Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Orpheum Theater / Graz / Austria
Concert date: October 16, 2007
Attendance: 800
Ticket price: €30.00
Iced Earth have been writing one hell of an interesting band history over the last few years. In 2003, after he had already started recording vocal lines for The Glorius Burden, the charismatic Matthew Barlow walked out. He was known for one of the most unique, distinctive and mighty voices in metal. The vocal lines were re-recorded by metal’s rising star Tim “Ripper” Owens, who joined Iced Earth as a full-time member after getting the boot from Judas Priest. After The Glorious Burden (2004) got a pretty lukewarm reaction from critics and fans, the band disappeared into the fog. Early this year, though, mainman Jon Schaffer finally revealed that Iced Earth were working on one of the most ambitious projects of their career – the continuation of the cult trilogy Something Wicked This Way Comes from the album of the same name, released in 1998. The evil took shape on the new Framing Armageddon, and to present it the guys hit the road on a huge European tour. The closest they came to us was just a stone’s throw from our northern border, at the Orpheum hall in Graz. Swedish Dark Tranquillity were first announced as the support, and then two truly unbelievable bands came out of nowhere – Finnish warriors Turisas and Canadian thrash legends Annihilator. A trip to the Orpheum was a must!
And it was my first time in this incredible Graz hall, which a buddy of mine described best as “indoor Križanke”. The atmosphere of a hall with a capacity of around 1,500 heads is genuinely breathtaking, and when Turisas took the stage on top of that, I was straight-up gasping for air for a few moments. Genre-wise, Turisas maybe weren’t the right pick for an opening act, but the Finnish battle metallers never let you down on stage. Their mere appearance lives up to their reputation as the one and only battle metal band: war paint, pelts, fur and leather transport you straight into the idyllic, untouched nature of medieval Europe, cut through by the clang of weapons, the crash of axes and the screams of the maimed. Turisas on stage really feel like they’re in the middle of a raging war, and a big part of that is down to the towering, charismatic frontman Mathias “Warlord” Nygard, who lives up to his nickname with the look of a cruel military despot. Warlord, with an unbelievably powerful voice that’s brutal when he growls and damn epic and pompous when he sings clean (if you want epic music in the true sense of the word, forget the Italian cheeseballs Rhapsody of Fire or the oiled-up narcissists Manowar right now and get yourself some Turisas!), presents himself as a true general, who has no trouble commanding his squad of officers on stage and the mass of foot soldiers below it. But Warlord is of course not the only one who whips the crowd into battle ecstasy. Worth mentioning above all are the fun, easygoing bassist Hannu, who rocked the funniest hairdos, and the energetic violinist Olli, who completely wore out his violin bow after half an hour of insane sawing (Turisas are unique in that all the solos on the new album The Varangian Way are played on electric violin). Sadly, Turisas played first this time, so they only got about half an hour, which flew by in a flash. But in such a short time they effortlessly took us down the Volga to Veliky Novgorod with To Holmgard and Beyond and A Portage to Unknown, brought us back to the debut Battle Metal with the beer-fest anthem One More, and with a fantastic cover of Rasputin by Bonnie M sent us back to the days of high heels, glittering rags, afro wigs and disco balls. “Do you like disco?” Warlord asked – and my answer is, disco after Turisas? Hell yes! Turisas said goodbye with the epic Battle Metal, which made it clear that half an hour is way too little for a band I can easily call one of the best metal bands of recent years, and a true roaring war machine on stage. Turisas are a band you simply have to see! “Turisas – one more please!”
There wasn’t much time to rest. The Austrians are punctual as a Swiss watch, and the bands hit the stage on the dot. It was time for an attack of poisonous Canadian thrash metal, which the well-packed hall was waiting for just as impatiently as I was. With the punchy King of the Kill, Canadian legends Annihilator blessed our ears with some excellent thrash metal. This is a band that, with their first two albums Alice in Hell (1989) and Never, Neverland (1990), which count among the brightest moments of thrash metal, hinted at a rise to the throne of thrash, but sadly never lived up to the big expectations and hopes with their later releases and slowly sank into oblivion. This year they put out yet another seriously mediocre record, Metal, which sadly only confirmed that Annihilator ran out of steam and drive a long time ago. Still, Annihilator proved that live they’re as damn poisonously thrashy as ever! The band’s leader and only remaining original member, the great Jeff Waters, energetically led us through the whole three-quarter-length set, shredded like a madman, jumped around, and kept hyping up and firing up the crowd by stepping right to the edge of the stage and gunning down the audience with his classic red beauty in the style of Steve Harris. I went in pretty skeptical about Annihilator, since I’m especially grossed out by the screeching vocals of Dave Padden, who sounds awful on the albums, but the guy with the looks of a boy-band member delivered live, and Jeff Waters himself helped him out generously on vocals. Luckily, they played only two songs from the new album, which are really the only ones worth listening to, Operation: Annihilation and Clown Parade, and after that it was nothing but eternal classics, mostly from the first two cult albums. Before that they made us happy with the excellent Set the World on Fire from the album of the same name from 1993, and then came a killer closing four-pack of pure cult classics. W.T.Y.D., Never, Neverland, which Padden slightly ruined with his too-dainty little voice, but it was still damn nice to hear, the killer thrash anthem Phantasmagoria, and of course the closing Alison Hell, one of the band’s best songs! Annihilator, at least live, still kick with full force! “Listen to Annihilator, eh!”
