Iced Earth
Iced Earth | |
---|---|
Iced Earth in Ludwigsburg (2012) |
|
General information | |
Genre (s) | Power metal |
founding | 1984 (as Purgatory) 1988 (renamed Iced Earth) |
Website | www.icedearth.com |
Founding members | |
Gene Adams (until 1991) | |
Jon Schaffer | |
Bill Owens (until 1987) | |
Richard Bateman (until 1986) | |
Greg Seymour (until 1989) | |
Current occupation | |
Lead vocals |
Stu Block (since 2011) |
Rhythm guitar, background vocals, lead vocals, studio keyboard
|
Jon Schaffer |
Lead guitar |
Jake Dreyer (since 2016) |
Bass, backing vocals |
Luke Appleton (since 2012) |
Drums |
Brent Smedley (1996–1997, 1998–1999, 2006–2013, since 2015) |
former members | |
singing |
John Greely (1991-1992) |
Lead vocals, backing vocals |
Matthew Barlow (lead vocals 1995–2002, studio backing vocals: 2004, lead vocals: 2008–2011) |
singing |
Tim "Ripper" Owens (2003-2007) |
guitar |
Larry Sapp (1986) |
guitar |
Randy Shawver (1988-1998) |
guitar |
Larry Tarnowski (1998-2003) |
guitar |
Ralph Santolla (2003-2004) |
guitar |
Ernie Carletti (2006) |
guitar |
Tim Mills (2006-2007) |
guitar |
Troy soul (2007-2016) |
bass |
Dave Abell (1987-1996) |
bass |
Keith Menser (1996) |
bass |
James McDonough (1996-2004) |
bass |
Steve DiGiorgio (2000-2001) |
bass |
James "Bo" Wallace (2006-2007) |
bass |
Dennis Hayes (2007-2008) |
Bass, backing vocals |
Freddie Vidales (2008-2012) |
Drums |
Mike McGill (1989-1991) |
Drums |
Rick Secchiary (1991-1992) |
Drums |
Rodney Beasley (1992-1995) |
Drums |
Mark Prator (drums: 1995–1996, studio drums: 1998) |
Drums |
Richard Christy (2000-2004) |
Drums |
Bobby Jarzombek (2004-2006) |
Live support and session musicians | |
singing |
Kate Barlow (studio vocals: 1996) |
Background vocals, guitar, keyboard |
Jim Morris (studio backing vocals: 1996, 1998, 2001, 2007, 2008, 2011, studio guitar: 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2008, studio keyboard: 1998, 2001) |
Keyboard |
Roger Huff (studio keyboard: 1991/1992) |
Keyboard |
Kent Smith (studio keyboard: 1991/1992) |
Keyboard, background vocals |
Howard Helm (studio keyboard: 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007, studio backing vocals: 2007, 2008, 2011) |
Drums |
Raphael Saini (studio / touring drums: 2013) |
Drums |
Jon Dette (touring drums: 2013) |
Iced Earth is an American metal - band led by Jon Schaffer , the influences from thrash metal , power metal , progressive metal , speed metal and NWOBHM combined.
history
Iced Earth was founded in Indiana in 1984 by Jon Schaffer as the "Purgatory". After the band moved to Florida and changed their name to Iced Earth, they managed to get a record deal with Century Media through the Enter the Realm demo , which was followed by the debut LP Iced Earth .
Since that time there have been repeated changes of line-up, which is often attributed to Schaffer, who is considered very eccentric. Singer Matt Barlow joined the band in 1995 after the European tour entitled Night of the Stormrider with Blind Guardian as a replacement for John Greely. The first album he worked on was Burnt Offerings , which is largely based on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy .
Barlow's singing turned out to be very popular. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 , however, he decided to work in the “real world” instead of indulging in the “illusion of being a rock star”. However, Schaffer persuaded him to stay in the band for the time being when Barlow announced the end of 2002. During the recording of The Glorious Burden , however, he decided that the quality of Barlow's vocals had deteriorated, so he left the band. Barlow then worked part-time as a police officer in his home state, and in 2005 he became a member of the "First State Force Band", an association of police officers from Delaware that campaigns against violence and drugs among young people.
