Review: Iced Earth, "Plagues of Babylon"

These days, I approach a new Iced Earth record with both high hopes and a little trepidation.

Once upon a time, Iced Earth was pretty close to what I’d consider the perfect band. They struck that sweet spot for me in their blend of heaviness, speed and melody. Guitarist and founder Jon Schaffer could play with blazing speed and crunch, but vocalist Matt Barlow — and later, Tim Owens — were actually great singers that balanced that out and gave things a bit of a darker vibe.

Then something happened. After two albums with Owens, who many fans for some reason never embraced, he left the band in 2007 in favor of Barlow, who had come back to music after a stint in law enforcement inspired by Sept. 11.

Review: T&N, "Slave to the Empire"

What do you get when you mix the three original members of Dokken who were not named Don Dokken with drummer Brian Tichy and guest shots from a few of the best singers in the hard rock realm? A surprisingly solid and vibrant record.

Guitarist George Lynch and bassist/vocalist Jeff Pilson originally began writing the songs on Slave to the Empire as a new project for Lynch’s band Lynch Mob, but realized they weren’t quite right for it. They eventually recorded the seven original tracks on this record with Tichy, who was the one that suggested a reunion with Dokken drummer Mick Brown and a project in the vein of the Black Sabbath offshoot Heaven and Hell. The three former bandmates seized on the idea, calling themselves Tooth and Nail, a name that for legal reasons had to be shortened to T&N.