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Iced Earth's 'The Glorious Burden' is a must for any metalhead's July 4 festivities
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The Glorious Burden
This Saturday is America's Independence Day, and between grilling fine meats, drinking equally fine adult beverages and injuring each other with fireworks, many Americans will be listening to music that captures the majestic mood of such a momentous occasion. Yes, plenty of them will be worshiping at the First Church of Lee Greenwood, or not paying closer attention to the lyrics to Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", or even playing any Three Doors Down song ever released. But this is a column about heavy metal, and if there's a metal album that truly fits the occasion, it's Iced Earth's epic 2004 concept album, The Glorious Burden.
Hailing from Tampa, Iced Earth have been one of the most renowned acts in independent metal for the better part of the last three decades. The band's sound has shifted dramatically from era to era, primarily due to the large, tumultuous turnover of band members (rhythm guitarist Jon Schaffer is the only original member still in the band, and is responsible for the bulk of the songwriting), and especially the vocal stylings of whoever is singing for the band at the time. Matt Barlow is perhaps the most popular vocalist in the band's history, having presided over much of the band's essential catalogue — 1996's The Dark Saga and 1997's remix/remaster collection Days of Purgatory are bonafide modern metal classics, and worthy additions to any metalhead's record collection — but following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Barlow left the band (or was fired, depending on who's telling the story) to pursue a career in law enforcement.
Barlow had actually recorded all of the vocals for The Glorious Burden, but Schaffer elected to shelve the album, citing disappointment with Barlow's performance. The band then recruited Tim 'Ripper' Owens — who at the time was still the frontman for Judas Priest — to re-record all vocal tracks for the album, which finally saw the light of day in January 2004. While much of Iced Earth's other material deals with theological and fantasied themes, The Glorious Burden is a concept album based on military history, much of it dealing with the long, bloody war history in the good ol' U S of A.
The record's first disc begins with a powerful, heavy rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner", certainly designed for those who wish to place hands over even the blackest of hearts. The band runs the gamut of America's history in conflict, mostly offering an apt description of events with few jingoistic overtones — both "Declaration Day" and "Valley Forge" reference the American Revolution, while certifiable power ballad "When The Eagle Cries" is largely about 9/11. Even if the perceived cheekiness of "Eagle" leaves a sour taste in the mouths of some listeners, said tastes are likely to be quickly remedied by the rapid riffing and massive, soaring vocals that adorn "The Reckoning (Don't Tread on Me)". The visceral thrash of soldier tribute track "Greenface" is a nice change of pace from the power metal of much of the rest of the songs here, and anyway, who doesn't support the troops, regardless of political leanings?
Disc 2 of The Glorious Burden is a real monster — it's a three song, 35 minute epic based on the 1863 battle at Gettysburg, which is widely referred to by historians as the turning point of the American Civil War. The songs themselves, while mostly historically accurate, are expectedly a bit of an exhausting listen given their long running time and the wide breadth of the subject matter, but they'd probably would still be suitable background music to any metalhead's Independence Day shindig.
Have a great weekend, everyone. And remember, if camping is part of your July 4 plans, be sure to headbang while making your fire.
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