 Iced Earth In the uncertainty of our post-9/11 world, it's more important than ever to understand our history, and what better forum for this do we have than power metal? Iced Earth is no stranger to the misguided concept album, having previously devoted their energies mainly to horror and fantasy-themed metal, culminating in the wonderful and/or ridiculous Horror Show, comprised entirely of songs about monster movie characters ("Dracula," "Im-Ho-Tep," "Damien")! Weirder than their choice of subject matter, though, is the simple fact that Iced Earth pulls it off. Their melodies, riffs, vocals, and overall sound kick ass. So it's easy to be captivated by the music, banging your head dutifully and pumping your metallic salute into the air, while forgetting that what you're listening to, in this case, is songs about history. History?! Of course, it was cool when Metallica took on Vietnam in the "One" video, but it's an entirely different thing when you're rocking out to songs about, like, Valley Forge. Everyone loves to watch Full Metal Jacket … no one likes to go to Civil War re-enactments. But Iced Earth frontman Jon Schaffer apparently does, and his passion for history comes through with much righteous power on The Glorious Burden. It's a concept so uncool that the band is surely risking all credibility putting it out. But the fact that Schaffer cares so much about it makes it succeed grandly, out of sheer willpower. The music is similar to previous Iced offerings – in the general vein of Helloween, Gamma Ray, and Iron Maiden: huge power chords, thundering double-bass, epic choral vocal parts, piercing harmonies, and the occasional acoustic guitar arpeggios to break things up. It's top-notch power metal, highly infectious and memorable, and meticulously recorded for maximum punch. Lyrically, though, The Glorious Burden is a whole new genre. Songs about the Revolutionary War, Waterloo, Attila the Hun, Vietnam, and The Red Baron (!) comingle with "The Star-Spangled Banner" (!) and "When the Eagle Cries" (which goes into the whole 9/11 shenanigans). Now, when Hendrix did "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Woodstock, it was subversive. And when Marvin Gaye did it at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, it was soulful. Iced Earth kick it out with total reverence, and somehow it works, because they believe it does. "Declaration Day" is completely awesome, and "Eagle Cries" is actually about as honestly good a song as I've heard on the World Trade Center contretemps. Things get very silly indeed with "The Red Baron" and "Waterloo," mainly owing to an overabundance of historical facts in the lyrics, but despite the unintentional humor value, these songs still convey a newfound passion on these hoary subjects … I guess I just never expected to be taught by metal. Note to self: title autobiography Taught By Metal. The superdeluxe 2-disc version of Burden comes with a second disc that contains Iced Earth's masterpiece, the 25-minute suite "Gettysburg," replete with cannonfire, battlefield marching drums, and, moreover, excellent, inspired melodies that bring new life to the defining moment of The War Between the States. As much as I'd love to laugh at the delusion of it all, I still find myself with head-a-bangin', so who's laughing now? Huh? No one? Oh. I give Iced Earth huge props for doing something so obviously personal and defiantly contrary to what is considered hip. Cradle of Filth may capture the teen-goth imagination with their gargoyle-slaying murdermusic, but Iced Earth has taken on the glorious burden of serving the nerdy history buffs … and when it comes down to it, we all need power metal, so more power to Iced Earth for catering to the neglected niches. How is it possible to assign a convenional rating to such a preposterously perfect creation? I sidestep the usual and bestow the singular Flaming Edward M. Stanton Head for special achievement in fusing history and guitar riffs.
Review by La Fée |
