Iced Earth - Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1)

\r\nI must confess that I have abandoned this band years ago since I was a big fan of their first musical period. Not even the addition of Tim Owens was enough for me to drag me back into their lost forgotten world. And then this promo came into my hands and Iced Earth was once again put into my cd player. The album begins with an enticing intro although I had to confront early with this last annoying habit of some bands to speak throughout the songs. Anyway, this is something you just have to live with. At first I wasn’t all so impressed maybe because a betrayed passion is sometimes really hard to deal with. It was somewhere in the middle of the album and when this amazing song, titled “Ten Thousand Strong” came forth that my brains really exploded into dozens of pieces and my previous neutral attitude turned upside down into this burning anticipation under the tremendous rhythm of the track, its thriving guitar scales, and it’s almost epic background and suddenly I was drooling with the eagerness for what is following and leaving behind the ghosts of the past and what once Iced Earth used to be, I tried to look at this album with a whole new and more clear glance. And yes Framing Armageddon really caught my integral attention. Beautiful songs, engaging musical structure, heavy killer riffs and a huge sound with a Tim Owens literally laying down one of his best performances. What can I say about this man? It’s not just his amazing voice but the profound personality he managed to achieve over the years not actually cutting the bond with Rob Halford rather than transforming it into his own unique identity. Advancing to the compositions, they are powerful, blasting thrashy at times, aggressive but profoundly melodic with lots of nice instrumental passages and Schaffer’s trademark power-riffing. Lyrically the album continues the Sci-Fi storyline of the Setians, the original inhabitants of Earth that were destroyed by humans who invaded Earth for the "ultimate power and ultimate knowledge", killing all but ten thousand Setians, of Iced Earth’s 1998 release "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and it is the first part of a double album with the sequel due out sometime in 2008. Perfect lyrics, perfect production in an almost perfect album. Of course their first albums are still my most favorite yet if the ghosts are all disappeared and Iced Earth is a reborn metal giant then I am among the first ones to admit it.\r\n

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\r\nVaso "Necromass" Prassa \r\n

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