Iced Earth - Plagues Of Babylon - review
Iced Earth - Plagues Of Babylon - review
Tracklist
01. Plagues Of Babylon02. Democide
03. The Culling
04. Among The Living Dead
05. Resistance
06. The End?
07. If I Could See You
08. Cthulhu
09. Peacemaker
10. Parasite
11. Spirit Of The Times [Sons Of Liberty cover]
12. Highwayman [Jimmy Webb cover]
13. Outro
A review by
R Lewis January 12, 2014
The album cover artwork and title suggested it, and now the actual music confirms it: Plagues Of Babylon is the heaviest Iced Earth release in years. Every song here is permeated with a dark and somehow cruel ambience, achieved thanks to screaming, intricate riffing and Stu Block's most obscure performance to date.
Block deserves a separate mention: while in Dystopia his work, though being still too bound to Matt Barlow's heavy legacy, showed promising elements of personality, in this release his voice sounds like it's stuck in a mid range that this time really traces the much-loved former vocalist. As, for example, the amazing falsetto heard in songs like "Dystopia" here is only used as a mere metallic background in some choruses, the listener feels like Stu had to limit himself, probably following Shaffer's will. This, however, isn't totally negative, since the vocals here perfectly match with the album's atmosphere, sounding precisely incorporated, just like another instrument instead of an external being.
Plagues Of Babylon ranks among the less immediate Iced Earth efforts to date, in blatant contrast with the more easy-listening Dystopia. Almost no track here displays an easy sing-along chorus a la "Anthem", and this brings to the fact that initially this may seem like an incredibly weak and uninspired album: that's not true - at least not completely. Plagues Of Babylon, in fact, has as strength points not refrains, but mainly the rhythm sections, lead by chasing guitars, tasty little drum variations and Block's rage that, solemnly, overhangs the listener.
The album maintains in its majority his soul, but this can be a double-edged weapon: if by one side Plagues Of Babylon gains coherence and solidity, by the other every song ends up sounding pretty much one like the other. This said, this must be an extremely fun album to play live, due to its obscure epicness and its authoritative harshness.
As I said, this soul is maintained in the majority of the release, since tracks number 12 and 13 unfortunately ruin this. "Highwayman" is the Iced Earth version of an American classic, featuring on vocals Shaffer himself, Volbeat's Michael Poulsen and Symphony X's Russell Allen, and though being an overall good track it simply doesn't fit in the album's mood - and this isn't a fault of that all-American patriotism Iced Earth are not new to (see The Glorious Burden), while "Outro" is a completely useless 25-second piece of random shouting and drunken swearing: something you don't expect by an intelligent and dramatic band as this.
Overall, Plagues Of Babylon isn't that pile of crap some claim that it is: it simply returns to the levels of the not-so-memorable 2000's releases. Iced Earth are much more than this.
Comments
Comments:
19
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Posts: 67  |
Posts: 67
I agree with this rewiev. I was expect something better from Iced Earth. When I heard Outr I was like "What the hell is thi s***?".
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 Posts: 1122 |
Posts: 1122
There was a similar mess-around on Dystopia, with the exception that it was hidden into the last track.
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Posts: 213  |
Posts: 213
I totally agree with everything in this review, especially when it comes to Stu Block. That guy has some voice, but he seems to be limited ...by Schaeffer's ambitions and will perhaps? I'm not sure, he seemed a bit nervous even on concerts during Dystopia Tour, but I thought that was on account of the fact he was new to the band and had to learn lots of stuff very quickly.
---- World won't end today - it's already tomorrow in Australia.
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Posts: 3645  |
Posts: 3645
"too many years of... well, not mediocrity..." Indeed, it was below mediocre.
---- I hate bonus tracks
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 Posts: 3099 |
Posts: 3099
Your description of this as less immediate implies there is more substance to uncover than in Dystopia. I'll be having a listen to this, in that case.
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 Posts: 6675 |
Posts: 6675
This album is very weak, though not totally without merit. There are a small amount of standout tracks, but overall, this is a dull album. It's definitely up there with TCOM as the worst output the band has produced, which is sad, considering how much promise was shown on "Dystopia". The rating here is slightly higher than I myself would give it, which would be 6.5 or 7.0 if I was feeling very generous!
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Posts: 2589  |
Posts: 2589
Very nice review man, sucks they couldn't follow up after what was a promising album in Dystopia.
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 Posts: 293 |
Posts: 293
I tend to be the guy that jumps the negative people or opinions themselves, opting for more analysis and opportunity for an acquired taste to manifest...but I sadly agree with this review wholeheartedly. Stu is stifled, and hooks are missing. Having said that, I do believe it can be a go-to album if someone is in "that one mood" for something (nearly painfully) samey throughout it's duration. This was common for a 80s-early 90s album with "a sound". So that's a saving grace. But we know that they (ESPECIALLY Stu) can do OH SO MUCH more...
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| kalmah999
Account deleted |
kalmah999
Account deleted
I agree about some parts of this review, will give this album 7 since I really liked some song, but overall it is step down from Dystopia. Personaly I just enjoyed Dystopia much more and for me that was strong album, this one is ok, but just ok for me, anyway can not wait to see them live in February!  (sry for bad English)
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Posts: 6211 Written by UPDIRNS on 14.01.2014 at 03:42 I'm afraid you've already heard the best. It's all downhill from there.
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 Posts: 10108 |
Posts: 10108
I liked Dystopia, but to be honest I don't find this album so good.. I will listen to it again soon and then probably I will have an opinion
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Posts: 33  |
Posts: 33
Being an Iced Earth fan boy, I'm still super excited for this. Ill drop my opinion when I get the album next week.
---- Keep it Brutal!!!
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 Posts: 6695 |
Posts: 6695
I wholeheartedly agree that Stu should have been given the reins more often in regards to his singing; after hearing him in action on Live In Ancient Kourion, I thought he sounded restrained on Dystopia, but here that is even more the case. The man has an amazing voice, and I wish he were able to exercise it more. I'd also like to hear a lot more from Hansi Kürsch, though if I had my way he'd probably just trade off lead vocals with Stu constantly. Other than that, I really enjoy it. With "Among the Living Dead" and "Cthulhu" and such, I get a Horror Show Part II vibe from it.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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Posts: 21  |
Posts: 21
After listening the album a couple of times I can say that the second time it was much better than the first...I guess it's because it lacks catchy choruses but the riffs on several songs are great, something you could headbang to. I also agree that Stu has so much more to offer to the band...hopefully he will next album.
---- Ereßµ§ ø? ßløøð
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 Posts: 64426 |
Posts: 64426 Written by Mattybu on 12.01.2014 at 19:51 maybe name of the band as most old-timers can do more whit name as music
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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