1005. Iced Earth / Incorruptible. 2017. 3.5/5

I’m probably going to go down that same old street that I usually do when it comes to Iced Earth and their albums. It’s not a deliberate thing I assure you, but as with any band out there, you will have fans who can ignore the obvious, fans who will embrace the obvious, and fans who will be turned away by the obvious. Those factors will promulgate your feelings on this and every album by the band according to which sector you fall in to. So, for me, this is another Iced Earth album that has all of the qualities that can make it a great album, and album that old fans and new fans alike can gather around and love for all the right reasons. In many ways it dials back into the best days of the band. When the songs are motoring along, this is when the album is at its best.

“Great Heathen Army” starts off with the Iced Earth gallop, and Stu Block’s vocals rocket out of the speakers with the double kick accentuating and the hard line riffing of the guitars. “Black Flag” continues in a similar direction, again focusing on the tough rhythm of the song and Stu’ vocals. There is some real old school Iced Earth in the mix. “Raven Wing” is a perfect example of this, because not only does it musically come from the that era, but Stu’s vocals really come in with an amazing similarity to former vocalist Matt Barlow’s vocal tones. This could have been a poor rehash, but the heavy influence of the drums and heavy guitar riff rather than softening it back like Schaeffer often does makes this a beauty of a track, that perfectly references the past in the current band setting. I think it gets better with every listen. I can even forgive the following song “The Veil” because of it. This is where the tempo gets dialled back, accessing those tendencies of a power ballad without actually being one, but it just softens and slows back a notch too far for my liking. These are the kind of songs that I believe sometimes holds Iced Earth back. Too much of a reflective side.
“Seven Headed Whore” rights the ship with immediate impact, the flying double kick and Stu’s faster higher vocals coming to save the show. When he combines those two shades of vocals in a song it sounds amazing. Terrific song. “The Relic (Part 1)” doesn’t quite retain that vitality and seems caught between two vibes that don’t gel too well. The pseudo-instrumental “Ghost Dance (Awaken the Ancestors)” is fine, apart from the fact that it does just sound like any other Iced Earth song waiting for lyrics, with one big long rhythm piece, rather than the music speaking for itself. It’s no “Losfer Words” or “Orion”. “Brothers” too has a similar way about it, and tends towards the boring more than anything else. It lacks the quality listeners are looking for.
“Defiance” returns to the harder and faster tempo of the earlier songs on the album with more power in the vocals as well. Closing out the album is the almost-ten minute epic “Clear the Way (December 13, 1862)”, which winds its way through periods of quiet building to heavy guitar and drums, and is a pertinent way to conclude the album.

And so once again I have come to the end of an Iced Earth album, and once again I find myself sitting on the edge of the precipice. Depending on which way I fall I can love this album or be disappointed by this album, and once again I find that I cannot fall either way. There is much to like about the first half of the album, but there is much to be slightly disappointed in the second half of the album. I would suspect that the huge fans of the band will think this album is a triumph and be spectacularly happy with it. For me, as I hinted at during the start of this review, I find the album enjoyable to listen to without being able to rid myself of that feeling that with just a bit of a spit and polish it could really be terrific.

Rating:  “I am fates magician, I'll strip you of your doubt”.  3.5/5