The new singer Tim Owens left Judas Priest soon after , as their original singer Rob Halford returned. Owens had worked there on two studio albums. Before that he sang in the band "Winters Bane", with whom he had released the album Heart of a Killer . The Glorious Burden was now his first album with Iced Earth. Owens was initially viewed critically by many fans.
The Glorious Burden covers many aspects of warfare and the military that have shaped the modern world. The themes on it range from the American Declaration of Independence through Napoleon to September 11, 2001. Furthermore, three songs deal with the Battle of Gettysburg and one song with Waterloo . The subject of the album was controversial because of the political world climate.
The departure of Barlow, whose singing was considered to be style-defining, as well as the simultaneous turning away from fantasy, horror and comics as the main background of the texts, towards, in some cases, controversial, historical and current political and military topics, led to a strong loss of popularity of Iced Earth in Europe . Sometimes even longtime die-hard fans turned away from the band.
There was a scandal when an interview with Schaffer was published in the Canadian heavy metal magazine Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles . Schaffer accused the magazine of referencing his comments and underlining a bias against the US. He announced that the band would boycott the magazine in the future.
Schaffer announced a continuation of the Something Wicked storyline on the band's homepage . The pre- single Overture of the Wicked was released in early June 2007. In the same year Iced Earth released the studio album Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1) . In December 2007 Jon Schaffer announced on the band's homepage that Matt Barlow would return to the band and also sing the second part of Framing Armageddon . On December 11th and 20th, 2007, Barlow confirmed rumors of a return to Iced Earth on the band's website. He also announced that he would take over the lead vocals on the next album (Something Wicked Part 2). This was released in autumn 2008, the single I Walk Among You was released in Germany on June 13, 2008.
On March 2, 2011, Barlow announced his final resignation from the band after the summer festivals in Europe. As a motivation, he cited the lack of time with his family. Barlow had his last stage appearance with Iced Earth on August 6, 2011 in Wacken .
Barlow's successor is Canadian Stu Block , who was featured on the October 2011 album "Dystopia". In April 2012, Luke Appleton was introduced as the new bassist. He has already toured with Iced Earth with his band Fury UK .
In May 2013, Iced Earth announced that drummer Brent Smedley had left the band for personal reasons. Raphael Saini was hired for the upcoming studio production and also as a live drummer for the upcoming concerts and was later replaced by Jon Dette in this regard . From July 15, 2013 the band went to the studio to record their new album Plagues of Babylon , which was released in Germany on January 3, 2014. Half of it is a concept album and the other half is a conventional album. After the position on drums was vacant for a short time, Brent Smedley returned in spring 2015 to record the album Incorruptible , which was released in 2017.
On June 16, 2017, the twelfth album Incorruptible was released. It is the band's first studio album in over 20 years that is not a concept album. Each song has its own theme.
style
Stylistically, Iced Earth are mostly assigned to Power Metal , whereby influences of Thrash Metal can also be perceived. Iron Maiden are always seen by fans as a direct role model. The band themselves recorded some cover versions of the NWoBHM legend and played them live. A distinctive feature of the sound of Iced Earth is rhythm guitarist Jon Schaffer's right-handed gallop , which sounds like an accelerated and varied take on the 1/8-2/16 rhythm found in Steve Harris ' play in Iron Maiden songs such as Run to the Hills , The Trooper or Caught Somewhere in Time .
Iced Earth's lyrics often deal with theological subjects such as punishment and sin , destiny , heaven and hell , the antichrist and the apocalypse . Many of the band's albums are concept albums that deal, for example, with the superhero Spawn ( The Dark Saga ), horror films ( Horror Show ) or - as mentioned above - with historical wars ( The Glorious Burden ).
In some songs like Dante's Inferno , Angel's Holocaust , Damien or The Coming Curse , the band uses elements of Gregorian chant . Three Iced Earth songs have female co-singing: A Question of Heaven , The Phantom Opera Ghost and The Awakening as well as the remastered version of Burnt Offerings at the Days of Purgatory. The female part in the song A Question of Heaven was taken over by Matthew Barlow's sister Kate. The unknown US singer Yunhui Percifield contributed the guest part in The Phantom Opera Ghost .
Trivia
In an interview with the German music magazine Rock Hard in September 2007, Jon Schaffer named the contract with Century Media as a problem that was partly responsible for the many line-up changes. He described the time as "pure slavery" because the band would not have gotten out of the contract, but he could not have financially secure all members. In the November Rock Hard issue of the same year, however, a letter to the editor was published by the employees of Century Media in which they denied all statements by Jon Schaffer and stated that they had regularly transferred larger amounts to him during this time and that he still had money Century Media receptions. In order to be able to continue to support him financially, the label - with the invitation to readers to buy this - released the box set Slave to the Dark , the title of which was based on Jon Schaffer's statement and an Iced Earth title.
Discography
Studio albums
year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DE | AT | CH | US | |||
1990 | Iced Earth Century Media |
- | - | - | - |
First published: November 1990
|
1991 | Night of the Stormrider Century Media |
- | - | - | - |
First published: November 11, 1991
|
1995 | Burnt Offerings Century Media |
- | - | - | - |
First published: April 18, 1995
|
1996 | The Dark Saga Century Media |
- | - | - | - |
First published: July 23, 1996
|
1998 | Something Wicked This Way Comes Century Media |
DE19 (6 weeks) DE |
AT50 (1 week) AT |
- | - |
First published: July 7, 1998
|
2001 | Century Media horror show |
DE28 (5 weeks) DE |
AT32 (2 weeks) AT |
CH86 (1 week) CH |
- |
First published: June 25, 2001
|
2004 |
The Glorious Burden Steamhammer |
DE15 (6 weeks) DE |
AT24 (4 weeks) AT |
CH77 (1 week) CH |
US145 (1 week) US |
First published: January 11, 2004
|
2007 | Framing Armageddon: Something Wicked Part 1 Steamhammer |
DE19 (4 weeks) DE |
AT36 (2 weeks) AT |
CH56 (3 weeks) CH |
US79 (2 weeks) US |
First published: September 11, 2007
|
2008 | The Crucible of Man: Something Wicked Part 2 Steamhammer |
DE28 (3 weeks) DE |
AT34 (2 weeks) AT |
CH39 (2 weeks) CH |
US79 (1 week) US |
First published: September 5, 2008
|
2011 | Dystopia Century Media |
DE23 (3 weeks) DE |
AT51 (1 week) AT |
CH53 (1 week) CH |
US67 (1 week) US |
First published: October 14, 2011
|
2014 | Plagues of Babylon Century Media |
DE5 (4 weeks) DE |
AT27 (2 weeks) AT |
CH23 (2 weeks) CH |
US49 (1 week) US |
First published: January 3, 2014
|
2017 | Incorruptible Century Media |
DE15 (4 weeks) DE |
AT18 (1 week) AT |
CH17 (3 weeks) CH |
US140 (1 week) US |
First published: June 16, 2017
|
Web links
swell
- ↑ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/video-ex-slayertestament-drummer-jon-dette-performs-with-iced-earth-for-first-time/
- ↑ metal-hammer.de: Review of the album Plagues of Babylon (accessed on January 7, 2014)
- ↑ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=192448
- ↑ rockhard.de: Iced Earth: Brent Smedley returns to record the "The Judas Goat" album (accessed on July 22, 2016)
- ↑ Fender® Musical Instruments: Iced Earth Unveils New Album Details Incorruptible | Charvel guitars. Accessed March 26, 2018 .