I got never really listen to Iced Earth before, except for the double Live in Athens. I always think of Iced Earth as heavy thrash metal with growling vocal. On this new Dystopia album, the impression is a very catchy American heavy metal with a twist of multi octave vocal ala Judas Priest. The combination of straight heavy metal singing with tenor growling vocal blend nicely. Dystopia, the first track is a solid opener, with dynamic changing of vocal style all over the song. Anthem comes with good anthemic beat. Anguish of Youth is ballad in minor scale that represented whole album "darker" theme. Dark City is an acoustic intro, slowly built up from clean voice verse into Halford screamo chorus. A few catchy riffs and then semi ballad End of Innocence to bring the dark and sad mood to the end of the album. The album close with high energic Tragedy and Triumph. And if you purchase the Japanese edition, there is a very nice cover of Iron Maiden hit, The Trooper, where the singer is just outstanding performing this legendary song.
Dystopia still bring enough riffs and screaming to Iced Earth fans. The singer pulled it off impressively with all the twist of singing styles, from clean, heavy, growl and screaming. The instrumentation still on top of their game with all the riffs memorable to remember and tight solos. It's has it moments, a fun heavy metal album from Iced Earth.
Metal Harem class: ******** eight stars out of ten
Updated review (6 April 2013)
Iced Earth - Dystopia (2011)
get it from AMAZON
1. "Dystopia" Jon Schaffer 5:49
2. "Anthem" Stu Block, Schaffer 4:54
3. "Boiling Point" Block 2:46
4. "Anguish of Youth" Schaffer 4:41
5. "V" Block, Schaffer 3:39
6. "Dark City" Block 5:42
7. "Equilibrium" Block 4:30
8. "Days of Rage" Schaffer 2:17
9. "End of Innocence" Block 4:07
10. "Tragedy and Triumph" Block, Schaffer 8:23
Japanese Bonus - The Trooper (Iron Maiden cover)
Iced Earth Dystopia 2011 album review
No comments:
Post a Comment