I love Iced Earth.

Well, I used to love Iced Earth. The Iced Earth of Jon “King of the Ridiculously Fast Muted Triplets” Schaffer, and whatever brave musicians served under his iron fist. Iced Earth were always a great mix of ridiculous, over-the-top power metal, but with just enough classic metal/NWOBHM tendencies to make them feel a bit more legit. I loved their secret weapon, the mighty vocalist Matt Barlow. Barlow had a great, distinct voice that soared far above most of the genre’s singers—manly, but with the ability to rocket into castrato range if needed. And somehow he could sell even the cheesiest of cheese ballads. I was a sucker for Iced Earth.

Then the unthinkable happened. 9/11. Matt Barlow felt a strong patriotic pull, and chose to give up the metal lifestyle to do something more for his country. So he left Iced Earth and became a cop. Jon Schaffer seemed to process his patriotism a little differently, and opened up a revolutionary war antiques store. To each their own. Unlike Barlow, Schaffer was not ready to abandon Iced Earth, and recruited ex–Judas Priest vocalist (and inspiration behind Marky Mark Wahlberg’s character in Rock Star) Tim “Ripper” Owens. This is the point in the story where, for me, their music takes a turn into “I am falling out of love with Iced Earth” territory.

Iced Earth’s first album with Owens was the totally adequate The Glorious Burden, a record I tried to like a lot more than I actually did. Granted, how can you compete with something like 2001’s Horror Show, which is possibly their best release and features some of Schafer’s choicest songwriting and Barlow’s best vocal performance. To say nothing of Steve DiGorgio’s nimble bass playing and the ever-incredible Richard Christy on drums (Christy delivers one of my favorite drum riffs ever with the intro to “Wolf”).

Point is: the songs on The Glorious Burden felt lacking. It was still Iced Earth but the material just felt a little reheated. It also didn’t help that Ripper’s voice is just not that, how do you say, good. Not to mention the fact that Iced Earth gave Toby Keith a run for his money with the jingoistic travesty “When An Eagle Cries.” But the biggest downfall was the horribly inflated and supremely terrible one-disc-long song “Gettysburg.” Sooooo long. And sooooo boring. Seriously. If you heard it then you know the true pain of this unbelievably boring song.

Jump to today—right over the final, disappointing Ripper effort and first of the Something Wicked saga, Framing Armageddon: Something Wicked Part 1—and Iced Earth’s latest record The Crucible of Man: Something Wicked Part 1 (SPV GmbH). I was so excited to be back in the listening seat, mostly because Barlow had taken a break from making the streets safe and returned to belt his heart out. My hopes were high that with Barlow back in the fold my love for Iced Earth would return.

Nope. Not the case. Right from the beginning, with the female chorus of “In Sacred Flames,” the record is so self-consciously wrapped up in its concept and storyline that Iced Earth seem to have forgotten about writing great, individual songs. Instead they’re left with a big pile of adequate songs that serve the story, but don’t really stand on their own.

The Crucible of Man just never really grabs you at any point. It’s just one stock Schaffer riff after another. He actually sounds kind of bored by his own riffs. Barlow’s voice is as great as ever, but, again, he isn’t really given anything substantial enough to knock out of the park. Not to mention, you just might go insane if you ever hear the words “wicked,” “mankind” and “prophecy” used in a song again. I smell a new drinking game. And P.S., you’ll be smashed after the second song.

There are a few bright spots in the record, though. The song “Sacrificial Kingdoms” is pretty solid. Reminiscent of something off of Horror Show, it has an inspired, off-kilter riff and a solid Barlow vocal line. But that is the 11th song! On a 15 song album! Up until that point I was alternately bored and mesmerized by all the ancient drumming and female chanting.

So as it stands, in the The Crucible of Man I do hear some glimmers of hope of the once-great Iced Earth of old. I am truly happy that Barlow is back in the mix, but I just don’t think they’re living up to their full potential on this album. So until the time of deliverance comes, I guess will just go listen to Horror Show again. Or maybe the new Pharaoh record (that shit rocks!). —Geoff Garlock