A história do grupo começou em 1985, quando o guitarrista e líder Jon Schaffer (então com 16 anos) montou o The Rose na cidade de Indianápolis. O nome não vingou e acabou sendo trocado para Purgatory . Com o Purgatory se tornando mais estável, o próximo passo natural seria a começar a produzir demos. Elas eram bem simples no começo, mas com o passar do tempo, se tornaram muito mais profissionais. A primeira demo da banda foi produzida em 1985, em um gravador de 4 canais e teve o nome de "Burning Oasis". No final de 1985, a banda produziu uma demo com 2 faixas, intitulada de "Psychotic Dreams", no estúdio Morrisound. Em seguida, no começo de 1986, veio a demo de também 3 faixas, "Horror Show". A banda mesmo é quem preparava a capa das demos e as copiava no Kinko, para os encartes. Eles também compravam fitas cassetes virgens e gravavam as demos em um gravador, que continha dois decks para as fitas. Apesar da artilharia da banda ser bem simples nesse estágio inicial, eles estavam fazendo o máximo que podiam, dentro de seus limitados recursos. Esse talento criativo também transparecia nas performances ao vivo da banda. O Purgatory subia no palco com fantasias e dava a seus fãs um espetáculo matador, tanto visual quanto musicalmente. Isso incluía uma abordagem única em relação a música, assim como davam vida às suas composições de forma mais real possível, através do seu set-list . Alguns exemplos deste set de palco incluíam fogos de artifício e explosões, truques simulando um derramamento de sangue, mascotes mascarados, etc.. Tudo isso ajudou a banda a se distinguir dos demais artistas na cena de Tampa.
No começo de 1988 Jon descobriu que já existia outra banda sob o nome de Purgatory, que havia acabado de assinar contrato com uma gravadora alternativa, o forçando assim a mudar o nome de sua banda. Ele se lembrou de seu melhor amigo em Indiana, a quem perdeu para um acidente de moto, que insistentemente dizia que as duas palavras, "Iced" e "Earth", sempre formaram um nome ideal para uma banda, surgindo o nome Iced Earth. Jon se sentia confortável o suficiente com a banda e com suas habilidades de compositor e músico, que o levaram a buscar um contrato com alguma gravadora. Jon consultou alguns de seus contatos para receber alguns conselhos e aprendeu que a melhor forma de conseguir o que almejava seria através de uma divulgação maciça. A hora era conveniente para uma demo-tape profissional, que poderia circular amplamente. A banda começou a gravar Enter the Realm, a demo que iria fazer com que eles conseguissem um contrato, em Janeiro de 1988, onde o foco principal era uma alta qualidade sonora. Isso incluía a qualidade da gravação (a banda usou o estúdio Morrisound), uma embalagem profissional, o preço (10 dólares na época) e uma distribuição independente. Fabricada no começo de 1989, um total de 1000 demos foram produzidas, sendo 500 usadas para promoção. As outras 500 foram vendidas aos fãs. Jon trabalhou com seus contatos na indústria da música para buscar quaisquer endereços que ele podia encontrar, os enviando as demos. Ele ia com um saco plástico cheio de demos até o correio e as mandava para qualquer lugar. A demo foi enviada por toda América do Norte, Europa e outros lugares . A tática de promoção maciça funcionou, visto que a demo teve uma boa repercussão no underground europeu e começou a receber ótimas resenhas naAlemanha, Itália, Bélgica, França, Grécia e outros países. A resposta foi particularmente forte na Alemanha, onde a demo foi votada como demo do mês, na respeitada revista Hard Rock Magazine (que mais tarde iria elegê-la como a demo do ano, em uma edição posterior). Estava ficando claro que o Iced Earth era uma força a ser comentada e seria apenas uma questão de tempo até que uma gravadora a notasse. A banda negociou com várias gravadoras e, em Junho de 1990, assinaram um contrato com a Century Media. A Century Media se diferenciou das outras devido ao seu olhar para o futuro e sua vontade de ter uma relação duradoura com a banda. O principal objetivo de Jon, que o fez até sair de casa, agora havia sido alcançado quando o Iced Earth conseguiu um contrato com uma gravadora e o próximo capítulo na história poderia começar.
O próximo passo seria entrar em estúdio e trabalhar em seu primeiro álbum. O debut que trazia o mesmo nome que a banda, foi lançado em Novembro de 1990 na Europa e em Fevereiro de 1991 nos Estados Unidos. Jon viajou para a Europa em Novembro de 1990 para promover o álbum e a banda já tinha criado um certo nome por lá. Durante a turnê promocional, Jon teve a chance de conhecer Hansi Kürsch, líder da banda alemã Blind Guardian. Jon e Hansi sentiram uma química instantânea e já traçaram planos de suas bandas saírem em turnê juntas, depois do lançamento do álbum do Iced Earth. Isso se tornou realidade entre Fevereiro e Março de 1991, quando o Iced Earth abriu para o Blind Guardian em sua primeira turnê européia como "headliners" (banda principal). O primeiro show desta turnê foi na cidade de Hamburgo, na Alemanha. Quando a banda voltou para casa, após a turnê triunfante, Jon estava com um ótimo espírito. Sua veia criativa estava pulsando, tornando-se a hora certa para voltar ao estúdio e trabalhar na próxima criação do Iced Earth. Com o começo das composições para o álbum, se tornou óbvio que algumas mudanças na banda deveriam ser feitas. Jon estava evoluindo como compositor, e algumas coisas do novo material requeriam habilidades e competência que a formação atual não possuía. Por isso, as mudanças refletiram na saída do vocalista e do baterista. Assim Jon pôde ter um pouco mais de conforto quando a nova formação entrou em estúdio para gravar o sucessor de seu primeiro álbum. As mudanças não foram muito bem recebidas pela imprensa, mas Jon manteve sua posição. Ele não iria deixar que algumas críticas sobre a nova formação por parte da mídia afetassem os seus planos para o segundo álbum da banda.
Jon e os rapazes lançaram Night of the Stormrider exatamente 12 meses depois de seu primeiro trabalho. O álbum foi recebido com um sucesso imediato, sendo um grande passo para a banda. Também foi melhor recebido nos EUA do que o seu precursor, chegando a tocar inclusive em algumas estações de rádios de metal americanas. O disco também levou a banda ao mercado japonês, onde Angels Holocaust chegou a tocar regularmente nas rádios locais. "Night Of The Stormrider" recebeu uma nota 92 (de 100) na respeitada revista Burn! Magazine, no Japão. Night Of The Stormrider se tornou o álbum mais vendido da banda, e se manteve neste posto até ser ultrapassado pelo disco Something Wicked This Way Comes, que viria a ser lançado mais tarde. Mas ainda mantém sua distinção como sendo o álbum mais vendido do Iced Earth no Japão. Depois do lançamento do disco, a banda voltou à Europa, onde saiu em turnê mais uma vez ao lado do Blind Guardian. Esta foi mais um sucesso, visto que as duas bandas haviam crescido desde a última turnê e poderiam oferecer uma performance ainda melhor paras suas crescentes legiões de fãs. Como uma das bandas originais da Century Media, o Iced Earth deu uma grande contribuição para todo o faturamento da gravadora. Com a banda continuando a crescer, Jon se deu conta que a banda não estava ganhando os benefícios de todo o seu trabalho pesado. Na verdade, nada do dinheiro que a gravadora ganhava com a banda acabava nos bolsos da mesma. Os membros da banda ainda tinham que fazer um esforço para se manterem, mesmo tendo dois álbuns de sucesso como crédito. A gravadora também usou os ganhos que teve com a banda para encobrir os impactos negativos que eles já haviam criado, por causa de decisões erradas em negócios. Isso não parecia justo para Jon e algumas mudanças deveriam ser feitas. A banda literalmente chegou a um dilema com sua gravadora, exigindo que seu contrato fosse renegociado antes que as coisas fossem para frente.
