Raven wrote:
I'm also very eager to pick this up upon it's release. I love Iced Earth and I equally enjoy Tim Owens vocals. The artwork looks IE standard. I wouldn't expect anything less from Jon. I wouldn't classify the cover art as boring or typical. It's just what you come to expect from IE. Would we have criticized Iron Maiden and the use of Eddie in cover art? Nah.
It's quite typical of bands to use mascots, especially in the 80's and early 90's. It's just that it's not a popular method anymore. Maiden doesn't get any stick for Eddie because they were one of the pioneering bands to use a mascot. And that became a popular part of Heavy Metal. The problem is that we look up too much to what Maiden and other early bands did, often resulting in newer bands being criticised or called rip-offs.
I actually like IE's concept of their 'mascot' although to be frank, it doesn't have much impact as Eddie does.
