Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Iced Earth
Label: Century Media
Release date: year_month
Running time: 62:03
Rating: 4/5
The last decade has been properly turbulent for Iced Earth. Matt Barlow’s constant exits and comebacks as the band’s lead voice were getting almost »Spinal Tap-esque«, members came and went like on a conveyor belt, and the lineup, under the iron fist of boss Jon Schaffer, spent a long time chasing the quality of the last truly complete studio album, Horror Show (2001), with its own material too. The American veterans finally managed to get back among the convincing studio bands with the arrival of new vocalist Stu Block and the album Dystopia, which breathed back into Iced Earth the power, excitement and energy that put them on the metal map in the first place. So if the Americans have been enjoying probably the biggest comeback of their career since 2011, it was clear that only Dystopia’s successor would be the real test. So did Iced Earth pass this stress test better than our banks?
Absolutely, though Plagues of Babylon still has a bit of red ink and a few bad debts on the books. On the new record Schaffer goes back to his »Something Wicked« saga, which he first set to music on the legendary Something Wicked This Way Comes (1998) and wrapped up on the conceptual twin set Something Wicked Part 1 and 2. That one is easily the lowest musical point in the band’s history, and there was fresh optimism about the band’s future, since Schaffer was supposedly finally going to close out his saga on the dull The Crucible of Man. But Jon wouldn’t be Jon if he didn’t show off his baby, the antichrist Set Abominae, at every turn like a proud papa. He touched on the story briefly on Dystopia already, and Plagues of Babylon is a half-concept work, with the Something Wicked saga taking up half the record, set in a kind of zombie post-apocalypse.
Luckily, this time the return of Set’s reign isn’t a shot in the dark, because the first, stronger half of the album, partly thanks to the story itself, is marked by a dark, apocalyptic ambience. Iced Earth wrap it up successfully and effectively in a wild tempo, epically long songs with plenty of twists and unexpected turns, Schaffer’s riff machine and a new, superb vocal performance from Stu Block. This time his vocal approach is a bit different than on the predecessor, as Stu sometimes gets remarkably close to Matt Barlow (almost certainly at Jon Schaffer’s urging). Inhumanly high screams are only there for flavor (in the finale of the thrashy rager Democide, which even recalls the days of Burnt Offerings), while Stu stays in the relatively low, baritone ranges that were typical of Barlow. If my guess about Schaffer’s influence on Block’s vocal role is right, it’s a big shame that the boss is pushing back into old patterns again and not letting the new vocalist develop in his own direction. Still, Stu steals all the attention once more: the charismatic singer breathes the most energy into the songs, and his excellent delivery easily paints the themes of the tracks right in front of your eyes.
But even outstanding vocal work isn’t enough without a good instrumental foundation, and here too Iced Earth have managed to make Plagues of Babylon a worthy heir to the band’s legacy. Jon Schaffer can still write a riff, even if at times it seems he can only write variations of the same guitar moves. Still, you can’t accuse the record of excessive repetition: the guitar assault is still mighty, and Jon’s picking, with that famously rhythmic, massive right hand, is unmistakable (the interlude in Peacemaker is superb, and it somewhat recalls the fantastic Equilibrium from Dystopia). On top of that, the guitar duo manage to build the epic chords up with beautiful melodies, outstanding harmonies and acoustic embellishments. Besides Block, there’s at least one more bright star on the record, one who already hinted at it on Dystopia. Troy Steele really confirms this time that he’s the band’s best lead guitarist since Randall Shawver. Steele knows how to find the right feel and the right spot for every solo on the record, and every fast-fingered move has enough identity that there’s no way to call any of it generic. The rhythm section is once again in the background of that trio, though new bassist Luke Appleton (Fury UK) breaks through to the foreground a few times, while »session« drummer Raphael Saini doesn’t offer anything all that mind-blowing, but acquits himself solidly, especially in those torpedoing parts so typical of Iced Earth and in the machine-gun interplay of riffs and drums.
Unfortunately, a few bones got stuck in the throats of Set’s zombies, because Plagues of Babylon is far from flawless. What occasionally bothers is mainly the excessive length of the songs, since you could easily cut a few minutes from most of them and lose absolutely nothing, if anything the opposite. While, for example, The Culling and The End can boast phenomenal, epic-sounding choruses, at moments they slip into excessive »Crucible« boredom and monotony. The album’s main weakness, though, is precisely the weaker second half, which just wheezes along wearily after the first six tracks instead of roaring like a volcano to close out the record. It’s honestly laughable by now, the obligatory, forced shoving of a ballad onto every single record. If I Could See You is a perfectly lovely song, mostly thanks to Block’s outstanding harmonies, but did we really need it? On top of that there’s Peacemaker (with truly moronic American conservative lyrics extolling the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, the kind that could only grow in Jon’s Republican cabbage patch), Parasite and two covers: Highwayman, a cover of an American classic originally performed by Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings, is interesting but quickly forgotten, and Spirit of Times is utterly unnecessary, as Jon covered himself (the song originally comes from his project Sons of Liberty). Luckily, the second half of the album is entirely rescued by probably the best song on the whole of Plagues of Babylon, a new tribute to classic literature after Dante’s Inferno and really the whole of Horror Show, and first and foremost to the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft. Cthulhu is without doubt one of the biggest names in horror, and Iced Earth have paid the green tentacled god fitting tribute. After a calm, melancholy, acoustic start the song explodes with Stu’s scream, undulates like Cthulhu’s tentacles, tears like his claws, and peaks in a chorus that comes right up alongside the band’s very best moments.
Iced Earth have done it again, even though at first glance Plagues of Babylon is by no means as strong a product as Dystopia. Sadly it has a few shortcomings that plagued the band from the release of Horror Show all the way to Dystopia, but it also has the strengths of the songwriting vein from Iced Earth’s best years and the kicking energy Block brought into the band with his arrival. The stretches of excessive drawn-out-ness, which could have been the album’s big trap, are balanced out by a few phenomenal moments, which make sure Plagues of Babylon is a worthy successor to Dystopia and proof that Iced Earth haven’t said their last word yet. »And upon her forehead was a name written, a mystery: Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.«
Iced Earth will present Plagues of Babylon in Ljubljana this very Friday, 24.1.2014, at Kino Šiška, and for the biggest enthusiasts, a day later in Zagreb and on Sunday, 26.1.2014, in Sarajevo.
Lineup
Jon Schaffer – guitar, vocals
Stu Block – vocals
Troy Steele – guitar
Luke Appleton – bass
Production
Jon Schaffer
Track list
1. Plagues of Babylon
2. Democide
3. The Culling
4. Among the Living Dead
5. Resistance
6. The End?
7. If I Could See You
8. Cthulhu
9. Peacemaker
10. Parasite
11. Spirit of Times
12. Highwayman
13. Outro
