Musical Style
According to Schaffer, Iced Earth's musical style is influenced by many traditional heavy metal and NWOBHM groups such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest. The most distinctive element of the band's sound is the stutter-like right-hand gallop of rhythm guitarist Jon Schaffer, which sounds something like the 'eighth-note, two-sixteenth-notes' gallop made famous by Iron Maiden's bass player/songwriter Steve Harris. "The music is heavy, melodic, dark, fast, and complex. Schaffer plays true rhythm guitar, giving the band its trademark sound. Iron Maiden's 'galloping' rhythm is quite evident."
Strong melodic hooks are typically laid over the top of this gallop, sometimes doubled by two guitars playing in harmony, such as in "The Reckoning." They often vary rhythms by using the two dotted eighth note followed by a quarter note or four dotted eighth notes followed by two quarter notes, known as the clave or chopped clave pattern. This is often used by Judas Priest.
During Barlow's period in the band, the vocals were often low-pitched but with occasional high-pitched screams. However, after Owens joined the band, the emphasis shifted to the higher-pitched spectrum. Common throughout since the release of Something Wicked This Way Comes was the practice of recording multiple vocal tracks to simulate the sound of a small choir. Schaffer claims that this is probably due to his work with Blind Guardian. A common element of the band's sound is the frequent usage of double-bass-drumming. Iced Earth's drum work is often highlighted by frequent use of drags and flams on the bass drum, usually intended to complement Schaffer's rhythm guitar.
Iced Earth lyrics tend to deal with theological issues such as punishment and sin, destiny, heaven and hell, the Antichrist and the apocalypse. Many of the band's recent albums have been concept albums written around a theme, e.g. the antihero Spawn (The Dark Saga), horror movies (Horror Show), and historical wars (The Glorious Burden). Jon Schaffer also created original stories for concept albums, most notably on Night of the Stormrider, Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1) and its sequel The Crucible of Man (Something Wicked Part 2). Much of Iced Earth's lyrics currently deal with Jon Schaffer's fictional character Set Abominae.
In some songs (such as "Dante's Inferno," "Angels Holocaust," "Damien," and "The Coming Curse") Iced Earth uses the technique of Gregorian chant. Multiple Iced Earth songs contain female vocals: "A Question of Heaven", "The Phantom Opera Ghost", "Melancholy", "Watching Over Me", "The Awakening", "In Sacred Flames", "Harbinger Of Fate", "Behold The Wicked Child", in addition to a remake of "Burnt Offerings" on the Days of Purgatory album.
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