Também havia alguns desafios com a formação. Embora a banda achasse que havia encontrado um grande vocalista em John Greely, também o acharam uma pessoa bem difícil de se lidar. Mudanças tiveram que ser feitas, onde a banda conseguiu trazer Matthew Barlow para compor o time. Enquanto a banda estava passando por esta turbulência, Jon começou a compor para o terceiro álbum do Iced Earth. Devido aos problemas citados acima, Burnt Offerings só foi lançado três anos mais tarde, em Abril de 1995. Os tempos difíceis se refletiram na música e o resultado foi um álbum tão obscuro quanto amargo. Tinha um ponto alto em todo o processo entretanto, e este foi o épico que fechava o álbum, intitulado Dante’s Inferno. Com uma duração de mais de 16 minutos, este épico era uma jornada diferente de qualquer outra. Era cheia de reviravoltas,com geniais mudanças de andamento, riffs fritados porém inteligentes, melodias assustadoras e carregadas de alma, e uma atmosfera geral tremenda. O álbum teve uma recepção regular na maioria dos países. Foi um pequeno passo à frente para a banda nos EUA, mas não chegou a grandes proporções em nenhum outro lugar.
A banda estava agora em uma encruzilhada: O Iced Earth já tinha visto tanto o lado bom quanto o ruim do mundo da música. Assim que Jon voltou à sua tarefa de escrever para o próximo álbum, ele teve uma idéia que possuía um grande potencial: Criar um álbum baseado no personagem de Todd McFarlane, Spawn , e sua história. Esta era uma ótima idéia por diversas razões. Primeiro, oferecia um tremendo potencial para as composições, já que Jon teria a chance de cobrir todo o espectro de emoções do ser humano dentro de uma complexa linha de história. Também daria a chance de Jon criar mais um álbum conceitual, criando uma conexão entre todas as músicas ligadas a um único tema. E finalmente, permitiria a banda algumas oportunidades de benefício mútuo dentro da indústria de quadrinhos (onde é conhecido o personagem "Spawn"). The Dark Saga foi lançado em Junho de 1996, recebendo excelentes resenhas desde o começo. O álbum teve grande sucesso pela Europa e restabeleceu a banda como de primeiro escalão. O álbum também deu à banda a chance de fazer uma longa turnê, e eles aproveitaram cada oportunidade que lhes foi oferecida. Durante a turnê Summer Metal Meetings em 1996, a banda estava tendo uma performance eletrizante em Berlim. Durante uma das músicas, enquanto Jon estava no palco, ele sentiu uma pontada em seu pescoço. Ele continuou a turnê e continuou a se portar como um louco no palco, mas era óbvio que algo estava errado. Quando ele retornou aos EUA, ele descobriu que havia danificado três de suas vértebras do pescoço. Isso queria dizer que Jon deveria enfrentar uma tremenda dor em suas performances até ele achar tempo para fazer uma cirurgia corretiva. No entanto, não havia tempo para desperdiçar. Ele queria sustentar o sucesso momentâneo do "The Dark Saga" e construir sua crescente massa de fãs. O Iced Earth decidiu voltar no tempo e dar aos seus fãs uma nova chance para que eles conhecessem o material mais antigo da banda. Eles decidiram pegar algumas faixas de seus três primeiros álbuns, assim como as músicas da demo Enter the Realm, e regravá-las com sua melhorada formação tendo Brent Smedley na bateria, Jimmy MacDonough no baixo e Matthew Barlow nos vocais. Esse foi um projeto ambicioso que resultou no lançamento de Days of Purgatory. Um notável acontecimento durante este período foi a primeira oportunidade da banda sair em turnë nos EUA. Eles receberam reconhecimento através do seu trabalho com o "The Dark Saga" e foram capazes de transformar isto em uma mini turnê no Centro-Oeste dos EUA, em Agosto de 1997. Outra mudança na formação podia ser vista no horizonte. Randy Shawver, guitarrista solo, estava começando a perder seu entusiasmo para com a banda e queria se focar em outros aspectos da vida. Esta foi uma mútua e necessária decisão e o guitarrista deixou o Iced Earth, fazendo com que a banda voltasse à procura por um novo guitarrista. Através de um processo de audição, a banda aderiu Larry Tarnowski de Chicago ao seu time, como substituto de Randy.
Lançado em Junho de 1998, Something Wicked This Way Comes foi um grande sucesso desde o começo. O ponto alto foi a estréia do álbum na lista dos 20 mais vendidos naAlemanha. Esta foi uma grande conquista para a banda e eles caíram direto na estrada para promover o disco. A turnê começou com alguns shows de aquecimento, antes da aparição no prestigiado Dynamo Festival. A banda iria continuar a tocar em alguns festivais na Europa, incluindo o Bang your Head (o festival organizado pela revista alemã de power metal Heavy Oder Was?!, e uma apresentação, como headliners no reverenciado Wacken Open Air. A banda também fez diversas turnês pelos EUA, incluíndo a Costa Leste e Oeste, assim como o Centro Oeste do país. O conjunto também tocou no Milwaukee Metalfest e, pela primeira vez, fez shows no Canadá. No geral, Something Wicked This Way Comes foi um grande passo à frente para a banda e os deixou em uma ótima posição, continuando a sua ascensão.
Jon achou que era a hora certa para um disco ao vivo. A Grécia foi escolhida como o local certo para a gravação do álbum, devido ao genuíno afeto e paixão que os fãs gregos tinham pela banda. Jon havia ficado surpreso com a tamanha recepção que a banda recebeu por lá, em turnês anteriores. Ele também queria recompensar os fãs da Grécia com a honra de gravar o álbum por lá e que tivesse um título condizente com tal fato. A banda tocou duas noites consecutivas em Atenas e gravou os dois shows completos, como fonte para o material do álbum. Eles tocaram dois sets diversificados em ambas as noites, e assim tinham um material com mais de 30 músicas à sua disposição. O resultado final deste empreendimento foi Alive in Athens, lançado em Junho de 1999. O álbum estava disponível em vários formatos, como um cd duplo nos EUA, um cd triplo na Europa e no Japão, uma versão quíntupla de LPs, e continha um vasto conteúdo de músicas do catálogo da banda, incluíndo Dante’s Inferno, Travel in Stygian e a trilogia do álbum Something Wicked This Way Comes na íntegra. O sucesso foi tanto que o álbum ganhou Disco de Ouro na Grécia, algo que não acontecia para uma banda metal desde 1992, quando Fear Of The Dark, do Iron Maiden, obteve a honraria. Neste momento, Jon decidiu dar um tempo do Iced Earth e passou uns dois meses trabalhando em um projeto paralelo com Hansi Kürsch, líder do Blind Guardian, chamadoDemons & Wizards. Este foi uma conseqüência de algumas composições que Jon e Hansi já haviam escrito alguns anos antes. Sua renomada parceria resultou em um CD homônimo e numa turnê européia, que ambos foram altamente louvados. Um dos pontos altos desta turnê foi uma ponta como banda de abertura para o Iron Maiden em 2000, no Gods of Metal, emMonza, Itália . A banda foi nomeada para o Echo Award (equivalente ao Grammy) na Alemanha. Com o sucesso do "Demons & Wizards" já contemplado, a hora era certa para se focar no Iced Earth de novo.
