slampig

Iced Earth has relaunched their website and announced a new album along with tourdates all of which have been lacking since they were last seen in 2004.

The forthcoming release, “Framing Armageddon,” is due for release in late August or early September.

Tour Dates are limited to Europe at the moment. Details about the tour can be found at http://www.icedearth.com/index.htm

Fenrir

sucks the guitarist left. i may go and see them, but i cant stand rippers vocals

llljlalslolnlll

As long as it isn't dripping with patriotism, I may give it a spin.

metal_bryan

The new Iced Earth is a set of concept albums - meaning 2 albums spanning the same story (both were recorded at the same time down at Morrisound Studios with Jim Morris, as always).

The story? A continuation and retelling of the Something Wicked trilogy at the end of Something Wicked This Way Comes.

A special EP/single, "Overture Of The Wicked," is due out June 4th (5th here in the USA) of the Something Wicked trilogy RE-RECORDED as well as one song from the forthcoming release of "Framing Armageddon."

From the way Jim Morris described Jon's ideas for these albums and the re-recorded trilogy when I last spoke to him, I'm VERY excited to hear the end results. It should be truly epic. I'm not even a big fan of Ripper's vocals, but I know I'll love these albums.

BTW, if anybody hadn't heard, Matt Barlow has returned to music and is fronting the Danish power metal band Pyramaze.

metal_bryan

I've acquired a copy of Overture Of The Wicked and given it many listens. I'll have to say that the recording quality is WAAAAY better, especially the guitars. Jon has really improved since the first time these songs were recorded, but that could be seen well enough on the latest Demons & Wizards album. I've never heard tighter rhythm guitar tracks.

Is the new trilogy better than the original? Well, they left out a lot of the atmosphere and effects that made the original trilogy such an epic masterpiece, such as the intros to the songs (though they kept the clock ticking and chiming) and the chanting at the end. That really detracted from the cohesiveness of the three songs and made them sound more like individual tracks. There are slight changes to some of the riffs to make them more heavy and rhythm oriented, but none of the changes detracted... I might say that the changes were improvements.

Another big thing that drew attention were Ripper's vocals. They lacked any form of emotional/theatrical quality. These songs NEED theatricality. You can't do epic trilogies without it. Jon should know better since he's a fan of bands like Iron Maiden. I'm normally not so pissy about this, but Barlow NEEDS to sing these kind of tracks and I'm very scared that the upcoming album will suffer because of Ripper's lack of depth. I say this with full knowledge that Barlow was not instrumental in writing his own vocals in Iced Earth (Jim Morris and Jon Schaffer told him when, what and how to sing).

Anyways, on to the new song debuted on this release. "Ten Thousand Strong" does not catch yoru attention on the first couple listens, but it holds up well when you give it a chance. The very beginning of the song is so ridiculous you can't help but laugh... it's almost as if Ripper is mocking himself. Everything after that is straight IE fare, though rather uninspired and not very memorable. You reach the bridge at around 2 minutes and find that it's much better than what you've been listening to. The bridge is great... lots of melodies and a decent solo. Once it gets back into the chorus the rearrangement and layered vocals make it more interesting to listen to. Overall, it's a rather mediocre track, but it has its strong points, as I've pointed out.

I hope Ripper doesn't ruin these new albums. I will be so angry.

:[GOB]:Ranger Dave

Looking foward to these disc's. I have all there release's. I agree lets hope ripper dont screw the pooch on this one. Matt Barlow should have come back to this band. He has another band he is with now. Look foward to that also.

EviesEarth

Exactly. I was so excited the first time I heard them, and then he left. I will still check it out. It is always worth it.
Keeping hope up that he may return

metal_bryan

Framing Armageddon leaked about a week ago, and I've heard all of it (leaked copy had promo voice-overs by Jon Schaffer).

I'll definitely be picking up this album when it is released. Ripper's vocals were definitely toned down on this album compared to Glorious Burden, and they actually sound really good on a lot of the songs. The only way to really describe this album is "epic." Everything sounds great and the music flows from track to track making you want more and more. It's very reminiscent of the original Something Wicked album, except more in the style of newer Iced Earth and with some more atmospheric/slow songs thrown into the mix.

I don't know where I'd rate it among their discography yet, but it's definitely a big improvement over their previous release with Ripper.

Fenrir

Pyramaze is awesome, loved them when Lance King was the singer, i really cant wait to hear the new record with Matt should be out next year sometime