Iced Earth - Plagues Of Babylon

Huge step down from Dystopia, though not quite as tedious as The Crucible Of Man

Written by Zap on 08.01.2014 at 16:00

Huge step down from Dystopia, though not quite as tedious as The Crucible Of Man

I'm still undecided on whether this album is actually worse than TCOM. It is a poor album though, that much is certain...

Written by Angelic Storm on 08.01.2014 at 16:09

I'm still undecided on whether this album is actually worse than TCOM. It is a poor album though, that much is certain...

After a few listens I've decided it's not as bad as TCOM, though I admit it comes a lot closer than I'd hoped.

Well, in my opinion this album is excellent. Of course it isn't innovative or revolution, but still it is good old Iced Earth. What more do we need? The most remarkable and magnificent thing with it that all guitar riffs are "iced earth's")) That's the main point of it!
By the way the album cover is great)

Mediocre album....

Written by Zap on 08.01.2014 at 16:28

After a few listens I've decided it's not as bad as TCOM, though I admit it comes a lot closer than I'd hoped.

Totally agreed.

This is the first iced earth album i've listened to and i enjoyed it.

I too have actually enjoyed this album. I don't feel that Stu has stood down at all during this album, if he did it any other way it would have sounded out of sync with the feel of the album. Riffs are very good, not much sing alongs but that's fine. Every instruments are greatly played and the whole thing sounds just like Iced Earth sounds.

I believe this is a good album. Give it a few spin you'll get the feel of it.

Finally hear The Higtwayman, awesome cover song

Written by Daniell on 04.01.2014 at 13:44

This the best sounding Iced Earth album. The sound of drums is simply breathtaking, paired with deep bass, it's an unforgettable listening experience.
Stu Block is a perfect replacement for Matt Barlow.
The title track is one of the best Iced Earth songs.

And that's basically it. The rest is boring as shit. One of the weakest IE albums.

1th time I agree whity you ever
but best song is cover song most known in the country music show biz

I don't think this album is as good as Dystopia and is MAYBE better than TCOM. Songs like Cthulu and Democide are better than anything on TCOM but I feel like the album as a whole is more incosistently good, which is a big disappointment after Dystopia, which I felt was their best album since at least Framing...maybe even Horror Show. I do think Stu is the right man for the job and have no problem with the bands line up or performance or the production or anything like that, just the songwriting is kind of boring most of the time with a few classic IE moments thrown in here and there.

This is great, pure heavy metal. Fans of metal will love it. http://craigsmusicreviews.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-iced-earth-plagues-of-babylon.html

Okay, not as bad as I initially thought, but far from great. One of the main problems is that a lot of songs feel unfinished and could have been really good, if worked out further. It feels a bit rushed, one could say.

Compared with the previous disc, Dystopia is more direct, more friendly, more fast, this last record maybe don't enter at the first listen like Dystopia, but in my case it grew considerably after various listens until the point of loving it, especially this style in the choruses, very characteristic in the whole album, that Stu Block does so good, and one more time with a great production "made in" Iced Earth =). Well, in my opinion this piece of excelent heavy metal, is once again a proof that Iced Earth finally found its singer with Stu Block, one of the best currently in the metal scene. My favorites songs are, Plagues Of Babylon, Democide, The Culling and Cthulhu.

Written by deadone on 01.03.2014 at 00:01

It's growing on me.

so raise it up to an 8... you know you want to.

aaaalllllll the cool kids rate this release an 8.....

Nope. I still think its shit. Hate the highwayman. They ruined it.

When listening to this album, I keep thinking that there's just so much untapped potential. I felt like that for the last album with Stu, especially when comparing the awesome tack "Dystopia" to the rest of the album, but even more so in this album as I thought they'd push ice earth to greater heights after spending quite some time together. How frustrating!

Quite a nice album, in my opinion. It doesn't sound as fresh and exciting as Dystopia, but still have its great moments.

Does any of you have listened it after it was out?
I did try 2 times back and forgot, somehow I remember about it via MS awards, (good it was not nominated) anyway ...

Written by deadone on 09.02.2015 at 03:19

Written by Bad English on 09.02.2015 at 02:00

Does any of you have listened it after it was out?
I did try 2 times back and forgot, somehow I remember about it via MS awards, (good it was not nominated) anyway ...

I've listened to it a few times since it came out. It's got a couple of ok tracks like the first 3 songs, If I Could See You and Highwayman but overall it's a bit bland and uninspired. Perhaps the poorest album out of their entire catalogue.

cover song is damn great , I like it but rest is don't know, better to download not to by

I loved the title track, so I bought the cd and the rest of it is average at best. There goes $14.99 lol

It's not exactly bad, just a huuuge let down after the glorious Dystopia.

Vocals have started annoying me, I hate the way he ends every sentence. i can barely finish a track now :/

Best album since horror show

Plagues of Boredom, despite excellent vocals and darker atmosphere. The album degenerates into basic, generic lyrics + chorus ballad fest. Lacks complexity and richer structures of the Horror Show.

After its been out, it was first time I listen this again. Now I have a weird feeling, somehow suxsism (no not sexism, but suxsism! ) is gone now.

This album is great. Spontaneous and raw. Democide is a killer song, so as the Highwayman cover sung by four heavy metal icons. Peacemaker's a beast.

Do not listen to people who say that this album is 'boring' or a 'huge letdown' etc etc coz they've got no clue. Dystopia? good for movie maniacs and those who like predictability. I guess that's because people don't know what a spontaneous album sounds like, largely because prefer complex and overthought albums with a 'deeper meaning' type of crap (for no known reason).

I don't think that Iced Earth is a type of band who records albums to meet expectations and that's the most impressive.

Written by fosi on 10.01.2014 at 16:55

Mediocre album....

Mediocre and score this with 9 (excellent/ almost perfect)) lol

Pretty damn weak and too long for its own good, but it's front-loaded and for that reason is rendered more as an inconsistent release than one that is bad. Of course if you're going to compare it to the "return to roots" effort that Dystopia was then Plagues is going to seem muddy and generally a step down in all aspects, but the band still show they can deliver the goods here. More of "Democide" and "Among the Living" and less of, well, the second half of the album and Plagues of Babylon would have fared better in my opinion.

I thought it was nothing special when it was released. After more listens it still does sound like that. The album is too long, there is a couple of better songs and the rest isn't especially good. I don't think it's quite as bad as their worst albums, however. Cthulhu stands out.