Jon voltou para os Estados Unidos, fez a cirurgia necessária para o seu pescoço e voltou a compor. Mais uma vez, ele estava cheio de idéias. Com o progresso das composições, ele começou a pensar em um álbum com o tema de filmes de horror. O clima de horror foi um componente chave na imagem do Purgatory, em seu passado, e os personagens de terror sempre foram uma área de interesse pessoal de Jon. O resultado deste esforço foi intitulado Horror Show, lançado em Junho de 2001. Este álbum continuou com o momento de ascensão da banda e obteve ainda mais sucesso do que o seu antecessor. Ele debutou em 1º lugar na Grécia e mais uma vez estava entre os 40 álbuns mais vendidos na Alemanha,Holanda e em alguns outros países europeus. A banda também se deu muito bem nos EUA, fazendo parte de listas dos álbuns mais vendidos de rock e de música independente. Foi aí que a banda conseguiu sua primeira marca na Billboard. A banda obteve reconhecimento por isso, a partir das ofertas de ser a banda abertura das prestigiadas turnês do Judas Prieste Megadeth. Este foi um grande reconhecimento pelos anos de trabalho pesado que Jon e a banda tiveram. A proposta do Judas Priest veio antes, por isso eles estavam compromissados a cumpri-la. Os atentados terroristas de 11 de Setembro de 2001 levaram ao cancelamento desta, mas o Iced Earth veio depois a se juntar ao Megadeth, na segunda parte de sua turnê americana.
Enquanto a banda se preparava para a turnê com o Megadeth, ao mesmo tempo eles concluíam o lançamento de um cd tributo, Tribute To the Gods e uma Box set, Dark Genesis que permitiram uma homenagem à suas influências com o cd tributo, assim como deixou a disposição pela primeira vez a demo original "Enter The Realm", em cd. Além disso teremos os três primeiros álbuns totalmente remixados e com um novo trabalho gráfico, tudo isso graças ao lançamento da Box set Dark Genesis, que significa uma volta às raízes para a banda, pois é uma forma de pagar um tributo à suas influências, enquanto, simultaneamente, mostra o material mais antigo do Iced Earth.
Após o lançamento da Box Dark Genesis em 2002, a hora de Jon começar a pensar em um novo álbum do Iced Earth tinha chegado. Era iminente que após os atentados de 11 de Setembro todos os membros da banda estavam abalados com a situação. O medo de novos ataques terroristas crescia cada vez mais em solo norte-americano, e, por que não dizer, no mundo todo. Alguns meses se passaram e as primeiras notícias a respeito do novo álbum da banda surgiram, levando Jon a declarar no site oficial da banda que o título do álbum seria The Glorious Burden. Jon disse também que o disco contaria histórias de guerras civis americanas e outras datas importantes do país norte-americano. Conforme as composições iam ganhando corpo, uma notícia ruim abateu a banda: A saída, sem muitas explicações na época, do guitarrista Larry Tarnowski. Na época foi dito apenas que Larry era um excelente guitarrista, que era muito jovem e tinha um futuro muito promissor pela frente, mas que o guitarrista iria se dedicar um pouco mais aos estudos. Na verdade, o verdadeiro motivo era que Larry gostaria de participar mais dos álbuns da banda, ajudando também com composições próprias, o que não vinha a se encaixar ao perfil de Jon Schaffer para o novo disco. Passado esse pequeno problema, a banda resolveu entrar em estúdio para começar as gravações do novo álbum. Jon chamou Ralph Santolla, guitarrista que havia já tocado com a banda Death, para dar uma força em alguns solos de algumas músicas. E tudo seguia caminhando conforme os planos de Jon... Porém, Matthew Barlow, diferente de todo o restante da banda, não estava dando 100% de si nas gravações do álbum. Após ter gravado praticamente todas as linhas vocais para o The Glorious Burden, Jon percebeu que Matthew não transmitia seu tradicional "feeling" nas gravações dos vocais do novo disco, e após gravarem a faixa épica chamada Gettysburg 1863, dividida separadamente em em 3 músicas, Jon sentiu que não poderia lançar o álbum com os vocais que Matthew havia gravado. Afinal, o estilo que o vocalista havia demonstrado em todos os outros álbuns que gravou não estava presente. Preocupado, Jon resolveu abrir o jogo e ter uma conversa séria e franca com o vocalista. Uma conversa que rendeu uma das piores notícias que o Iced Earth poderia dar aos fãs e ao mundo da música: Matthew Barlow estava fora da banda. Matthew simplesmente não queria mais continuar com a vida que estava tendo, e não queria mais se dedicar a música. Após os atentados de 11 de Setembro de 2001, Matthew começou a pensar na vida e no que poderia fazer de útil tanto a si próprio como para o seu país. E Matthew percebeu que o Heavy Metal, turnês e discos, não era o caminho que ele gostaria de percorrer. Matthew queria voltar a estudar e se graduar em Direito Civil. Jon, que já havia divulgado uma data de lançamento do novo álbum e fechado um grande show no Wacken Open Air 2003, acabou mudando os planos e cancelado todos os compromissos com a banda para aquele ano, fazendo com que milhares de fãs ficassem ainda mais tristes. Era hora de refletir sobre como seria o futuro da banda de agora em diante, já que eles não tinham mais o carismático vocalista, referência de 10 entre 10 fãs da banda.
E surgiu mais uma vez na mídia especializada a notícia, só que dessa vez de forma oficial, dando conta que Rob Halford estava para voltar ao Judas Priest, e que conseqüentementeTim "Ripper" Owens seria demitido da banda. Foi o que aconteceu, mas de forma profissional, educada e amigável, tanto pelo lado do vocalista quanto pelo lado do Judas Priest. Após ser tudo oficializado, Tim Owens deu algumas declarações na imprensa falando sobre sua partida do Judas Priest: Disse que estava agradecido pelos anos que passou no Judas, provavelmente os melhores de sua vida. E o melhor de tudo era que a amizade entre os membros do Judas Priest não seria afetada. Sabia-se que Tim Owens tentaria uma carreira solo, inclusive com algumas composições próprias já concluídas. Jon, assistindo a tudo de camarote, ligou para Tim e ofereceu-lhe a vaga de vocalista do Iced Earth, o que deixou Tim feliz e satisfeito, mas ao mesmo tempo pensativo devido a todo o alvoroço criado após a sua saída do Judas Priest e devido também ao nascimento de seu filho. Mas não demorou mais que uma semana para Tim retornar a ligação que tanto Jon esperava, aceitando o convite para ser oficialmente o novo vocalista do Iced Earth. Já com o vocalista anunciado, a gravadora resolveu lançar um single para a faixa The Reckoning em Novembro de 2003, com 4 faixas, para ir matando a curiosidade dos fãs que tanto esperavam ansiosamente pelo retorno da banda com seu novo álbum, The Glorious Burden. O disco agrada os fãs e Owens sai em turnê com a banda. Pouco tempo depois, mais uma baixa: o baterista Richard Christy decide se dedicar a sua carreira de comediante no rádio e é substituído por Bobby Jarzombek. Para muitos era como um sonho poder ver Tim cantando no Iced Earth, devido a sua incrível voz, mas para outros o "fantasma" de Matthew Barlow sempre ficaria vagando a cada audição do novo álbum da banda. Ainda em 2004 o Iced Earth solta a coletânea dupla “The Blessed and the Damned”, com 23 faixas remasterizadas de todas as fases da vitoriosa carreira da banda.
