These guys are funny. Band members been in and out since forever. Barlow joining the cops after 9/11, rejoining the band and then leaving due to "lack of spirit" was epic. The other guy who was accused of raping a girl was a funny one too.

Srsly, the last album (the zombie album) was a little poor. It has 3/4 songs worth listening to, at most.
I hope they recover great tunes like, at least, the Horror Show album.
For the sake of the band, i hope The Judas Goat is a working title...

If it sounds anything like Plagues, it'll be a pass for me. I'd really like to see some originality out of these guys. They're one of those bands of which I can't make it through an entire album; I generally pick and choose songs here and there (much like Arch Enemy). I don't know, I guess their basic style leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and unless it's a killer ballad (i.e. A Question of Heaven, Melancholy) or a balls-out power/heavy metal tune (Dystopia, Dracula), I can't really get into them as a whole.

TL;DR - let's hear something NEW!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE prove me wrong in thinking that Dystopia was a fluke!!!!
This was THE band that got into metal in high school and everything after glorious burden has been an emotional roller coaster; I either love or I despise the work John & Co. Produce.

p.s. Hopefully Stu will find his own and stop mimicking Barlow, though after 2 albums I doubt it.

p.s.s. This band gives megadeth a run for their money in terms of rotating band members.

I actually enjoyed Dystopia. It's not anything randomly close to any album before Horror Show, but it's the best after. For me at least.
The Dark City song is killer!

The Glorious Burden has a few nice tracks (The Reckoning, Declaration Day, Valley Forge and the Gettysburg epic), but it's filled with 9/11 references, which imo are cheesy as fuck (despite, as Jon says, being most of all, an emotional/rage album).

I like Stu.

Stu is actually a great singer, in fact he's twice as capable as Ripper Owens IMO, but it bothers me that they've hired a guy to emulate Matthew Barlow as much as possible instead of getting someone with their own voice and style.

It's not just the him though, the main problem I have with Iced Earth is that the songwriting fell apart after Horror Show and has been weak ever since.

They were one of my top 5 bands of all time up until then. For me, they lost their magic and never recovered it.

I think I called this* somewhere.

*Brent's return.

Stu should have stayed in Into Eternity where he belonged

Dystopia was a really solid album, if I had to spin any IE album right now I'd probably either choose that one or SWTWC, but PoB was a real flat one. I certainly think when you have someone with Stu Block's vocal range it seems a bit silly to keep him stuck singing in mid-range. Not really expecting anything from the new album but I'll check it out and hope to be pleasantly surprised.