Iced Earth

Iced Earth was created in January 1985 in Tempa (Florida) by Jon Schaffer, principal composer and rhythm guitarist. If he founded the band with drummer Greg Seymour, Schaffer quickly became the only permanent member of the group, all the other positions going to undergo regular line-up changes over the long history of the group. In more than thirty years of career, the Americans released 12 studio albums, and none with the same line-up as the previous one. First called Purgatory, the band was renamed Iced Earth in 1988. The Enter The Realm demo, released in 1989, allows them to be spotted by Century media Records to release a first album, eponymous, at the end of 1990; album that will allow Iced Earth to shoot with Blind Guardian. A year after Iced Earth was published Night Of The Stormrider. The band suffered a hiatus between 1992 and 1995, and returned with a new drummer but above all a new singer, who would be emblematic of the band: Matt Barlow (now in Ashes Of Ares after a brief visit to Pyramaze). Burnt Offerings , released in April 1995, is widely regarded as one of the key albums of Iced Earth , but also of the Heavy and Thrash mobilities in general. Matt Barlow's voice power is for many. The singer will remain for The Dark Saga (1996), which is a little more melodic and less heavy than the previous opus, for Something Wicked This Way Comes (1998), and for Horror Show (2001). But the renewal of the other members is nevertheless regular (note the presence of bassist Steve DiGiorgio (ex Death , Testament ) on Horror Show for example). After the attacks of 11 September 2001, the iconic singer decided to leave Iced Earth to join the American police force, in his words, "contribute to the real world rather than live in the illusion of Rock". Before his departure, the band released Tribute To The Gods, an album of covers. Tim "Ripper" Owens (formerly Judas Priest) will take over the microphone, while the Americans change labels for SPV Records. Early 2004 is published The Glorious Burden , which deals with historical events. After the album's promotional tour, bassist James MacDonough left Iced Earth to briefly integrate Megadeth. The vocalist will remain in the band with the unwavering founder Jon Schaffer, but the Americans will experience many difficulties in recruiting a new soloist guitarist, drummer and bassist. Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1) , a continuation of the concept developed in Something Wicked This Way Comes , is only released at the end of 2007. In December 2007, Matt Barlow joined his former comrades after 5 years of absence. Jon Schaffer has the will to quickly market the sequel and end of the concept, The Crucible Of Man (Something Wicked Part 2) , as the instrumental parts were mostly recorded at the same time as those for Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1) . But Matt Barlow will slightly shift the release of this third part to record with Pyramaze. The album was released in September 2008. In 2010, Iced Earth signed again with their first label, Century media. 2011 marks the new withdrawal of Matt Barlow's band, after a final concert at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. It will be Stu Block, the vocalist of Into Eternity, who will succeed him. Dystopia comes out at the end of 2011, and is very well received by fans. Plagues Of Babylon was born in 2014 with a new bass player, Luke Appleton, and a new drummer, Raphael Saini. For Incorruptible (2017), Iced Earth announces the return of drummer Brent Smedley and a new solo guitarist in the person of Jake Dreyer.
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