Depois de quase uma década, Jon Schaffer resolveu desenvolver a história de Something Wicked, a canção dividida em três partes que encerrava o clássico Something Wicked This Way Comes .Assim, em 2007 é lançado o álbum Framing Armageddon , o primeiro composto para a voz de Tim "Ripper" Owens, já que The Glrius Burden foi feito originalmente para ser cantado por Matthew Barlow.
Após sair do Iced Earth, Barlow tornou-se um oficial de polícia em Georgetown. Ele também tornou-se o vocalista da banda First State Force Band, que era composta de oficiais de polícia de vários departamentos do estado de Delaware. A banda se apresentava em escolas pregando ideais como "diga não às drogas", "fique longe da violência" e "respeite seus pais, professores, a si próprios e a vida". Em 13 de abril de 2007 Barlow voltou à música em tempo integral como o vocalista da banda dinamarquesa Pyramaze. Barlow aceitou a oferta porque ele ainda poderia exercer sua profissão na polícia. Em dezembro de 2007 Jon Schaffer anuncia no site oficial da banda o retorno de Matthew Barlow aos vocais da banda e cantaria no The Crucible of Man.
No dia 5 de setembro de 2008 é lançado o álbum The Crucible of Man, a última parte da trilogia Something Wicked.
No dia 6 de agosto de 2011 o vocalista Matthew Barlow realizou seu último show com a banda na Alemanha, e foi anunciado que sua saída estava confirmada, para poder ter mais tempo com a família. No lugar dele, foi escolhido recentemente o vocalista Stu Block.
O Iced Earth já veio 3 vezes para o Brasil e agora em 2012 estão com uma nova turnê para divulgar seu novo album intitulado Dystopia.
- 24 de março de 2012 – São Bernardo do Campo/SP @ Espaço Lux
- 25 de março de 2012 – Curitiba/PR @ Master Hall
- 27 de março de 2012 – Porto Alegre/RS @ Bar Opinião
- 27 de março de 2012 – Porto Alegre/RS @ Bar Opinião
Os ingressos para a apresentação em São Paulo já estão disponíveis através da Ticket Brasil (pré-venda até o dia 24/11).
Data: 24 de março de 2012 (sábado) – São Bernardo do Campo/SP
Local: Espaço Lux (Rua Antonio Luiz Valério, 93 – Centro)
Horário: 22h
Ingressos Pré Venda Exclusiva Online até 24/11:
- Pista 1º Lote: R$100,00 + taxa de conveniência
- Pista Estudante: R$60,00 + taxa de conveniência
- Camarote 1º Lote: R$200,00 + taxa de conveniência
Pontos de venda:
- Galeria do Rock na Loja Die Hard (11) 3331-3978 (em breve)
- Online através da Ticket Brasil
Local: Espaço Lux (Rua Antonio Luiz Valério, 93 – Centro)
Horário: 22h
Ingressos Pré Venda Exclusiva Online até 24/11:
- Pista 1º Lote: R$100,00 + taxa de conveniência
- Pista Estudante: R$60,00 + taxa de conveniência
- Camarote 1º Lote: R$200,00 + taxa de conveniência
Pontos de venda:
- Galeria do Rock na Loja Die Hard (11) 3331-3978 (em breve)
- Online através da Ticket Brasil
Data: 27 de março de 2012 (terça-feira) – Porto Alegre/RS
Local: Bar Opinião (Rua José do Patrocínio, 834 – Cidade Baixa).
Ingressos:
- Pista: R$70,00
Local: Bar Opinião (Rua José do Patrocínio, 834 – Cidade Baixa).
Ingressos:
- Pista: R$70,00
When you think of a power metal band, several names may pop into your mind and certainly one of those bands is Iced Earth.
The group's history began in 1985 when guitarist and leader Jon Schaffer (then 16) mounted to The Rose in the city of Indianapolis. The name did not work and was eventually changed to Purgatory. With Purgatory becoming more stable, the next natural step would be to start producing demos. They were very simple at first, but over time, become much more professional. The first demo was produced in 1985 in a 4-channel recorder and had the name "Burning Oasis". In late 1985, the band produced a demo with two songs, titled "Psychotic Dreams," the studio Morrisound. Then in early 1986, also came to demo three songs, "Horror Show". The band is the same one who prepared the cover of demos copied at Kinko's and for the inserts. They also bought blank tapes and demos they recorded on a tape recorder, which contained two decks to the tapes.Despite the Artillery band is pretty simple at this early stage, they were doing the best they could within their limited resources. This creative talent also shone in the band's live performances. The Purgatory climbed on stage with costumes and gave his fans a show killer, both visually and musically. This included a unique approach compared to music, and gave life to their compositions as real as possible, through their set list. Some examples of this set the stage included fireworks and explosions, simulating a trick bloodshed, masked mascots, etc. ..All this helped the band to distinguish itself from other artists on the scene in Tampa.
In early 1988 Jon found that there was already another band under the name Purgatory, who had just signed a record deal alternative, thus forcing to change the name of his band. He remembered his best friend in Indiana, who lost to a motorcycle accident, which repeatedly said that the two words, "Iced" and "Earth", have always formed an ideal name for a band, emerging the name Iced Earth.Jon felt comfortable enough with the band and with his abilities as a composer and musician, which led him to seek a contract with any label. Jon consulted some of his contacts to get some advice and learned that the best way to get what he wanted would be through a public awareness campaigns. The time was appropriate for a professional demo tape, which could be widely circulated. The band began recording Enter the Realm, the demo would make a contract they could, in January 1988, where the main focus was a high sound quality. This included the quality of the recording (the band used the studio Morrisound), a professional packaging, the price ($ 10 at the time) and an independent distribution. Manufactured in early 1989, gave a total of 1000 were produced, and used to promote 500. The other 500 were sold to fans. Jon worked with his contacts in the music industry to search for any address he could find, sending them demos. He went with a plastic bag full of demos to the post office and sent anywhere. The demo was sent out across North America, Europe and elsewhere.The massive promotion tactic worked, because the demo had a good impact on the European underground and began to receive rave reviews naAlemanha, Italy, Belgium, France, Greece and other countries. The response was particularly strong in Germany, where the demo was voted demo of the month in the respected magazine Rock Hard Magazine (who would later elect her as the demo of the year, in a later issue). It was becoming clear that the Iced Earth was a force to be commented on and was only a matter of time before a record label noticed her. The band negotiated with various labels and in June 1990 signed a contract with Century Media. Century Media has differentiated itself from others because of its look to the future and his desire to have a lasting relationship with the band.The main objective of Jon, he did leave the house until now had been reached when the Iced Earth got a contract with a label and the next chapter in the story could begin.
The next step would be to go into the studio and work on their debut album. The debut that bore the same name as the band was launched in November 1990 in Europe and in February 1991 in the United States. Jon traveled to Europe in November 1990 to promote the album and the band had already created a name right there. During the promotional tour, Jon had the chance to meet Hansi Kürsch, leader of the German band Blind Guardian. Jon and Hansi felt an instant chemistry and has outlined plans for their bands out on tour together after the album's release of Iced Earth. This became reality in February and March 1991 when it opened for Iced Earth Blind Guardian on their first European tour as "headliners" (main band). The first show of this tour was in Hamburg, Germany.When the band returned home after a triumphant tour, Jon was a great spirit. His creative vein was pulsating, making it the right time to return to the studio and work on creating the next Iced Earth. With the beginning of the compositions for the album, it became obvious that some changes should be made in the band.Jon was evolving as a composer, and some things the new material required skills and competence that the current lineup did not have. Therefore, the changes reflected in the departure of vocalist and drummer. So Jon might have a little more comfort when the new lineup entered the studio to record the successor of their first album. The changes were not well received by the press, but Jon kept his position. He would not let some criticism of the new formation from the media would affect their plans for the band's second album.
Jon and the boys released Night of the Stormrider exactly 12 months after their first job. The album was met with immediate success, being a big step for the band. Also in the U.S. was better received than its predecessor, including reaching out to touch on some radio stations American metal. The disc also took the band to the Japanese market, where Angels Holocaust actually played regularly on local radio. "Night Of The Stormrider" received a score 92 (of 100) in the respected journal Burn! Magazine, Japan Night Of The Stormrider became the biggest selling album of the band, and remained at that post until being overtaken by hard Something Wicked This Way Comes, which was to be released later. But still retains its distinction as the biggest selling album of Iced Earth in Japan After the release of the album, the band returned to Europe where he toured once more to the side of Blind Guardian. This was another success, since the two bands had grown since the last tour and could offer much better performance paras their growing legions of fans. As one of the original bands of the Century Media Iced Earth gave a great contribution for the entire billing record. With the band continuing to grow, Jon realized that the band was not gaining the benefits of all your hard work. Actually, none of the money they earned the label with the band ended up in the pockets of the same. The band members had yet to make an effort to remain, even after two successful albums as a credit.The label also used the gains he had with the band to cover the negative impacts that they had created, because of wrong decisions in business. This does not seem fair to Jon and some changes should be made. The band literally came to a dilemma with his label, demanding that his contract be renegotiated before things were ahead.
There were also some challenges with training. Although the band thought he had found a great vocalist in John Greely, also found a very difficult person to deal with. Changes had to be made, where the band was able to bring Matthew Barlow to compose the team. While the band was going through this turmoil, Jon began writing for the third album from Iced Earth. Due to the problems mentioned above, Burnt Offerings was only released three years later, in April 1995. The hard times were reflected in the music and the result was an album as obscure as bitter.There was a high point in the process however, and this was the epic that closes the album, titled Dante's Inferno. Lasting over 16 minutes, this was a journey epic different from any other. It was full of twists, brilliant with changes in tempo, but smart fried riffs, melodies, frightening and full of soul, and a general atmosphere tremendous. The album had a regular reception in most countries. It was a small step forward for the band in the U.S., but did not major in any other place.
The band was now at a crossroads: The Iced Earth had seen both the good and the bad of the music world. As soon as Jon returned to his task of writing the next album, he had an idea that had great potential: Create an album based on the character of Todd McFarlane, Spawn, and his story. This was a great idea for several reasons. First, it offered a tremendous potential for the compositions, as Jon had a chance to cover the entire spectrum of human emotions within a complex story line. It would also give Jon a chance to create another concept album, creating a connection between all the songs linked to a single theme. And finally, the band would allow some opportunities for mutual benefit within the comics industry (where it is known the character "Spawn"). The Dark Saga was launched in June 1996, receiving excellent reviews from the beginning. The album had great success in Europe and re-established the band as the first step. The album also gave the band a chance to do a long tour, and they took advantage of every opportunity offered them. During the Summer Metal Meetings tour in 1996, the band was having an electrifying performance in Berlin. During one of the songs, while Jon was on stage, he felt a twinge in his neck. He continued to tour and continued to behave like a madman on stage, but it was obvious that something was wrong. When he returned to America, he discovered that he had damaged three vertebrae in his neck. This meant that Jon would face a tremendous pain in his performances until he finds time to do a corrective surgery. However, there was no time to waste. He wanted to sustain the momentary success of "The Dark Saga" and build its growing mass of fans. Iced Earth decided to go back and give his fans a new chance for them to meet the band's older material. They decided to get some tracks from their first three albums, as well as songs from the demo Enter the Realm, and re-record them with his improved training with Brent Smedley on drums, Jimmy MacDonough on bass and Matt Barlow on vocals. This was an ambitious project that resulted in the release of Days of Purgatory. A notable event during this period was the band's first opportunity to tour the U.S.. They received recognition through his work with "The Dark Saga" and were able to turn this into a mini tour in the Midwest U.S. in August 1997. Another change in the line could be seen on the horizon. Randy Shawver, lead guitarist, was beginning to lose their enthusiasm for the band and wanted to focus on other aspects of life. This was a mutual decision and necessary and guitarist left Iced Earth, causing the band to return to the search for a new guitarist. Through an audition process, the band joined Larry Tarnowski Chicago to their team, as a replacement for Randy.
Launched in June 1998, Something Wicked This Way Comes was a great success from the start. The highlight was the debut album in the top 20 best selling naAlemanha. This was a great achievement for the band and they fell straight on the road to promote the record. The tour started with some warm-up shows, before the appearance in the prestigious Dynamo Festival. The band would continue to play some festivals in Europe, including the Bang your Head (the festival organized by the German power metal magazine Heavy Oder Was?!, And a presentation, as headliners at the revered Wacken Open Air The band also made several U.S. tours, including the East and West Coast, as well as the Midwest of the country. The set also played the Milwaukee Metalfest, and for the first time, toured Canada. Overall, Something Wicked This Way Comes was a big step forward for the band and left them in a great position, continuing its ascent.
Jon thought it was time for a live album. Greece was chosen as the place to record the album, due to genuine affection and passion that the fans had for the Greek band. Jon had been surprised at the great reception the band received there, in previous tours. He also wanted to reward the fans of Greece with the honor of recording the album there and had a title befitting this fact. The band played two consecutive nights in Athens and recorded two full concerts as source material for the album. They played two sets on both nights diversified, and thus had a material with more than 30 songs at your disposal. The end result of this project was Alive in Athens, launched in June 1999. The album was available in several formats, such as a double CD in the U.S., a CD three times in Europe and Japan, a version fivefold LPs, and contained a large content of songs from the band's catalog, including Dante's Inferno, Travel in Stygian and Trilogy album Something Wicked This Way Comes in full. It was so successful that the album sold gold in Greece, which has not happened for a metal band since 1992, when Fear Of The Dark by Iron Maiden, won the honor. At this time, Jon decided to take some time for ICED EARTH and spent a couple of months working on a side project with Hansi Kürsch, leader of Blind Guardian, chamadoDemons & Wizards. This was a consequence of some compositions that Jon and Hansi had written some years before. His renowned partnership has resulted in an eponymous CD and a European tour, both were highly praised. One of the highlights of this tour was a tip as an opening act for Iron Maiden in 2000, the Gods of Metal, emMonza, Italy. The band was nominated for the Echo Award (equivalent to the Grammy) in Germany. With the success of "Demons & Wizards" already covered, the time was right to focus on Iced Earth again.Jon returned to the United States, made the necessary surgery for his neck and went on to compose. Again, he was full of ideas. With the progress of the compositions, he began to think of an album with the theme of horror films. The climate of horror was a key component in the image of Purgatory, in his past, and the characters of terror have always been an area of personal interest for Jon. The result of this effort was titled Horror Show, launched in June 2001. This album continued the band's time to rise, and gained even more success than its predecessor. He debuted at No. 1 in Greece and once again was among the 40 best-selling albums in Germany, Holland and other European countries. The band also did very well in the U.S. as part of lists of best selling albums of rock and independent music. That's when the band got its first mark on the Billboard. The band gained recognition for it, from the offerings to be the opening of prestigious touring band Judas Priest Megadeth Prieste. This was a great recognition for their years of hard work that Jon and the band had. Judas Priest's proposal came before, so they were committed to fulfill it. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 led to the cancellation of this, but Iced Earth came later to join Megadeth in the second part of his American tour.As the band prepared to tour with Megadeth, while they concluded the release of a tribute album, Tribute to the Gods and a box set, Dark Genesis that allowed a tribute to his influences with the tribute album as well as left the provision for the first time the original demo "Enter The Realm" on cd. Moreover we have the first three albums completely remixed and with new artwork, all thanks to the launch of the Dark Genesis box set, which means a return to roots for the band, it is a way to pay tribute to their influences, while simultaneously shows the older material of Iced Earth.After the release of Dark Genesis Box in 2002, the time to start thinking about Jon a new album of Iced Earth had arrived. Was imminent after the attacks of September 11 all band members were shocked at the situation. The fear of new terrorist attacks grew increasingly on American soil, and, for that matter, worldwide. Some months passed and the first news about the new album emerged, leading Jon to declare the band's official website that the album title would be The Glorious Burden. Jon also said that the album tell stories of American civil wars and other important dates of the North American country. As the compositions were gaining body, bad news struck the band: The output, without much explanation at the time, guitarist Larry Tarnowski. At the time it was said only that Larry was an excellent guitarist, who was very young and had a very promising future ahead, but the guitarist would spend a little more to study. In fact, the real reason was that Larry would like to attend more of the band's albums, while also helping with his own compositions, which did not come to fit the profile of Jon Schaffer for the new album. After this little problem, the band decided to go into the studio to begin recording the new album. Jon called Ralph Santolla, guitarist who had already played with the band Death, to a force in some soils of some songs. And everything went according to plan walking Jon ... However, Matthew Barlow, unlike the rest of the band, was not giving 100% of himself in the recordings of the album. After recording almost all the vocals for The Glorious Burden, Jon realized that Matthew does not broadcast its traditional "feeling" in the vocal recordings of the new album, and after the epic track called gravarem Gettysburg in 1863, divided into three tracks separately, Jon felt he could not release the album with vocals that Matthew had written. After all, the style that the singer had shown in all the other albums he recorded was not present. Worried, Jon decided to open the game and have a frank and serious conversation with the singer. A conversation that yielded one of the worst news that could give Iced Earth fans and the music world: Matthew Barlow was out of the band. Matthew just did not want to continue with the life he was having, and did not want to devote to music. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Matthew began to think about life and what could make useful both to himself and to his country. And Matthew realized that Heavy Metal, tours and records, was not the way he wanted to go.Matthew wanted to go back to school and graduate in Civil Law. Jon, who had already released a release date for the new album and closed a big show at Wacken Open Air 2003, he changed plans and canceled all appointments with the band for that year, causing thousands of fans kept even more sad . It was time to reflect on how it would be the band's future from now on, since they no longer had the charismatic singer, reference 10 of 10 fans.And arose again in the news media specialist, only this time officially, realizing that Rob Halford was to return to Judas Priest, and that conseqüentementeTim "Ripper" Owens was fired from the band. That's what happened, but in a professional, polite and friendly, both by hand and by the side of the singer of Judas Priest. After everything is official, Tim Owens gave some statements in the press talking about his departure from Judas Priest: He said he was grateful for the years he spent in Judas, probably the best of his life. And best of all was that the friendship between the members of Judas Priest would not be affected. I knew that Tim Owens would try a solo career, including his own compositions with some already completed. Jon, watching from a ringside seat, Tim called and offered him the job of lead singer of Iced Earth, leaving Tim happy and satisfied, but at the same time thoughtful because of all the uproar created after his departure from Judas Priest and also due to the birth of his son. But it did not take more than a week to return the call Tim Jon hoped that both accepting the invitation to officially be the new singer of Iced Earth. Already with the singer announced, the label decided to release a single for the band The Reckoning in November 2003, with four bands, to go kill the curiosity of fans who waited so eagerly for the return of the band with their new album, The Glorious Burden. The album pleases the fans and Owens goes on tour with the band. Shortly afterward, a low, drummer Richard Christy decides to dedicate his career as a comedian on the radio and was replaced by Bobby Jarzombek. For many it was like a dream to see Tim singing in Iced Earth, due to his incredible voice, but for others the "ghost" Matthew Barlow would always be wandering every hearing of the new album. In 2004 Iced Earth released a double compilation "The Blessed and the Damned", remastered with 23 tracks in all phases of the band's career.After nearly a decade, Jon Schaffer decided to develop the story for Something Wicked, the song divided into three parts which contained the classic Something Wicked This Way Comes. Thus, in 2007 the album is released Framing Armageddon, the first compound to the voice of Tim "Ripper" Owens, since Glrius The Burden was originally made to be sung by Matt Barlow.After exiting the Iced Earth, Barlow became a police officer in Georgetown. He also became the lead singer of First State Force Band, which was composed of police officers from various departments of the state of Delaware. The band is presented in schools as preaching ideals "say no to drugs", "stay away from violence" and "respect their parents, teachers, themselves and life." On April 13, 2007 Barlow returned to music full time as the lead singer of Danish band Pyramaze. Barlow accepted the offer because he could still practice their profession in the police. In December 2007 Jon Schaffer announced on the official website of the band's return to Matthew Barlow's vocal band and sing in The Crucible of ManOn September 5, 2008 is released the album The Crucible of Man, the last part of the Something Wicked trilogy.On August 6, 2011 vocalist Matthew Barlow performed his last show with the band in Germany, and announced that his departure was confirmed, to have more time with family. In his place, was recently chosen vocalist Stu Block.
The group's history began in 1985 when guitarist and leader Jon Schaffer (then 16) mounted to The Rose in the city of Indianapolis. The name did not work and was eventually changed to Purgatory. With Purgatory becoming more stable, the next natural step would be to start producing demos. They were very simple at first, but over time, become much more professional. The first demo was produced in 1985 in a 4-channel recorder and had the name "Burning Oasis". In late 1985, the band produced a demo with two songs, titled "Psychotic Dreams," the studio Morrisound. Then in early 1986, also came to demo three songs, "Horror Show". The band is the same one who prepared the cover of demos copied at Kinko's and for the inserts. They also bought blank tapes and demos they recorded on a tape recorder, which contained two decks to the tapes.Despite the Artillery band is pretty simple at this early stage, they were doing the best they could within their limited resources. This creative talent also shone in the band's live performances. The Purgatory climbed on stage with costumes and gave his fans a show killer, both visually and musically. This included a unique approach compared to music, and gave life to their compositions as real as possible, through their set list. Some examples of this set the stage included fireworks and explosions, simulating a trick bloodshed, masked mascots, etc. ..All this helped the band to distinguish itself from other artists on the scene in Tampa.
