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Anticipation for this album just jumped up a few notches. Digging that cover.

New IE = so much win

Cautiously looking forward to this.

I loved their last one, so *probably* I will like this one, as long as Jon didn't use up all his riffs on his side projects.

BTW their mascot has seen better days, some of the perspectives don't look quite right in the artwork either .. are good artists that hard to come by?

This album will suck undoubtedly suck ass.

I want it to be good but Something Wicked part 2 was the last time I allowed myself to be excited for an Iced Earth release. Unfortunately their last four albums have each been worse than their previous one.

Something Wicked This Way Comes - Great!
Horror Show - Pretty good.
The Glorious Burden - Mediocre.
Something Wicked part 1 - Bad.
Something Wicked part 2 - Bad!

I am interested to hear the new singer though.

Personally I thought Horror Show was a better album than Something Wicked. Glorious Burden has moments, but the production isnt strong enough to give it teeth. The last two each had moments, but as with many concept albums too much filler made them inconsistent and hard to stay attached to.

With that said, I think there is good reason to be excited about this one. Schafer seems to be on a personal mission to put out a more straight foward metal album, and I liked how he did the horror theme so I think he can pull this off quite well.

I like Horror Show, I wouldn't call it one of their best but it's good. There are some great songs there but there are a couple of songs that feel a bit uninspired too. Not that Something Wicked This Way Comes is perfect by any means, but the trilogy at the end is just unbelievable.

The downward trend combined with a new singer, who I personally doubt will be able to be as good as Barlow or Ripper, just makes it hard for me to be excited for this. Demons & Wizards - Touched By The Crimson King was good though, it had some great riffs and solid production with loud, crunchy guitars. So I haven't completely given up, when in the right mindset I'm sure Schaffer can still write some great material. And if the material is good I'll like it even if it's not Barlow or Ripper singing. After all my favorite IE album is Stormrider :)

What the fuck is this?

Not sure, but your avatar is scaring the fuck out of me....

As an utter fanboy and one whose favourite novels are the likes of Orwell's 1984, Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and Huxley's Brave New World, I am inhumanely amped for this album. Barlow is one of my favourite singers ever, can't be helped, but Stu Block is a beast in his own right, very interested to hear that side too.