The lyrics are "what he endured was real....starvation...total war. Total War? As opposed to Partial War? What he endured was "Real"? There has to be a better adjective to describe the plight of the Valley Forge soldier than Real. I understand Jon's desire to write a song about the events of 9/11 but when the eagle cries comes across as very cheesy.

The power is also very lacking from this effort. The most agressive song musically is probably Greenface but the lyrics are silly at best.

Waterloo and Atilla are both very good songs, each with a catchy chorus, but neither song ever breaks into any of the speed or the agression that would have symbolized the brutality of either of its subjects.

Some of the reviewers are killing the CD because they claim Jon is trying to go more commercial, or simply because Matt left the band. That is rediculous. I can apprecialte a commercially slanted song if that is the intent and it is done well but that is not achieved here. I was more that willing to give Owens a fair chance but simply put his style doesn't match the IE sound.

I still gave the CD 3 stars because there are some good aspects to it and it is still better that much of the Metal that is being pushed by the bigger labels these days but if you seriously compare this to HS, SWTWC, DS, or AIA, it doesn't come close.

Buy this album on Amazon at $20.99