Iced Earth, Early Man preview

Iced Earth, Early Man
Metro, Chicago
Friday, November 14, 2008

You’ll notice five guys in the above Iced Earth picture — resembling, to most, a band. But consider this: Since 1991 (the group officially formed in the mid’80s) Iced Earth has released 10 albums . . . and had more than 20 members! That’s not even counting current vocalist Matt Barlow (who replaced former Judas Priest/current Yngwie Malmsteen frontman Tim “Ripper” Owens) and drummer Brent Smedley, who are currently on their second and third, respectively, tours of duty.

Iced Earth isn’t a “band,” in the traditional sense. It’s really, for better or worse, guitarist/songwriter Jon Schaffer and whoever plays with him on that particular album. More than double the members than studio records?! Dave Mustaine hasn’t even hit the 20 mark! So is Schaffer a giant dickhead? Hard to work with? Maybe. Or maybe he’s just a guy who knows exactly what he wants. Iced Earth, after all, are a power metal band on the wrong side of the pond (pm is amuch bigger draw overseas than in the States) that emerged from the ’80s Florida scene (where if you weren’t playing death metal, you weren’t playing metal), yet continue to thrive. Every Iced Earth record since 1996’s The Dark Saga has sold at least 200,000 copies, and this year’s The Crucible Of Man (Something Wicked Part 2) (SPV) is probably 2008’s second best U.S.-bred power metal album behind Pharaoh’s Be Gone. “For one thing, democracy doesn’t work within bands,” Schaffer recently told Metal Maniacs. It’s kind of a joke. It just doesn’t.” Maybe he’s onto something.

For awhile it looked like Early Man mastermind Mike Conte was heading the same way, though instead of dumping members, he just wasn’t accepting any. The guitarist/frontman started the band with a drum machine in the early part of this decade before adding drummer Adam Bennati in 2003. The two were the only official members listed on 2005’s excellent Closing In but added a bassist and another guitarist for touring, which the band did extensively in the next two years. Maybe that’s why even though it has been three years since that album, fans only recently got the four-song Beware The Circling Fin EP instead of a full-length? Guitarist Pete Macy was officially added to the group in the meantime, and the two new twin-guitar (not just Conte’s overdubs) attack emphasizes the New Wave Of British Heavy metal Conte so wanted to on Closing In; the new full-length (“on the horizon”) should be interesting. Plus, EM’s new deal with The End records will hopefully earn some respect from metalheads who scoffed at its prior relationship with hipster-friendly Matador.

Septer and Dirge also play.

— Trevor Fisher

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly