(Rated this album with 6 out of 10) Reviewed by
Patrick Tracy
from Salt Lake City
When I first heard news of a new Iced Earth album, I was wonderfully pumped up about it. I'd started listening to them with "Alive in Athens", branching out in both choronlogical directions. Each record had reavealed something impressive and excellent about this strong band. Through all sorts of hassles and line-up changes, Jon Schaeffer's writing skill and chugging engine of rhythm guitar destruction had kept the band up and running. So...I'd been charged up, though mildly worried at the change from the grim 'n evil subject matter to that of U.S. History. Everyone has a skill and a subject that they do best. Thus far, I'd seen IE at their best with the dark fantasy they were known for (Travel in Stygian, Pure Evil, Night of the Stormrider...) The big thing that kept my hopes up was the fact that Matt Barlow's voice was one of my favorites in metal, right up there with Dio, Halford, Beladonna, and Adams. When I heard he'd left, I was crushingly disappointed. How could he throw all that talent away? When the news of Tim "Ripper" Owens coming on board hit, I didn't know what to think. I hadn't heard him (okay, I had, in Winter's Bane, I think, but didn't know it at the time.), so I didn't know what to expect. A Halford clone, I guess, which would have been okay, presuming that it was a perfect copy of his devestating performances on the likes of "Painkiller" et. al., but I was destined to be disappointed. To make an already overgrown review fit within the space constraints of this format, the music is good and powerful, more or less what you'd expect from I.E., but the lyrics are spottily written, the vocals delievered without the same passion and power we've come to expect, and the general vibe not nearly as thunderingly brilliant as previous IE efforts. It's not a bad album, but it isn't up to the standard of Horror Show, even though that one is often given flack for being a let down (not in my eyes). I wish Matt Barlow would come back. I wish the band would turn their eyes back to subjects that lend themselves better to their musical and lyrical strengths. I want my old IE back!
