Iced Earth "Overture of the Wicked" (SPV)
By Taylor Green
Monday. Jun 18, 9:26 PM
The opener is worth the EP alone.

There are few bands who carry the kind of weight that Iced Earth do. And with their last studio album The Glorious Burden, they proved the weight could increase tenfold when Matt Barlow was replaced by famous Judas Priest fill-in Tim "Ripper" Owens. Owens' grandiose voice seemed the perfect substitute. Now on the band's latest, a four-track EP serving as a prelude for the upcoming Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1), Ripper goes toe to toe with Barlow as Iced Earth have re-recorded the “Something Wicked” trilogy (the final three tracks on Something Wicked This Way Comes).

The EP begins with the only original of the four songs, an epic sing-along entitled "Ten Thousand Strong." As the name suggests, this is power metal at its finest: blazing riffs, majestic vocals, epic choruses, etc. Owens' voice shines on this track, a testament to his addition to the band after the extremely well received The Glorious Burden. And while the song is readily available on the internet, collectors would be indulged in picking up the EP for this track alone.

Next up are the three re-recordings, all of which sound different enough to be pleasing to the fans. "Prophecy" begins much lighter than the original version, but picks up more quickly. This allows Owens' more in-your-face vocal style to shine, which it does to no end. Owens definitely has a stronger voice, but he doesn't have the same lower range as Barlow, which changes the songs around enough to make them sound like fresh, almost new material. Owens' voice stands out more so on the next track, "Birth of the Wicked," which is probably the most uptempo of the three re-recordings. And like the previous entry, the alterations of the chords and vocals make the song seem fresh enough to excite classic Iced Earth fans. Purists may have the biggest problem with the final cut, "The Coming Curse." On this version, the entire piano intro is thrown out and it begins with the quick verse riff. Of all the songs on the EP, "The Coming Curse" is clearly the weakest, which is a shame since you'd figure they'd put the most time and energy into making the closer (and clearly the most epic at nine-plus minutes) the most well done. Yet the original sounds much more dynamic than the updated, a definite shame with the promise of the first songs.

In the end, this EP does its intended purpose, and that is to gear fans up for the brand new album. While the re-recordings may not be fresh meat, it's impossible to not want to listen to "Ten Thousand Strong" 100 times in a row. And the re-recordings definitely give a good idea of how the band have been changing their sound to fit Owens' vocal stylings. In some instances, it's for the best. We'll just have to wait and see if it lives up to the magic The Glorious Burden captured.
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Taylor Green

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