In this series of posts I'll discuss an album I picked up as a teenager or my early 20s and haven't listened to in a very long time.
Barlow tends to be regarded as the definitive Iced Earth vocalist, so when I first heard this news in 2008 I don't recall being disappointed - just surprised more than anything... especially considering the album I'm discussing in this post - The Crucible of Man: Something Wicked Part 2 - was released just under a year later. Naturally then, this is a sequel to Framing Armageddon and a continuation of the whole 'Mankind were not the first people on Earth' story that album told. I've never cared much for concept albums - I'm not against the idea of telling a story throughout an entire record, but first and foremost the music itself has to be good. It could be the greatest story ever told lyrically, but I reckon if the music sucks then the whole, erm, concept of a concept album is redundant! Luckily I happen to like Framing Armageddon. The music was a nice mish-mash of the band's usual brand of power/speed metal and epic, melodic interlude tracks. I don't think it's their greatest album by any means, but I do still revisit it every once in a while. And I even kinda like the idea of the story too.
The Crucible of Man though, is not an album I revisit - like, ever. Hence why it's made this 'Blast from the past albums' post! Even though this album follows many of the same musical formulas and ingredients of Framing Armageddon, the songs weren't nearly as memorable this time to my ears back in 2008. I played it's predecessor a lot back in 2007/2008, so other than some of the short interlude tracks, I can still remember how most of the main songs from that record go to this day. Having just sat down and listened to Crucible again for the first time in, well, I genuinely DON'T KNOW how long (!!), I could only remember mere shimmers of these songs. It's not all bad news though - I do like the way Jon Schaffer trimmed the edges a little this time around. The album is made up of 15 tracks instead of 19 - so there's far less mini interludes to sit through, even if the songs do sometimes still make use of similar instrumentation. The melodic, mellow parts of the album are treated as introductions within the songs now rather than on their own, and as a result it makes Crucible feel a little more streamlined overall.
Frankly, I think Crucible flows pretty well for the most part. In fact, I find the album actually gets stronger about halfway through - although I am particularly fond of the atmospheric ballad 'A Gift or a Curse?', track 5. Songs like like 'Harbringer of Fate', 'Crucify the King', 'Something Wicked (Part 3)', 'Divide Devour', 'Come What May' are powerful slabs of melodic yet heavy power metal - Schaffer's signature, almost galloping riffage is certainly present on them, but the music definitely has that epic feel in the same way Part 1 had. I don't own every Iced Earth album, but both parts of the Something Wicked story have a grandeur about them that earlier records such as Night of the Stormrider don't. Night of the Stormrider is punchier, less fancy and more attune to the classic US power metal sound by comparison. The Something Wicked Pts. 1 & 2 albums still sound like Iced Earth, just more operatic and dramatic! And even if I feel more personal attachment to the Tim Owens-era of the band, Matt Barlow is unquestionably just as suited to the music contained within this record. He sounds great! Different to Tim of course, but he still sings in a clean, powerful and distinct style that fits well with the direction of the songs. And that's a good thing of course, because of how similar this album is stylistically to Framing Armageddon.
I guess some people could argue that Schaffer should have just released Something Wicked as a double album. Personally I think the way both parts were released as individual albums makes sense to me. Even if the music across both parts is similar, the fact one has Tim and the other has Matt kind of makes me want to listen to them separately and not both in a single sitting. It makes both records stand fairly strong on their own feet...
...but I guess this can also be a shortcoming. Even though I actually like both records, hearing both in 1 session is too much for me to handle. I'd get bored eventually because I don't think the music is really strong enough to warrant a 2 hour plus playing time. A double album has to be great for me to justify sitting through such a long tracklisting. And if we're being honest here, The Crucible of Man is still the weaker half in my books. Maybe that's partly due to bias in favour of Framing Armageddon, it being my first Iced Earth album... but I can't help but think the band essentially made the same record twice. Even the vocal structure in the chorus to 'I Walk Alone' sounds alarmingly like 'Setian Massacre' from Part 1! It'd be utterly pointless if it weren't for the fact it has Barlow singing instead of Owens.
But you know what? I've listened to The Crucible of Man twice this week and not once did I get tired of it, or skip any of it's tracks. So it's definitely still a good Iced Earth album even if it's not a great one. I just don't need to hear it straight after listening to Framing Armageddon! I default to Part 1, basically - so that would explain why this second half has been sat on my shelf year after year untouched. Still, revisiting The Crucible of Man was kinda fun!
Adam's rating: 7/10
