''The Crucible of Man: Something Wicked Part 2'' is the ninth studio album by American heavy metal band

Iced Earth Iced Earth is an American heavy metal band formed in Tampa, Florida and currently based in Columbus, Indiana. They were formed in 1984 under the name the Rose, then Purgatory, by guitarist and main songwriter Jon Schaffer and original drummer ...

. Released in September 2008, it was the first Iced Earth album since 2001's '' Horror Show'' to feature singer

Matt Barlow Matthew Barlow (born March 10, 1971) is an American heavy metal singer. He is the lead singer for Ashes of Ares and former lead singer of Iced Earth and Pyramaze. He is Jon Schaffer's brother-in-law. History Barlow joined Iced Earth after the ' ...

. ''The Crucible of Man'' is the second concept album based on guitarist-songwriter

Jon Schaffer Jon Ryan Schaffer (born March 15, 1968) is an American heavy metal musician. He is the rhythm guitarist and principal songwriter of the Indiana-based heavy metal band Iced Earth, which he formed in 1985 under the name Purgatory. He is also the ...

's Something Wicked Saga. It also the third album overall to feature the subject. Originally titled ''Revelation Abomination: Something Wicked Part 2'', the majority of ''The Crucible of Man'' had been written and recorded at the same time as the group's previous album, '' Framing Armageddon''. ''Crucible'' had been intended for an early 2008 release; however, Matt Barlow rejoined Iced Earth in late 2007, and work on the album had to be put-off due to Barlow's prior commitments to the band

Pyramaze Pyramaze is a Danish power metal band formed in 2001. History Pyramaze was formed in 2001 by guitarist Michael Kammeyer. Next to join were fellow Danes drummer Morten Gade Sørensen (Wuthering Heights, Anubis Gate) and bassist Niels Kvist. A ...

. ''The Crucible of Man: Something Wicked Part 2'' was released on September 5, 2008 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, on September 8 in rest of Europe, and on September 9 in North America. The album ended-up being the last Iced Earth studio album to feature bassist Dennis Hayes, as well as vocalist Matt Barlow, who once again left the band in August 2011.

Story

The album's story picks-up where the previous album, ''Framing Armageddon: Something Wicked Part 1'', left off. In an interview with Jon Schaffer, he detailed the story of ''Part 2'':

Track listing

Personnel

; Iced Earth *

– lead vocals *

– guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals (on track 5).

co-producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working Independent film, independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordina ...

Brent Smedley Iced Earth is an American heavy metal band formed in Tampa, Florida and currently based in Columbus, Indiana. They were formed in 1984 under the name the Rose, then Purgatory, by guitarist and main songwriter Jon Schaffer and original drummer ...

– drums ; Additional musicians *Corinne Bach – backing vocals *Jason Blackerby – backing vocals *Debra Brant – backing vocals *Jeff Brant – backing vocals * Dennis Hayes – bass guitar (on tracks 3, 5, 6, 10 and 12) *Howard Helm – backing vocals *Kathy Helm – backing vocals *Jim Morris – backing vocals, guitar (on track 5) *Tom Morris – backing vocals *Todd Plant – backing vocals *Steve Rogowski – cello (on track 15) *Troy Seele – guitar (tracks 5, 6, 9) ; Additional personnel *Jim Morris –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, mixer *Nathan Perry – cover and inner sleeve art *Felipe Machado Franco – cover and inner sleeve art,

layout Layout may refer to: * Page layout, the arrangement of visual elements on a page ** Comprehensive layout (comp), a proposed page layout presented by a designer to their client * Layout (computing), the process of calculating the position of obje ...

*David Newman-Stump – inner sleeve art

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crucible of Man, The Iced Earth albums 2008 albums Concept albums SPV/Steamhammer albums