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The Crucible Of Man (Something Wicked Part II)

Iced Earth - The Crucible Of Man (Something Wicked Part II) Audio CD

A fair review of the Iced Earth "The Crucible Of Man (Something Wicked Part II)" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Iced Earth reviews here, or go back to the Iced Earth tabs.

Band: Iced Earth
Title: The Crucible Of Man (Something Wicked Part II)
Rating:

Release Date: 2008-09-09
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: In Sacred Flames 2: Behold The Wicked Child 3: Minions Of The Watch 4: The Revealing 5: A Gift Or A Curse 6: Crown Of The Fallen 7: The Dimension Gauntlet 8: I Walk Alone 9: Harbinger Of Fate 10: Crucify The King 11: Sacrificial Kingdoms 12: Something Wicked (Part 3) 13: Divide And Devour 14: Come What May 15: Epilogue

This is pretty good
I've spent the time going through the back catalogs. I'm new to Iced Earth. And I must say that the guitar riffs are nothing special. They seem to be straight forward and plain with small excerpts of brilliance. And I do mean small. That being said the singers. WOW. Owens is great. I love his range and passion he puts into his singing. Owens seems to be a better vocal arranger than Barlow. Now Matt Barlow, I love his low range and on the song "Come What May". His flare really comes through here when he hits the high notes and the passion flies, surrounds you and then hits you in the face. At least that's what happened to me. . . . . . LOL. What an epic song. I feel Barlow saves this album from mediocrity. His voice is amazing and makes this album come alive. I wish Barlow would learn a few things from Owens though and experiment with his vocals on songs and sing with more passion like Owens. Owens makes you want to get up and bang your head into everything with excitement. On Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1), Sometimes I had the thought of "Did he just do that with his voice" or "Did he just make that change in his voice so suddenly". Barlow, although VERY good makes you want to listen and just bop your head. I would like to hear Barlow use falsetto as the MAIN vocals more. Two different feelings when I hear both of them. Still a great album though and an INCREDIBLE singer. I think Barlow kicked butt here. I enjoyed it.

Listen to "Come What May" if you don't listen to any other song.

.

"It's always been there inside of you..."
You can talk about the massive concept that's been at least 8 years in the making finally coming to a triumphant conclusion. There are a lot of things you can say about this album. You can talk about frontman Matt Barlow taking the time out of his Jack Bauer duties to make an unprecedented comeback to the band. You could go into detail and talk about every riff, every melody, every solo, every note, chord, stanza, lyric, whatever. Maybe you could complain about how it doesn't sound like this or that Iced Earth album, or how it DOES sound like this or that Iced Earth album, or how the band has yet to stray from their classic metal roots to experiment with new and innovative musical avenues. Yes, you could do all of those things, and perhaps I could too. But instead, this is all I will say:

When I listen to "Come What May", and hear Barlow drive this stunning epic home with his beyond godlike vocals, I want to get on my knees and thank whatever metal gods may or may not exist within this universe for allowing this reunion to occur. A few years ago, I never thought I'd hear this album, as it is, and now that I've gotten it, I can take comfort in knowing that occasionally miracles do happen.

Now all I've got to do is see them live with Matt again. Then I'm pretty sure I can die happy.

Great with Barlow...
As you may know, a vocal change happened between part I & part II. I've listened to this album for several months now and feel I can give a "clear as mud" rambling review. I thought Tim "Ripper" Owens vocals on part I were awesome and at first was dissipointed with part II due to parts I & II having different vocalists and losing continuity. However, now I think it fits very well since part II revolves around Set Abominae being born and coming of age and has more of a dark feel to it also, more of a "first person" view point (enter Matt Barlow as Set Abominae). Whereas part I was very sci-fi and seems more "Third Person narrative" of the story and awesomely sung by Tim "Ripper" Owens and fits well with the story setting up the coming of the "Wicked One" and the back-story. I hope this makes sense to you; it barely does to me, ha! Anyway, I love both parts I & II and prefer to listen to them back-to-back. If I was stranded on an Island and could only keep one of the parts to listen to, I would choose part I since I think it is just much funner and better of a stand-alone record than part II. Anyway, I recommend you buy both parts and listen to them with headphones. My wife and I both like Iced Earth; she prefers Matt's voice and I prefer Tim's voice, oh well. She likes part II better, so there you have it. I guess its whatever vocalist you prefer though both are great IMHO. .

A Superior Iced Earth Album
Neither of them is "the voice of Iced Earth," seeing as this band has had four different vocalists. I'm not going to waste time with arguing whether Barlow is a better vocalist than Owens. And Owens is talented in his own right.

This album does not sound like anything the band has done previously. It doesn't sound like Framing Armageddon for obvious reasons. I didn't much care for Framing, and it wasn't that Owens was a terrible singer. It was that I couldn't tell the chorus from the verse. The singing was bombastic all the way through, which ended up detracting from the album.

This album is a very nice combination of Owens-style choruses and Barlow-style verses. Those who were hoping for a straight Barlow album will be disappointed, but those who want to be treated with something different from one of the best metal bands in history should pick up this album.

Some reviewers have called this album "boring. " It is true that there isn't a huge variety between the songs like you would find on Something Wicked This Way Comes. This album is a concept album, and is meant to sound epic. It is loud, it is ferocious, and it is solid. It does not sound like some last minute effort the band threw together because Barlow came back. It sounds like Barlow simply took over for Owens and sang the songs his way, and managed to do a terrific job.

In short, this is a must-have album for any metalhead.

Solid from start to finish
I've never been a big fan of Iced Earth, I've purchased a few CDs in the past, but was never too thrilled with what I heard. I'll start by saying
1. So I think this is a fair objective review--not a fanboy review.

2. I would give this album 4. 5 stars if possible or a 9/10. I hardly ever give a perfect 5/5, unless the album is indeed perfect---those are few and far between. Some tend to say every album they like is 5/5--not me. For instance Ac/dc's Back in Black is 5/5, Black Sabbath's Heaven & Hell is 5/5, Slayer's Reign in Blood is 5/5.

I picked this CD up on a whim, had a hankering for some new tunes and happened to see it at Wally world (of all places!)for cheap. So I got it, wanting to give Iced Earth yet another chance to impress me, having thus far failed with prior CDs. In their defense, it's possible I got the lemons first.

I like every song on this CD, some better than others, some are definitley harder rockers than others, but they're all needed as this is a concept album. But the main point is that they are all well written, good songs.

The story is pretty cool as well, though not without some holes. Then again it is just a story. . . right?

Reminds me a lot of Maiden's Seventh Son album, which is a good thing. Laden with atmosphere, lots of layers, melody, hooks, some killer riffs. I for one don't really care who's singing or who the dictator of the group is as long as they come out with solid albums like this I'll be happy, this CD has caused me to re-think Iced Earth--I will now go out and get the rest of this story; Something Wicked This Way Comes & SWTWC pt. 1 Framing Armageddon.

Any fan of good old fashioned real metal should appreciate this disc, fans of Maiden, Priest, Kiss (Barlow sounds so much like Paul Stanley sometimes, it's not funny)Metallica, most power & prog metal fans should be happy with this one. Buy it.

You can see a complete list of all Iced Earth discography, or go back to the Iced Earth tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.