In early 1988 Jon found that there was already another band under the name Purgatory, who had just signed a record deal alternative, thus forcing to change the name of his band. He remembered his best friend in Indiana, who lost to a motorcycle accident, which repeatedly said that the two words, "Iced" and "Earth", have always formed an ideal name for a band, emerging the name Iced Earth.Jon felt comfortable enough with the band and with his abilities as a composer and musician, which led him to seek a contract with any label. Jon consulted some of his contacts to get some advice and learned that the best way to get what he wanted would be through a public awareness campaigns. The time was appropriate for a professional demo tape, which could be widely circulated. The band began recording Enter the Realm, the demo would make a contract they could, in January 1988, where the main focus was a high sound quality. This included the quality of the recording (the band used the studio Morrisound), a professional packaging, the price ($ 10 at the time) and an independent distribution. Manufactured in early 1989, gave a total of 1000 were produced, and used to promote 500. The other 500 were sold to fans. Jon worked with his contacts in the music industry to search for any address he could find, sending them demos. He went with a plastic bag full of demos to the post office and sent anywhere. The demo was sent out across North America, Europe and elsewhere.The massive promotion tactic worked, because the demo had a good impact on the European underground and began to receive rave reviews naAlemanha, Italy, Belgium, France, Greece and other countries. The response was particularly strong in Germany, where the demo was voted demo of the month in the respected magazine Rock Hard Magazine (who would later elect her as the demo of the year, in a later issue). It was becoming clear that the Iced Earth was a force to be commented on and was only a matter of time before a record label noticed her. The band negotiated with various labels and in June 1990 signed a contract with Century Media. Century Media has differentiated itself from others because of its look to the future and his desire to have a lasting relationship with the band.The main objective of Jon, he did leave the house until now had been reached when the Iced Earth got a contract with a label and the next chapter in the story could begin.
The next step would be to go into the studio and work on their debut album. The debut that bore the same name as the band was launched in November 1990 in Europe and in February 1991 in the United States. Jon traveled to Europe in November 1990 to promote the album and the band had already created a name right there. During the promotional tour, Jon had the chance to meet Hansi Kürsch, leader of the German band Blind Guardian. Jon and Hansi felt an instant chemistry and has outlined plans for their bands out on tour together after the album's release of Iced Earth. This became reality in February and March 1991 when it opened for Iced Earth Blind Guardian on their first European tour as "headliners" (main band). The first show of this tour was in Hamburg, Germany.When the band returned home after a triumphant tour, Jon was a great spirit. His creative vein was pulsating, making it the right time to return to the studio and work on creating the next Iced Earth. With the beginning of the compositions for the album, it became obvious that some changes should be made in the band.Jon was evolving as a composer, and some things the new material required skills and competence that the current lineup did not have. Therefore, the changes reflected in the departure of vocalist and drummer. So Jon might have a little more comfort when the new lineup entered the studio to record the successor of their first album. The changes were not well received by the press, but Jon kept his position. He would not let some criticism of the new formation from the media would affect their plans for the band's second album.
Jon and the boys released Night of the Stormrider exactly 12 months after their first job. The album was met with immediate success, being a big step for the band. Also in the U.S. was better received than its predecessor, including reaching out to touch on some radio stations American metal. The disc also took the band to the Japanese market, where Angels Holocaust actually played regularly on local radio. "Night Of The Stormrider" received a score 92 (of 100) in the respected journal Burn! Magazine, Japan Night Of The Stormrider became the biggest selling album of the band, and remained at that post until being overtaken by hard Something Wicked This Way Comes, which was to be released later. But still retains its distinction as the biggest selling album of Iced Earth in Japan After the release of the album, the band returned to Europe where he toured once more to the side of Blind Guardian. This was another success, since the two bands had grown since the last tour and could offer much better performance paras their growing legions of fans. As one of the original bands of the Century Media Iced Earth gave a great contribution for the entire billing record. With the band continuing to grow, Jon realized that the band was not gaining the benefits of all your hard work. Actually, none of the money they earned the label with the band ended up in the pockets of the same. The band members had yet to make an effort to remain, even after two successful albums as a credit.The label also used the gains he had with the band to cover the negative impacts that they had created, because of wrong decisions in business. This does not seem fair to Jon and some changes should be made. The band literally came to a dilemma with his label, demanding that his contract be renegotiated before things were ahead.
There were also some challenges with training. Although the band thought he had found a great vocalist in John Greely, also found a very difficult person to deal with. Changes had to be made, where the band was able to bring Matthew Barlow to compose the team. While the band was going through this turmoil, Jon began writing for the third album from Iced Earth. Due to the problems mentioned above, Burnt Offerings was only released three years later, in April 1995. The hard times were reflected in the music and the result was an album as obscure as bitter.There was a high point in the process however, and this was the epic that closes the album, titled Dante's Inferno. Lasting over 16 minutes, this was a journey epic different from any other. It was full of twists, brilliant with changes in tempo, but smart fried riffs, melodies, frightening and full of soul, and a general atmosphere tremendous. The album had a regular reception in most countries. It was a small step forward for the band in the U.S., but did not major in any other place.
The band was now at a crossroads: The Iced Earth had seen both the good and the bad of the music world. As soon as Jon returned to his task of writing the next album, he had an idea that had great potential: Create an album based on the character of Todd McFarlane, Spawn, and his story. This was a great idea for several reasons. First, it offered a tremendous potential for the compositions, as Jon had a chance to cover the entire spectrum of human emotions within a complex story line. It would also give Jon a chance to create another concept album, creating a connection between all the songs linked to a single theme. And finally, the band would allow some opportunities for mutual benefit within the comics industry (where it is known the character "Spawn"). The Dark Saga was launched in June 1996, receiving excellent reviews from the beginning. The album had great success in Europe and re-established the band as the first step. The album also gave the band a chance to do a long tour, and they took advantage of every opportunity offered them. During the Summer Metal Meetings tour in 1996, the band was having an electrifying performance in Berlin. During one of the songs, while Jon was on stage, he felt a twinge in his neck. He continued to tour and continued to behave like a madman on stage, but it was obvious that something was wrong. When he returned to America, he discovered that he had damaged three vertebrae in his neck. This meant that Jon would face a tremendous pain in his performances until he finds time to do a corrective surgery. However, there was no time to waste. He wanted to sustain the momentary success of "The Dark Saga" and build its growing mass of fans. Iced Earth decided to go back and give his fans a new chance for them to meet the band's older material. They decided to get some tracks from their first three albums, as well as songs from the demo Enter the Realm, and re-record them with his improved training with Brent Smedley on drums, Jimmy MacDonough on bass and Matt Barlow on vocals. This was an ambitious project that resulted in the release of Days of Purgatory. A notable event during this period was the band's first opportunity to tour the U.S.. They received recognition through his work with "The Dark Saga" and were able to turn this into a mini tour in the Midwest U.S. in August 1997. Another change in the line could be seen on the horizon. Randy Shawver, lead guitarist, was beginning to lose their enthusiasm for the band and wanted to focus on other aspects of life. This was a mutual decision and necessary and guitarist left Iced Earth, causing the band to return to the search for a new guitarist. Through an audition process, the band joined Larry Tarnowski Chicago to their team, as a replacement for Randy.
Launched in June 1998, Something Wicked This Way Comes was a great success from the start. The highlight was the debut album in the top 20 best selling naAlemanha. This was a great achievement for the band and they fell straight on the road to promote the record. The tour started with some warm-up shows, before the appearance in the prestigious Dynamo Festival. The band would continue to play some festivals in Europe, including the Bang your Head (the festival organized by the German power metal magazine Heavy Oder Was?!, And a presentation, as headliners at the revered Wacken Open Air The band also made several U.S. tours, including the East and West Coast, as well as the Midwest of the country. The set also played the Milwaukee Metalfest, and for the first time, toured Canada. Overall, Something Wicked This Way Comes was a big step forward for the band and left them in a great position, continuing its ascent.
