{"id":32441,"date":"2015-07-30T15:00:46","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T20:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toiletovhell.com\/?p=32441"},"modified":"2015-07-30T08:51:13","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T13:51:13","slug":"the-porcelain-throne-iced-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/the-porcelain-throne-iced-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Porcelain Throne: Iced Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today we have the eccentrically named John<\/strong> here to talk about one of his favorite bands.\u00a0I am in mid-hiatus for posting Porcelain Throne articles due to a cross country move, but please continue to send them my way and I will post them as soon as I can. My queue is currently empty so hurry up and get that first spot in line!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Full disclosure: I’m an Iced Earth<\/strong> fanatic. As in, know-all-the-words-and-sing-along fanatic. Dig-obscure-bootlegs-and-live-albums fanatic. So forgive me if I wax poetic about a band that has been equally praised and tagged “lolbuttz,” in our little community bowl.<\/p>\n

I grew up in Northern Ontario in the 80s and 90s where I basically enjoyed meat-and-potatoes metal. My formative years consisted of religiously wearing out tapes of Maiden, Priest, Slayer, and Metallica. Since I lived in Bumfuck Idaho, Canada, I never got a taste of the more obscure bands until I was an adult. Fast forward to the early aughts when, chatting on IRC (IRC!) with a fellow metal-head, I expressed my love for both thrash and power metal. “Behold!” he exclaimed, “what if you could listen to BOTH at once?” Thus I fell down the rabbit hole of Iced Earth.<\/p>\n

The band’s sound was honed during this classic period–rhythmic galloping riffs interspersed with thrashy solos, accompanied by Matt Barlow’s dulcet lows and ear-splitting screams. Truly, they ARE a mixture of the best of power and thrash, killer riffs and time changes, cool subject matter and epic themes. At times some of the heaviest music there is, while at other times some beautiful ballads, even with the occasional operatic or classical component.<\/p>\n

Iced Earth was formed by figurehead and guitarist Jon Schaffer in 1985, originally dubbed Purgatory<\/strong>. They recorded their first demo,\u00a0Enter the Realm<\/em>, with Gene Adam on vocals, in 1989. Shortly after they signed to Century Media Records, released their first self-titled album, and toured Europe with Blind Guardian<\/strong>. They quickly began work on their second album, unceremoniously dumping Adam (who refused to take singing lessons), replacing him with John Greely. They released\u00a0Night of the Stormrider<\/em>, and again toured with Blind Guardian.<\/p>\n

Night of the Stormrider (1991)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first of many concept albums,\u00a0Night of the Stormrider<\/em>\u00a0follows a man betrayed by religion; the dark forces of nature take him under wing and christen him the Stormrider, using him as their weapon to sow death and destruction. This is their most classically \u201cmetal\u201d album, featuring spectacular artwork and evil, violent themes. John Greely’s wailing, sorrowful vocals suit the work more appropriately than Barlow’s later recordings. The eponymous track is the best of the bunch, featuring galloping riffs and several great tempo changes. Crank it!<\/p>\n