Iced Earth - The Crucible Of Man (Something Wicked Part 2) (Album)
Iced Earth! Ah, Iced Earth. One of the longer-standing bands of the metal genre, or indeed of any genre, Iced Earth have been around since the late 80’s/early 90’s, releasing their first album in 1991. They have stayed strong despite huge amounts of line-up changes, and The Crucible Of Man is their 10th studio album, and the finish to the Something Wicked Saga , the epic story created by main band member, guitarist Jon Schaffer. And it is quite a dark and troubled finish at that. The cover art shows the typical Iced Earth logo above a picture of a demon warrior (mythical creature Set Abominae from the Saga) destroying the world.
Iced Earth are a band noted for the dark and heavy atmosphere they try to instil in every song; they really do stand out from most other bands in the market in that regard. They’re not trying to create death metal or anything like that; perhaps dark power metal is the best description. And indeed in that regard, The Crucible Of Man comes through quite nicely. The lyrics still deal with the same familiar theological power themes; god, mankind, fate, the fall of kingdoms and the end of the world. However while it all does have a beautiful dark heavy tone to it, it’s not all thrashing power; there are many soft, melodic songs which retain that moody atmosphere, such as A Gift Or A Curse. Whether this is a good or a bad thing is your decision, but personally I applaud variety in my albums.
I confess, despite having the start of the Something Wicked trilogy in 1998’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, I don’t have last year's Framing Armageddon; Something Wicked Part 1, and so am rather ill-equipped to comment on how the album serves to further the story and end the Saga. I’ll focus on the music instead, and those of you hungry for story depth can check the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, better known as Wikipedia. As I mentioned, there is a nice mix of fast and slow, melodic and brutal on ‘The Crucible Of Man’. The Iced Earth epic-ness is familiar in most tracks, as is the low number of guitar riffs, the frequently toms-oriented drum work and the layered, chanted vocals. Good work all up.
Favourite tracks on the album for me are Crown of the Fallen, which unfortunately runs under 3 minutes, Crucify the King, Minions of the Watch, which unfortunately barely runs 2 minutes, and Sacrificial Kingdoms.
If my review intrigues you, then good; it should. Iced Earth really are a band apart in the way they write their music. However, The Crucible of Man really is a concept album, and if you are considering picking it up, you will almost certainly want to have Framing Armageddon under your belt first. Or at least in your CD rack.
