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WHY NO LOVE FOR ICED EARTH?

 Tuesday, October 18th, 2011 at 12:00pm by

Today’s release of Iced Earth’s new album Dystopia is kind of a big deal. The band’s been around since the late ’80s and released their first album in 1991; since then they’ve released nine more full-lengths and they were one of the flag-wavers of true heavy metal when it was the farthest thing from cool throughout most of the ’90s and early ’00s. This is also their first album with new vocalist Stu Block (Into Eternity).

So why the fuck is no one talking about Dystopia? When Vic Vaughn included it in this morning’s weekly Shit That Comes Out Today column I actually had to check multiple websites to make sure that Dystopia was, in fact, coming out today. Other than this Revolver premiere of the album’s title track and Axl’s commentary on the album artwork I really haven’t seen anything about Dystopia at all. Iced Earth should be on the fucking cover of Revolver. Perhaps Jon Schaffer is too busy railing against the Federal Reserve to worry about press. Perhaps metal fans have moved on and just aren’t interested in the brand that Iced Earth are peddling… but man, if so, that’s a travesty.

Recognize and support true heavy metal. Recognize and support Iced Earth. Listen to “Dystopia” here; it’s big, it’s anthemic, and Stu Block sounds fantastic. Buy Dystopia.

-VN

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  • Anevilfrog

    NO!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Corey-Mitchell/660352330 Corey Mitchell

    It would help if they were on Spotify. 

    Silly Century Media.

    • Andrew

      Same here. I’m mostly interested because of Stu though.

    • Anonymous

      Agreed, I’d be more inclined to check it out if they just streamed the album somewhere.

    • http://twitter.com/itsrobfiasco Rob Fiasco

      that’s why you use Rdio.  it’s a million times better.  

  • Chimp-0-Neg
    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002131340820 Pat Arriola

      He got replaced by Sgt. D apparently.

    • Ziltoid

      Chillin’ like a fox over at TNOTB.

  • Brekin_99

    Well I for one am super pumped for this!

  • http://www.facebook.com/KYLEJKESSLER Kyle Kessler

    >Line saying Arrested Development
    >Arrested Development coming back
    >This pic http://www.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/picture-345.png

    It’s a conspiracy and Iced Earth, Fox, and Obama are in on it! Wake up Sheeple!

  • DarkDragon

    Its hard for me to get excited when a band changes singers. I liked Stu Block in Into Eternity but Schaffer made him change his vocal style and I dont really like it now. I head a few songs of this and its the same tired old Iced Earth sound so I think Im gonna pass on this one. Since Barlow is gone I dont know why many people would even care about this.

  • http://metaldelirium.net Matthew K. — Metal Delirium

    I’ve already listened to it numerous times and reviewed it. m/ It’s a fucking good album and Stu Block sounds amazing. Not to mention the rumored Sons of Liberty EP later this year that Schaffer is going to release. Saying he had some leftover stuff that fit SOL better than IE.

  • http://twitter.com/heebkike Tzvi Mandelbaum

    wait what since when is Stu in Iced Earth

    • Vestigial

      since barlow left

  • Federico McBigBalls

    Hard to get excited about a revolving door band that recycles and writes the same kind of riffs over and over again. I am not sure why anyone would find the general ambivalence this is being met with perplexing.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001105796085 Brian Bearden

      …”general ambivalence” and “perplexing”……WOW.  That sort of high brow language is hard for a bottom scraping metal head like myself to understand.  Thanks for the effort though….

  • Matty K

    No love for Iced Earth because they’re corny.

    • Anonymous

      There’s nothing corny about The Dark Saga. It’s an album about Spawn, for fuck’s sake. That right there is close to the apex of what heavy metal is about. 

  • Jerkoff_guy

    Why? Because Schaffer has been creatively bankrupt since the late 90s, people taking notice of this and also getting tired of the lineup changes, that’s why. Barlow was great as usual on the last one but the riffs were garbage. Schaffer just needs to call it quits, his apex is way behind him.

    • Conor

      This. Sometimes I still spin Burnt Offerings, and often break things while headbanging involuntarily to it, but ever since Barlow left, the band lost steam. I think Barlow and Schaffer were good buddies, and seeing the band get fractured like that must have broken Schaffer’s heart.

      Whatever the reason, they do not write good music anymore. I haven’t listened to Dystopia, nor will I. The dude can pick really fast—neat. The bar for what passes as guitar playing prowess has been raised significantly in the last ten years, and as many times as Jon tries to shuffle around syncopated palm-muted double-picked power chord chug riffs within a 4/4 meter, I’m not impressed anymore. Write a goddamn solo, dude.

    • http://www.facebook.com/jack.lenehan Jack Lenehan

      yeah it’s like it was great to have iced earth around as a second-rate iron maiden when iron maiden were “finding themselves” in the 90s but now that the boys are back it’s hard to know why this band needs to exist. new track is real fucking generic.

      plus as much as i would like to say it’s all about the music the fact of the matter is that a consistent lineup = more personal connection to the band = bigger, more devoted fanbase.

      alive in athens is still a great live album tho. criminally unloved.

  • Captain Wookie

    I plan on picking this up during my lunch break, should be good

  • Lordassenfroth

    Iced earth absolutely owns. Im checking it out asap. Thanks for the reminder vince

  • Alpha as fuck

    No one cares because they suck. Just like all power metal. How bout you go outside sometime or talk to a girl instead of whine about Iced Earth

    • Anonymous

      Comment of the year.

