WHY NO LOVE FOR ICED EARTH?

Today’s release of Iced Earth’s new album Dystopia is kind of a big deal. The band’s been around since the late ’80s and released their first album in 1991; since then they’ve released nine more full-lengths and they were one of the flag-wavers of true heavy metal when it was the farthest thing from cool throughout most of the ’90s and early ’00s. This is also their first album with new vocalist Stu Block (Into Eternity).

So why the fuck is no one talking about Dystopia? When Vic Vaughn included it in this morning’s weekly Shit That Comes Out Today column I actually had to check multiple websites to make sure that Dystopia was, in fact, coming out today. Other than this Revolver premiere of the album’s title track and Axl’s commentary on the album artwork I really haven’t seen anything about Dystopia at all. Iced Earth should be on the fucking cover of Revolver. Perhaps Jon Schaffer is too busy railing against the Federal Reserve to worry about press. Perhaps metal fans have moved on and just aren’t interested in the brand that Iced Earth are peddling… but man, if so, that’s a travesty.

Recognize and support true heavy metal. Recognize and support Iced Earth. Listen to “Dystopia” here; it’s big, it’s anthemic, and Stu Block sounds fantastic. Buy Dystopia.

-VN