''Plagues of Babylon'' is the eleventh 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 January 2014, the album is the group's first studio release with bassist Luke Appleton and the only with drummer Raphael Saini, who was a guest on the album. According to rhythm guitarist and band leader

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 th ...

, half of the album is focused on his ''" Something Wicked"'' concept, while the other half are stand-alone songs.

Overview

The album was originally set to be released in October 2013, but was pushed back due to Iced Earth's tour commitments in the fall. The band began recording in Germany on July 15, 2013 at Principal Studios. On August 8, 2013, it was announced that the band had completed tracking the album. On September 3, the band announced they had completed mixing and mastering ''Plagues of Babylon''. On September 25, the official track listing and album cover were released. On October 7, Iced Earth announced that would be releasing a limited edition vinyl EP entitled ''The Plagues''. The EP will contain three songs from ''Plagues of Babylon'', and will be made available on Iced Earth's European tour with

Volbeat Volbeat are a Danish rock band formed in Copenhagen in 2001. They play a fusion of rock and roll, heavy metal, and rockabilly. Their current line-up consists of vocalist and guitarist Michael Poulsen, guitarist Rob Caggiano, drummer Jon ...

. On October 11, the lyric video for the album's title track was released. The December 2013 issue of Germany's

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...

magazine featured the song "''Peacemaker''" on the attached CD and the December 2013 issue of Germany's RockHard magazine featured the song "''Among the Living Dead''" on the attached CD. A song titled "''Spirit of the Times''" was originally released by Schaffer's side project

Sons of Liberty The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It pl ...

, and was re-recorded for this album's release. The song "

Highwayman A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to fo ...

" is a cover originally written by

Jimmy Webb Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He has written numerous platinum-selling songs, including " Up, Up and Away", " By the Time I Get to Phoenix", " MacArthur Park", " Wichita Lineman", " Wo ...

Reception

''Plagues of Babylon'' received mostly positive reviews overall from music critics. In January 2014, the album reached position No. 5 on the German Media Control Charts. This is the band's highest chart position in their entire career. The band also reached No. 34 on the

Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization of ...

Charts in Belgium. Meanwhile, in the US, the album sold approximately 6,300 copies in its first week to debut at No. 49 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of ar ...

Track listing

Personnel

Iced Earth *

Stu Block Stuart Block (born November 26, 1977) is a Canadian singer best known as the former lead vocalist for progressive death metal band Into Eternity and American heavy metal band Iced Earth. Before joining Into Eternity in 2005, Block began his mu ...

– lead vocals, backing vocals *

– rhythm & lead guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Highwayman" *

Troy Seele 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 ...

– lead guitar * Luke Appleton – bass Additional musicians *Raphael Saini – drums *

Michael Poulsen Michael Schøn Poulsen (born 1 April 1975) is a Danish singer, guitarist and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and main songwriter of rock band Volbeat. Prior to Volbeat, Poulsen was the vocalist for the death metal band Dom ...

– lead and backing vocals on "Highwayman" *

Russell Allen Russell Allen (born July 19, 1971) is an American singer best known as the vocalist of the progressive metal band Symphony X. He has also worked with the supergroups Star One, Allen-Lande, Level 10, and as one of fourteen vocalists in the pr ...

– lead and backing vocals on "Highwayman" *

Hansi Kürsch Hans Jürgen "Hansi" Kürsch (born 10 August 1966) is a German singer, songwriter and former bass guitarist, best known as a member of the power metal band Blind Guardian. One of the founders of the band, he has been its lead vocalist since it ...

– lead vocals on "Among the Living Dead", backing vocals *Thomas Hackmann – backing vocals *Andrew Peters – backing vocals *Matt O'Rourke – backing vocals *Bonna Ross Bernal – backing vocals *Daniel Schmitz – marching drums *David Hambach – marching drums *Christopher Jobi – marching drums Production and design *

Eliran Kantor Eliran Kantor (born 13 September 1984) is a Berlin-based artist and illustrator known mostly for creating album covers for metal bands such as Testament, Soulfly, Helloween and My Dying Bride. He created the artwork used on various releases i ...

–

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper (tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album ...

*Kevin Paul & Jon Schaffer – mixing *Sascha Buhren – mastering

References

External links

Iced Earth Unleashes "Among The Living Dead"
{{Authority control Iced Earth albums 2014 albums Century Media Records albums Cthulhu Mythos music Albums with cover art by Eliran Kantor