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The legend that is Iced Earth lives on now stronger then ever with a career that spans since the early 80’s, the steam rolling pure ripping heavy metal outfit keeps on ticking like fine wine. Led by their fearless creator Jon Schaffer and co, and with the invigorating Stu Block on vocals, the band keeps on plowing away the world and the road. We caught the Ice masters live in NYC where they brought hail with fire to the crazy metal heads of the big apple. This by the way is the third time we have caught the guys live, twice in the UK, and now here back on the home front. They brought over the Power Metal Swedes of Sabaton alongside the the Dutch crew of Revamp, led by the now lead singer of Nightwish as well, the very talented Floor Jansen. Unfortunately due partly cause of the early start, we didn’t catch much of the Revamp show, so no review can be provided or photos, but all reports on the tour gives rave stars to Floor and Revamp, and we can attest to their symphonic hooks and grooves as we have covered them before and never fail to disappoint.
Sabaton is yet another Power Metal group that has built its own niche in the genre for many years now, and have a really big following. Led by the pile driving vocals of lead singer Joakim Brodén, and the crunchy dual guitars of Thobbe Englund and Chris Rörland, these guys pack plenty of punch into their riffs. They are supporting their upcoming record titled “Heroes” which is out in May on Nuclear Blast Records. A job well done by all the guys in the band, the songs came across strong and sharp as they’re typical live performances and they played a new track off their upcoming record titled “To Hell and Back”, alongside some crowed favorites the likes of “The Art of War” and “Metalcrue”. All in all they set the mood just right for IE to take the stage and deliver yet another noteworthy performance.
Iced Earth equals experience, they just know what works, I think because of the style and the creative flow of the band leader, they have been able to survive the slew of band changes and have manage to keep with the times and not just go away. This evening the boys came out roaring as usual with Schaffer in full swing on the fret and Stu just hammering down with thundering display word after word. Some of the IE staples we’re played this night, such as “A Question of Heaven”, “Burning Times” and “Watching Over Me”, but also the new stuff the likes of “Cthulu” and “If I Could See You”. The style has remained relatively the same eve with the departure of Matt Barlow, so the new songs can fit into any IE back catalog material. On this night these ancient relics of the metal inferno lit up the times and burned them down again and again. The “World Wide Plagues Tour” continues to a city near you, catch em if you can is worth the few bucks neither line up will disappoint.
Sabaton
Iced Earth
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