"Mindcrime" a la Schaffer

"How it's done, it's done wrong." True to this motto is observed in most of the new albums of long-established and deserved bands split audience reactions (eg, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden): Most often we hear: all been there before, only at least 1000 times better. Consequently, is also moaned when the new album sounds quite different - then jump "Stilbruch, betrayal of the fans" etc. pp.

I honestly have to say even after repeated listening to the new Iced Earth disc: I can understand no single point of Maulerei on "Framing Armageddon" really. If one mourns Matt Barlow (very good man) and Tim Owens (also very good man) do not want to hear in Iced Earth partout, well, then it's no good, but that's why but the music is not bad.

What do people expect?
Where Iced Earth draufsteht, Jon Schaffer's in it and just sounds the new disc also. What some complainers dismissed as "already heard a hundred times", are actually the trademarks of Iced Earth (and has been for years): So the man playing guitar, so he designed his albums and he writes his songs halt. Constantly more than "The Night of the Storm Rider" or "Burnt Offerings" to philosophize, is about as if you hold with each new Maiden a presentation on the Paul DiAnno era.
The music of Iced Earth is not completely sound each plate differently or new, without risking a break in style, but the musical context is simply too narrow. On this CD, he has, however, especially in the interludes, chosen unusual instrumentations for this metal variety, which extend the range of sounds clearly.

And what is for now otherwise offered in the first part of the "Something Wicked" story? The music appropriately produced, energetic metal with rich riffs interesting instrumented atmospheric interludes, melodic choruses with a certain tendency to bombast (cooperation with Hansi Kürsch in Demons & Wizards - project also has a bit of Iced Earth rubbed) and a sci-fi fantasy -Story that not everyone is probably matter. The range of songs ranging from

With his usual precision machined Jon Schaffer - except for a few guitar solos - everything that has strings and singer Owens presented the story vocally in top form. It is true that the music has become not as break-heavy but homogeneous and linear. But the rhythms and drum parts are now somewhat more sophisticated in the details. Master Schaffer quoted here and there yourself, and it but mostly concerns the above mentioned trademark of the band. And of course, there are quotes from the trilogy "Something Wicked" album (eg "Something Wicked Pt. 1"), which was probably so definitely intends ;-)

The song spectrum covers the usual Maiden-like gallop Reef suspects ("Setian Massacre", "Framing Armageddon"), fat half ballads ("Charge to Keep," "The Clouding") and straighter numbers ("Ten Thousand Strong", " Order of the Rose "). Interesting numbers are also "The domino decree" and the bombastic scale "Born is he".

You should at this point also mention that Schaffer's texts have now become something "singable". Before, it often happened that the singer had to bother with this line, they asked concerning the syllabic stress an impossible task and that sounded sometimes stilted arg. Although Tim Owens still has artificially attract some syllabic something in the length, but it is much better than before.

In my opinion, Jon Schaffer has hereby his own "Operation: Mindcrime" created, with Iced Earth surely go walk and song-oriented to work and not as psychologically dramtaturgisch-start as it did Queensryche.

If it were only about the actual songs, so I would have awarded more 4 stars. But a concept album should see my opinion "holistic". The story is well told and is used in conjunction with the songs as a unified whole, therefore, also provide the interludes some "Setian" atmosphere. The total package is right so.

Somewhere under the dash I therefore really no reason to deduct star. These are the Iced Earth anno 2007, they have done well. Let's hope that "Part II" similarly succeed (and not so high as might sink "Mindcrime 2").