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Metal/Prog Metal Concert Reviews

Iced Earth

Live in Chicago, Illinois, March 2018

Review by Kat Heitzman

This was the last stop of the Incorruptible World Tour, but you couldn’t tell they had just played 31 shows in about five weeks. Iced Earth played with the vigor and energy of a first night show! Stu Block’s voice was in excellent shape, and Jon Schaffer played perfectly. In fact, the entire band were on key and played like the powerhouse that they are.

It was a wonderful treat to see these guys pump out 13 tunes, both old and new, with the same talent that made them great to begin with. Then they even did another three songs for the encore. Ending with “Watching Over Me," (which is definitely one of my favorite all time metal songs) they just nailed it. They started out with one of their new songs “Great Heathen Army,” which is from their latest album Incorruptible. It is a perfect first song, as it starts out with monolithic chanting and then goes right in to a powerful dirge that really got the audience pumped up.


Kat Heitzman
 
Kat Heitzman
 
Kat Heitzman

It really seemed like they tried to play at least one song from each of their albums. It was a good mix of old and new, with a few from their new album. That is okay with me, as I have been wanting to hear the new stuff live. Block did an excellent job singing all the tunes from before he joined the band, too.


Kat Heitzman
 
Kat Heitzman
 
Kat Heitzman

The second song they played was “Burning Times” from the Something Wicked album, and they just killed it and got the crowd even more rowdier. A lot of attention was on Schaffer, of course, and he used that to play up the audience well. They played “I Died For You” from their 1996 album The Dark Saga, which they played with the same emotion and feeling that is memorialized on that great album. which I must say is one of the most overlooked metal albums out there.


Kat Heitzman
 
Kat Heitzman
 
Kat Heitzman

They played plenty of fast songs like “Vengeance is Mine” and “Stormrider." There was no lack of energy throughout the entire show. To hear old material like “Angels Holocaust” and “Travel In Stygian” was amazing. Block did such a great job belting those classics out. I must mention one of the best vocal jobs he did that night was for the song “Dracula,” where he not only kept up the brutal pace of that track, but he hit every note perfectly (and it is not an easy song to sing). There were so many grinding high notes, and it sounded awesome loud and live in such a little place like the Bottom Lounge.  I also must mention that venue is an excellent place to see a live show. There is really no bad place to see the stage, and you can get up close and personal. Iced Earth as a whole put on an excellent show, and I will look forward to seeing them again next tour. I am sure they are not done after witnessing all the energy and vigor they showed on this final show of the tour.


Kat Heitzman
 
Kat Heitzman
 
Kat Heitzman
This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2018  Volume 3. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2018.
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