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This is a nice bit of news. I would love to see a truly classic throwback album in the veign of Burnt Offering, instead of something like Something Wicked or Dark Saga.

Uh huh. I'll believe it when I hear it, Schaffer.

Correction Schaffer you don't have it and you never did have it, haha though this should be an interesting trainwreck to watch unfold

+1

I'm with you guys. I'm not too optimistic.

Night of the Stormrider 2

This news has actually got me on an Iced Earth kick. Listened to Burnt Offerings the other day, and was reminded of what made me like Iced Earth in the first place, the borderline speed metal intensity and Barlow's vocals. I think the man has still got it, but he really needs to deliver here. Fingers crossed.

Personally, I'll be disappointed if there isn't at least one way OTT ballad about how awesome Americans are.

I mean that genuinely, no anti-Yank nonsense. We Brits don't do tear-streaked patriotism half as well as you guys - it's all stiff upper lip, and 'expects every man of England to do his duty' here. Over there, the eagle cries, man. And Iced Earth sum that up musically very well, one of the reasons I like The Glorious Burden so much.

I'm the ghoo~oo~oost
Standing next to YOOOOOU

(DOO~OON'T TREAD OO~OON MEE~EE
LII~IIVE FREE~EE OO~OOR DII~IIE)

So cheesy.
Great song, though.

Fingers crossed. Last two were very disappointing and tow before that mediocre at best (albeit with some very good moments).

I agree with the Wicked's and Glorious Burden, but I thought Horror Show was great.

Yeah, Horror Show was excellent, Ghost of Freedom cheese included.

Such an amazing quote from you zad.

Nice quote indeed. I can appreciate feeling behind music, which Schafer obviously has, even if the cheese factor is a little over the top. But my biggest issue with Glorious Burden was probably the production. It seemed like it lost some of the force of previous albums because there was just less bottom end, same with the Wicked albums. Good ideas on all of them, but just not balanced enough to be anything other than decent.

Also, the DVD that came out around Glorious Burden time frame is worth a watch if you want more on Schafer's historical perspective. Lots of good information, though not much in the way of music.

Although I dug the most previous albums as well, very interesting to see what comes out with Schaffer's sights apparently on more straight-forward material. No qualms whatsoever if it'd be something more Stormriderish, for example

I think his view of more straight forward material will unfortunately be based around song structure, in other words more songs with the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus formula. What made Night of the Stormrider great in my opinion is straight forward production combined with complex song structure. There are probably more riffs and tempo changes in NOTS alone than any two other IE albums combined.

I'm a die-hard Iced Earth fan but it's hard to stay optimistic when every release since Something Wicked This Way Comes is worse than the previous one. It just seems like Iced Earth now is one of the many bands that are passed their prime who will continue to chase whatever made their prime great but never reach it.

Ripper was just the wrong choice to replace Barlow. Actually, I think anything Ripper sings on brings it down.