Iced Earth's Reviews
The Glorious Burden (Average Rating: 8.86 out of 10)
Iced Earth unleash the Glorious poems of War! (Rated this album with 8 out of 10)
Reviewed by
Richard Terry
from Los Angeles, CA United States
I have been a huge Iced Earth fan for some time now, but believe it or not, this was my first purchase from the band. The very first album that I heard was Burnt Offerings. I kept on cranking every one of their cds after that and I loved hearing one of the greatest vocalists in metal history ever, Matthew Barlow! Iced Earth's new album, The Glorious Burden, does not feature Barlow due to the fact that after September 11, he decided to leave the band. Iced Earth picked up the former frontman of Judas Priest, Tim 'the ripper' Owens. I will tell all of you right now that I have never been into Judas Priest, but I do know a little about them. I was excited to hear about this new album, and I didn't think that the band would let me down. After about 2 months of listening to this cd, I decided to write a review on it. Iced Earth start out with an awesome metal version of The Star Spangled Banner, and I think they should play that for the Super Bowl next year! Owens makes his 'glorious' appearence in the song, Declaration Day. This song is amazing in every aspect that includes the music, the lyrics and the emotion of the day that America declared War against Britain for independence. The next song jumps forward over 200 years to the event of September 11 and is a metal ballad on the 2nd day of infamy that this nation has ever known. These 2 songs are basically an introduction to a cd that has a war theme. The album moves to many different parts of history very quickly but with the sense that the listener knows what is going on. The band takes you back in time to the Roman Empire against Atilla, the leader of the Huns, the Red Baron in World War I, and even Napolean, in the battle of Waterloo. The best part of this album is the Gettysburg trilogy that marks the emotion, the tension, the faith in God, and the thousands that died in the 3 days of that very bloody battle.
Personally, I love history, and the band also expresses their love for history. The reason why I gave this album 4 stars is because even though Tim is good on vocals, we are all used to hearing Barlow wail, sing, and scream. Tim does have the emotion and the passion, and I am thankful that he is in the band. He is a great vocalist, but Barlow will always be a step ahead of most of the vocalists in the genre of metal. I do recommend this album for people who enjoy heavy metal, but also people who are interested in the history of this amazing world that we live in. I praise Iced Earth for singing and playing music that has a sense of meaning for this world and I look forward to seeing them live in a couple of weeks.
Buy this album on Amazon at $20.99
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