The revolving door that is Iced Earth has been doing it’s thing once again and Plagues of Babylon, which was only released around a week ago, already features an ex member, drummer Raphael Saini, who admittedly was only working on a short term basis until they found a full time replacement for Brent Smedley. It’s also the first album for bassist Luke Appleton and the eleventh that Jon Schaffer’s heavy metal baby have released, on which he is the only permanent fixture.
He’s a man that doesn’t do things by halves, and this is an album that sums up that mentality. Every single track here feels like it has been constructed to be the most epic fantastical song of all time. Whether it be the slow rhythmic build to opener “Plagues of Babylon” or the bluesy guitars of “Spirit of the Times” this is going for the jugular, with huge choruses, massive guitar parts and over one hour of meaty heavy metal goodness.
Stuart Block is now on his second Iced Earth album and his vocal style fits this kind of music perfectly. There is a shit load of Bruce Dickinson in there and as he is obviously not the only Iron Maiden fan in the band, it’s a similarity that helps him pull off the likes of “Resistance”. Meanwhile Schaffer and Troy Seele’s duelling guitars are a joy to listen to, as they reel out riff after riff. The sprawling 7 minute long “The End?” showcases these twos talents perfectly. While “Cthulu” switches seamlessly between sounding like an Iron Maiden inspired trad metal track and a full blown thrash headbanger throughout it’s 6 minute running time. The fact it does this without ever becoming too lost is a testament to the song writing and it in fact ends up being as large a track as the beast that spawned it’s name.
It’s not the only thrash influenced track on the album, with “Democide” also drawing on that well. While horror films are another obvious influence on cuts like “Among the Living Dead”. It has to be said however that the lyrics that this inspires are often downright cheesy. Yet, even lyrics as bad as “clipped the angels wings and watched them fall down” can’t take anything away from tracks that are sung in such a grandiose way. You don’t really care what you’re saying because your too busy punching the air and going mental.
Plagues of Babylon is a bit of a grower. When you first put it in you may well find yourself baulking at it’s over the top nature and 1 hour 6 minute running time. However, by the end of “Spirit of the Times” (the last track proper on the album, however there is a throw away cover of Johnny Cash’s “Highwayman” featuring Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen and Symphony X’s Russell Allen which while very different from what’s come before is quite good fun) you will be right alongside the band, enjoying every minute of it. This won’t be the most intelligent metal album of the year and quite frankly it revels in pomposity in a way that is extreme even for this genre, but god damn it, it is good fun and when it’s this much fun, it has to be good.
Ramblings About Wrestling 
Leave a comment