Review Summary: Iced Earth releases the most banal, uninspired album of their career. Not even Tim Owens' incredible voice can save the dull compositions.
Iced Earth follow up 2004's disappointing
The Glorious Burden with this nigh-disastrous offering. Once again, Schaffer "proves" his assertions that IE would not be affected by Barlow's departure by writing the most insipid, dull songs of his career. Perhaps every day is opposite day in Schaffer's world. So, for the second time in a row, Tim Owens has the (in)glorious burden of having to prop the weak songs up with his astonishing voice. It's a shame he seems to forever be the guy who has to replace the guy everyone loves, because it overshadows one of the few modern metal singers who really stack up with old titans like Tate and Dickinson and Halford (to be fair, so was Barlow, making this that much harder).
Framing Armageddon is the first part of a concept album spanning two CDs. The concept? An expansion of the Set Abominae character, introduced in Iced Earth's own Something Wicked trilogy at the end of
Something Wicked This Way Comes. Oh dear...using your own stuff as a basis? Oh well, it worked for Dream Theater when they made Scenes From a Memory. The story on this disc is a mix of Egyptian mythology and aliens, and if you read that with a straight face I must recommend this album to you. I'd also recommend you play poker professionally. The chief problem with the album is that Schaffer does
that thing. You know the thing: putting short preludes before every other song. Note to artists: STOP. Stop doing that. It does not make you sophisticated, interesting, or anything other than borderline (at the very least) pretentious. An "overture" is fine, but even that is pushing it. I, nor anyone I have ever met, want to sit and listen to some 2 minute acoustic piece or epic chorus/keyboard. If you have to completely divert away from actual songs to set a mood, the music isn't good enough. This pointlessness ruins "The Clouding," a track that gets really good but only after you sit through 5 minutes of soft banality. Schaffer has written some marvelous slower songs in the past as well as some songs that can run the gamut of time signatures and tempos, but he's never packed as much of that on one album. I appreciate you trying to branch out Jon, but given my druthers I'd prefer you stick to the old formula.
Now, the music isn't all bad. When Schaffer and co. speed things up, they hit that magic stride they've had since the beginning, which is impressive considering Schaffer is the only constant. It's clear that no matter how loud-mouthed a egoist he may be, he can certainly find musicians who can not only play but play together, and that's worth more than gold. "Setian Massacre" and "Ten Thousand Strong" are head-banging genius, propelled as much by Ripper's golden screams and unsettling mid-range as they are the charging guitars and drums. Hell, there are even some good mid-tempo songs. "A Charge to Keep" and the chugging "Order of the Rose" are superb, making excellent use of Tim's full range as opposed to just screams as well as showing off a previously-unheard groove in the band. The rest, however, is mediocre at best and all of the enjoyable material is at the front of the album.
Shortly after the release of the album, Jon Schaffer announced that Matt would return to the band. Once again, Tim Owens has found himself kicked out of a band after trying valiantly to fill the shoes of a legend, and I'm sure once again people will blame him for the band's lapse in reason. Truth is, he did the best he could, and then some. If it weren't for him, I don't think a single part of this album would have been enjoyable or even tolerable. It remains to be seen if the band can bounce back from this, but if Part 2 has the same atrocious composition as this, Iced Earth is gonna have a hell of a time convincing people to give them a fair shake ever again.
