Scribed by Sandre the Giant
I have a complicated relationship with ‘The Glorious Burden’, the ninth studio record from American power metallers Iced Earth, released in 2004. On one hand, it was the first ‘new record’ by a band I had just got into the year before, and I was REALLY into Iced Earth in my late teens. They and Blind Guardian were the main two bands that led me into the world of what I considered non mainstream metal, and I loved this record a lot even with its flaws. On the other hand, with the benefit of hindsight, it is a massive red flag in where Jon Schaffer’s politics would lead him in becoming a January 6th rioter. Which makes him a probable right wing fascist loony, which is not great.
The shadows of 9/11 hung long over this record, as it did over everything in the early 2000s and over a lot of music. Former vocalist Matt Barlow had quit Iced Earth to become a policeman after September 11th, and the overtly pro-Americanisms of ‘Declaration Day’, ‘When the Eagle Cries’ and ‘The Reckoning (Don’t Tread on Me)’ are now blatantly obvious for what they are. In 2004 though, that seemed totally normal to me. Of course Americans were going to be producing stuff like this; they had a devastating national tragedy to work through. 20 years later, after subsequent records did a lot of conspiracy stuff about new world orders and aliens and stuff, kind of suspicious. Barlow was replaced by former Judas Priest vocalist Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, whose performance is excellent and we get a couple of his proper throat shredding screams on ‘Greenface’ and ‘Red Baron/Blue Max’. Ripper is a very underrated vocalist in my opinion, followed unfortunately throughout his career by comparions like ‘Rob Halford but not as good’. Name any other heavy metal vocalist that is as good as Rob Halford though? I’ll give you Brice Dickinson, but as a 1 and 1A. Owens has a voice that perfectly complimented the thick trad metal gallop of Iced Earth, as well as hitting those power metal screams perfectly as well. Musically ‘The Glorious Burden’ isn’t as dynamic as their previous records, and while the focus on historical events is interesting lyrically, I don’t think it was what Iced Earth fans were used to or looking for. Having been mostly fantasy related in theme for most of their career at that point, it was a left turn that I think put some off. I’m a history buff though, so I found it an interesting detour.
I have great fondness for this record, and its accompanying ‘Gettysburg 1863’ concept disc, and probably always will. It is strange how nostalgia does that to you, keeps you coming back to things that you know you should probably just leave the memories alone. But ‘The Glorious Burden’ is one of those records that will be consigned to dust as one of Iced Earth’s lesser records, and one that clearly marked Schaffer’s descent into conspiracy and nationalistic fervour. But in 2004, this was just screaming metal tracks about the Red Baron, Attila the Hun and Napoleon, and that was probably a better more innocent time in my life when the world didn’t seem on the verge of collapse into totalitarianism and misery. It’ll remain a record that I have complicated feelings about I think, one that seems like an eerie foreshadowing, subtle and not so subtle hints of what would be.
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