      • Andrew

        Also name of the year

    • Fred_Durst

      Somebody is inseccure about his small wiener and/or sexual orientation. Blind Guardian=Manlier than a dinosaur on a motorcycle.

  • Names

    The title track is the best thing they’ve done in a looong time. Being the first track on the album, it got me thinking they might be moving forward. Unfortunately, the rest of the album falls really flat. Stu Block’s vocal performance is pretty solid, the songwriting just isn’t there.

  • Charlie Brown

    Who knows man.  The dark saga was one of the albums that helped bridge the gap from more classic sounding metal to the in flames/at the gates melodic death metal which eventually lead to the heavier music that I would go on to listen to.  Can’t say I listen to them a whole lot anymore, but will always respect them.  

    Would listen to the new album if it were on spotify though!

  • brandonmetal

    OK album, stu does a great barlow impression

  • Beowulf

    Dude, I friggin love Iced Earth. Will be buying this as soon as I get off work!

  • The Overmatt

    Didn’t even realize this was due today. Gonna head out and pick it up right now!

  • Gecko

    I think I’m at a point where if I’ve heard one Iced Earth record, I’ve heard them all.  They aren’t overly creative or talented (save for Christie), and it’s not like they’re Slayer or someone where I’ll end up buying the album no matter what based on name alone.  After awhile Iced Earth just ended up being kind of meh-tal.

    • Joe

      “save for Christie”
      Yeah, because Barlow’s voice is just average… 

  • Grymmbear

    I was hoping Stu would be allowed to use his death screams, which would (in my opinion at least) shake things up positively for Iced Earth.  Alas, it didn’t happen.

    Although I will say he did a damn good job with the new rendition of Dante’s Inferno.

  • http://twitter.com/Meemperor Matt P

    STU BLOCK!! wooo… I want more Into Eternity though, 

  • Lucifersmile

    They’re just Manowar V. 2.0

  • Rossthebosslovesmetal

    I’ve been seeing this album everywhere except this site. 

  • betasmasher

    One of the most boring beta metal bands I’ve ever seen live. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Steve-Bowen/502176360 Steve Bowen

    it’s just not the same without matt barlow…

  • Omar

    Yeah, Ill probably pick up the album.  I love Iced Earth, their cover of “Burnin for You” has to be one of my favorite all time metal covers, right up there with Tool’s “No Quarter” and Metallica’s “Am I Evil”

  • The Gooch

    Schaffer has been out of ideas for a decade. The last three albums have been sterile and uninspired recycled crap. This band used to be great and have a couple untouchable albums. Schaffer spends too much time trying to make every song sound “epic.” forget “where’s the beef?” where are the balls?

    • Joe

      I just skimmed through a couple of the other new songs and this is fucking terrible. What a generic piece head of garbage. Schaffer has lost complete sight of creativity and is going through the motions more than ever. 
      Stu does a pretty good job though. Everything else just sounds like it’s stumbling to find any sort of creative ground and fails at putting one foot in front of the other. They haven’t churned out one complete “fuck yeah!” song since horror show. 
      I feel like this guy has lost all zest for playing in a metal band, but doesn’t know what else to do with his life. If you’re gonna have a job where you don’t make money you might as well keep releasing turds for albums and see the world and drink free booze every night, right? At least it isn’t Sons of Liberty… 

  • http://www.facebook.com/vforvicarious Matthew Kurtz

    Iced Earth have always come off like a second rate Iron Maiden to me. The rotating lineup and power metal vibe just add to the overall Spinal Tappishness of this band.

    10,000 Strong was a pretty kickass song though

  • Abdallah Hamidavi

    I’ve been seeing this album everywhere recently. I really like it. Iced Earth aren’t the type of band to release anything groundbreaking, but they haven’t released an album I don’t like. You can always count on Iced Earth to release a damn solid album that you can bang your head to. Stu does a great job on this album too, his vocal range is incredible, and as much as I like Barlow (he’s one of my favourite heavy metal vocalists, his performance on Dracula from the Horror Show album is mind blowing) Stu seems like a perfect fit for this band, and I hope he sticks around.

  • CJ

    I’ve been wondering that myself. I heard the first couple of songs a couple weeks ago (dystopia and anthem [my first time ever hearing Iced Earth btw]) and I absolutely love them. This month’s Metal Hammer got me interested. They did a decent sized story and sent out a big poster of the cover art (which is awesome and hanging in my house already). I did some research and cringed a bit when I found out they are on Century Media because that means no Spotify. But yeah, besides that one article and the poster, this and the new releases post are they only things I’ve seen even mentioning it. It’s a shame really cause they are clearly a great, veteran band. You can bet I’ll be in the record store Friday.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Zane-Blunt/548590952 Zane Blunt

    All these “it would help if they were on Spotify” comments… Really? How about get off your fucking ass and go get it, or open a youtube page, jesus christ!

    Not a bad song, the vocals at the 2 minute mark made me laugh though haha. This shit’s got nothing on Something Wicked This Way Comes :C

  • graygray

    Hell yeah, the album rules. Beats the shit out of anything else this website posts cause the songs have TUNES