At quarter past ten we finally got the hall going dark and the intro of the new album Framing Armageddon, the ominous Overture, which ushered the legendary American heavy/thrash leaders Iced Earth onto the stage. The packed hall clearly went nuts at the sight of Schaffer and Ripper. The first part of the show was devoted to presenting the current album, the first part of the continuation of the Something Wicked story, and the guys opened the concert with its intro. Framing Armageddon lived up to expectations, since it’s a much better record than The Glorious Burden, it just needs a few more listens. Ripper is a singer who probably had the toughest jobs in the whole history of metal, replacing cult vocal icons of metal: Rob Halford in Judas Priest, and the inimitable Matt Barlow in Iced Earth… Tim pulled off both jobs brilliantly. Even though the first voice of IE will probably always be Barlow, Ripper filled the void left by his departure without any trouble. In the opening moments of the show, Tim Owens proved why he’s one of the best vocalists of the younger generation: his screams tore the roof off the hall, and he did incredibly well in the mid-range too. Of course Owens sang the new tracks, Motivation of Man, Setian Massacre, the fantastic ballad A Charge to Keep and the killer single Ten Thousand Strong, with gate-ripping power. It was a surprise how quickly the new songs had already caught on. The crowd sang along to most of the choruses of the new tracks, with the incredible chorus of the poisonous single Ten Thousand Strong clearly leading the way. However good the new songs may be, most people were waiting most of all for the old classics, and I could hardly wait, curious to hear them from Ripper’s mouth. First to hit was the opening track of the album SWTWC, the thrashy murder Burning Times, the speed massacre Declaration Day took us back to the previous record, and then another “blast to the past” with Violate and Vengeance is Mine. Somewhere in the middle of the show Ripper of course had to rest his vocal cords, so boss man Schaffer stepped into the spotlight and burned through the classic Stormrider from the conceptual masterpiece The Night of the Stormrider. To my great joy, and obviously the joy of the whole hall, they didn’t forget the excellent album Horror Show, and bit our necks off with one of the brightest moments of the concert, the crazy Dracula. My heart fluttered again at one of my favorite songs, The Hunter, with a phenomenal chorus that gave me goosebumps all over, and then came the letdown of the night. The guys played only one third of the indescribable Gettysburg trilogy. Why, Iced Earth, why!? The disappointment was patched up by the indestructible ballad Melancholy, which Ripper sang surprisingly well, but Tim will never sing it as fantastically as Barlow does. One more round of My Own Savior and the Iced Earth anthem, and the guys said goodbye far too soon, after just an hour and twenty minutes. They could easily have played a few more classics, or at least some of the new crushers, Order of the Rose, Infiltrate Assimilate, Framing Armageddon or the excellent The Clouding. Where’s the 2002 tour, when Iced Earth played a full 150 minutes??? Still, the show was an unforgettable experience, and next time they can give us at least 20 minutes more, right?
Seeing three bands this good in one night is a fantastic experience, and for me, finally seeing one of my favorite bands, Iced Earth, for the first time made it all the more unforgettable. The Orpheum has become one of my favorite venues, one I’ll keep coming back to, especially because of the excellent sound, which was truly incredible. I’ve seen quite a few concerts this year, and not a single one can boast sound this good. And we’ll meet Iced Earth again next year, when the story will be wrapped up!
Setlist
TURISAS:
1. To Holmgard and Beyond
2. A Portage to the Unknown
3. One More
4. Rasputin
5. Battle Metal
ANNIHILATOR:
1. King of the Kill
2. Operation: Annihilation
3. Clown Parade
4. Set the World on Fire
5. W.T.Y.D. (Welcome to Your Death)
6. Never, Neverland
7. Phantasmagoria
8. Alison Hell
ICED EARTH:
1. Overture
2. Something Wicked
3. Invasion (intro)
4. Man’s Motivation
5. Setian Massacre
6. Burning Times
7. Declaration Day
8. Violate
9. Vengeance Is Mine
10. A Charge To Keep
11. Stormrider
12. Dracula
13. The Hunter
14. Ten Thousand Strong
15. Hold At All Costs
—encore—
16. Melancholy
17. My Own Savior
18. Iced Earth
Photo gallery
