I stopped listening to Iced Earth after “The Glorious Burden.” It’s a real shame Schaffer stormed the Capitol. Night of the Stormrider and Burnt Offerings still rip.

I was 16 years old when The Glorious Burden was released, and I totally loved that album. Lost track of them for a while, got Framing Armageddon and hated it. Then went back and played all the old stuff, and it lost most if not all of it's appeal. The same riff over and over again, all empty calories.

Funny release this. Those still interested will already have it, right? Could they sell 1000 copies of this crap?

Well, their pre-debut album live recordings were actually pretty good.
After that...meh. Even worse when the 'bad meme vocalist' (Matt Barlow) joined on vocals

Bad meme vocalist....?

Yes, so damn crappy he became a memes regarding bad metal vocals.
'Melancholy (Holy Martyr) ' being the main culprit. That godawful crooner imitation had so much people chuckling.
I still laugh out loud so hard everytime I hear the vocals on that song. Come on. That is just waaaaaaay beyond awful hahahah

Love Barlow's vocals. Amazing singer in his prime.

Absolutely. Excellent vocals.

He was the best thing about them.

Barlow is a bad vocalist? Only times I've heard people talk about him in a negative light is when Ripper-era Iced Earth fans shit dump on him.

General consensus is that he is a good vocalist othervise.

He's a great vocalist.

As in this material?

https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/I ... _Realm/180

I've seen a fair few people here who don't like Barlow's voice, but I think he's great personally. Ashes of Ares isn't exactly setting the world on fire but sometimes I give them a spin because I like his singing. He's very over-the-top though and I can see how that'd turn some people off.

Will never understand people who prefer either of his predecessors though. Ripper sure, but the vocals on the first two albums are adequate at best and dreadful at worst.

Don't know that one. I have a VHS from their early days, somewhere mid 1990 I think. Quite energetic good stuff

Barlow is a good vocalist, the guy has power and range, but he limits himself by refusing to explore his vocal ability in other registers. Just compare the two versions of the song Iced Earth, the original is much better with Gene Adam, although his voice is borderline self-parodic, but he is able to give personality to all his segments and when you listen to Barlow's version you can appreciate how uncomfortable he is when he tries to recreate for himself the amount of interpretation that Gene Adam brought to the song.

I wonder if Schaffer will "protest" this week, as per the Donald's demand that people "take back the country"?

I thought he would get overwrought at times, especially on Something Wicked. But he could really nail it. I think a lot was the songs Shaffer was writing though. Spun BO last night and fuck that rips. He does an amazing job on that album.

I really hate Barlows When the Night Falls. He’s my favorite vocalist but sometimes he ruins songs. That chorus has no need to be melodramatic.