Jon thought it was time for a live album. Greece was chosen as the place to record the album, due to genuine affection and passion that the fans had for the Greek band. Jon had been surprised at the great reception the band received there, in previous tours. He also wanted to reward the fans of Greece with the honor of recording the album there and had a title befitting this fact. The band played two consecutive nights in Athens and recorded two full concerts as source material for the album. They played two sets on both nights diversified, and thus had a material with more than 30 songs at your disposal. The end result of this project was Alive in Athens, launched in June 1999. The album was available in several formats, such as a double CD in the U.S., a CD three times in Europe and Japan, a version fivefold LPs, and contained a large content of songs from the band's catalog, including Dante's Inferno, Travel in Stygian and Trilogy album Something Wicked This Way Comes in full. It was so successful that the album sold gold in Greece, which has not happened for a metal band since 1992, when Fear Of The Dark by Iron Maiden, won the honor. At this time, Jon decided to take some time for ICED EARTH and spent a couple of months working on a side project with Hansi Kürsch, leader of Blind Guardian, chamadoDemons & Wizards. This was a consequence of some compositions that Jon and Hansi had written some years before. His renowned partnership has resulted in an eponymous CD and a European tour, both were highly praised. One of the highlights of this tour was a tip as an opening act for Iron Maiden in 2000, the Gods of Metal, emMonza, Italy. The band was nominated for the Echo Award (equivalent to the Grammy) in Germany. With the success of "Demons & Wizards" already covered, the time was right to focus on Iced Earth again.Jon returned to the United States, made the necessary surgery for his neck and went on to compose. Again, he was full of ideas. With the progress of the compositions, he began to think of an album with the theme of horror films. The climate of horror was a key component in the image of Purgatory, in his past, and the characters of terror have always been an area of personal interest for Jon. The result of this effort was titled Horror Show, launched in June 2001. This album continued the band's time to rise, and gained even more success than its predecessor. He debuted at No. 1 in Greece and once again was among the 40 best-selling albums in Germany, Holland and other European countries. The band also did very well in the U.S. as part of lists of best selling albums of rock and independent music. That's when the band got its first mark on the Billboard. The band gained recognition for it, from the offerings to be the opening of prestigious touring band Judas Priest Megadeth Prieste. This was a great recognition for their years of hard work that Jon and the band had. Judas Priest's proposal came before, so they were committed to fulfill it. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 led to the cancellation of this, but Iced Earth came later to join Megadeth in the second part of his American tour.As the band prepared to tour with Megadeth, while they concluded the release of a tribute album, Tribute to the Gods and a box set, Dark Genesis that allowed a tribute to his influences with the tribute album as well as left the provision for the first time the original demo "Enter The Realm" on cd. Moreover we have the first three albums completely remixed and with new artwork, all thanks to the launch of the Dark Genesis box set, which means a return to roots for the band, it is a way to pay tribute to their influences, while simultaneously shows the older material of Iced Earth.After the release of Dark Genesis Box in 2002, the time to start thinking about Jon a new album of Iced Earth had arrived. Was imminent after the attacks of September 11 all band members were shocked at the situation. The fear of new terrorist attacks grew increasingly on American soil, and, for that matter, worldwide. Some months passed and the first news about the new album emerged, leading Jon to declare the band's official website that the album title would be The Glorious Burden. Jon also said that the album tell stories of American civil wars and other important dates of the North American country. As the compositions were gaining body, bad news struck the band: The output, without much explanation at the time, guitarist Larry Tarnowski. At the time it was said only that Larry was an excellent guitarist, who was very young and had a very promising future ahead, but the guitarist would spend a little more to study. In fact, the real reason was that Larry would like to attend more of the band's albums, while also helping with his own compositions, which did not come to fit the profile of Jon Schaffer for the new album. After this little problem, the band decided to go into the studio to begin recording the new album. Jon called Ralph Santolla, guitarist who had already played with the band Death, to a force in some soils of some songs. And everything went according to plan walking Jon ... However, Matthew Barlow, unlike the rest of the band, was not giving 100% of himself in the recordings of the album. After recording almost all the vocals for The Glorious Burden, Jon realized that Matthew does not broadcast its traditional "feeling" in the vocal recordings of the new album, and after the epic track called gravarem Gettysburg in 1863, divided into three tracks separately, Jon felt he could not release the album with vocals that Matthew had written. After all, the style that the singer had shown in all the other albums he recorded was not present. Worried, Jon decided to open the game and have a frank and serious conversation with the singer. A conversation that yielded one of the worst news that could give Iced Earth fans and the music world: Matthew Barlow was out of the band. Matthew just did not want to continue with the life he was having, and did not want to devote to music. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Matthew began to think about life and what could make useful both to himself and to his country. And Matthew realized that Heavy Metal, tours and records, was not the way he wanted to go.Matthew wanted to go back to school and graduate in Civil Law. Jon, who had already released a release date for the new album and closed a big show at Wacken Open Air 2003, he changed plans and canceled all appointments with the band for that year, causing thousands of fans kept even more sad . It was time to reflect on how it would be the band's future from now on, since they no longer had the charismatic singer, reference 10 of 10 fans.And arose again in the news media specialist, only this time officially, realizing that Rob Halford was to return to Judas Priest, and that conseqüentementeTim "Ripper" Owens was fired from the band. That's what happened, but in a professional, polite and friendly, both by hand and by the side of the singer of Judas Priest. After everything is official, Tim Owens gave some statements in the press talking about his departure from Judas Priest: He said he was grateful for the years he spent in Judas, probably the best of his life. And best of all was that the friendship between the members of Judas Priest would not be affected. I knew that Tim Owens would try a solo career, including his own compositions with some already completed. Jon, watching from a ringside seat, Tim called and offered him the job of lead singer of Iced Earth, leaving Tim happy and satisfied, but at the same time thoughtful because of all the uproar created after his departure from Judas Priest and also due to the birth of his son. But it did not take more than a week to return the call Tim Jon hoped that both accepting the invitation to officially be the new singer of Iced Earth. Already with the singer announced, the label decided to release a single for the band The Reckoning in November 2003, with four bands, to go kill the curiosity of fans who waited so eagerly for the return of the band with their new album, The Glorious Burden. The album pleases the fans and Owens goes on tour with the band. Shortly afterward, a low, drummer Richard Christy decides to dedicate his career as a comedian on the radio and was replaced by Bobby Jarzombek. For many it was like a dream to see Tim singing in Iced Earth, due to his incredible voice, but for others the "ghost" Matthew Barlow would always be wandering every hearing of the new album. In 2004 Iced Earth released a double compilation "The Blessed and the Damned", remastered with 23 tracks in all phases of the band's career.After nearly a decade, Jon Schaffer decided to develop the story for Something Wicked, the song divided into three parts which contained the classic Something Wicked This Way Comes. Thus, in 2007 the album is released Framing Armageddon, the first compound to the voice of Tim "Ripper" Owens, since Glrius The Burden was originally made to be sung by Matt Barlow.After exiting the Iced Earth, Barlow became a police officer in Georgetown. He also became the lead singer of First State Force Band, which was composed of police officers from various departments of the state of Delaware. The band is presented in schools as preaching ideals "say no to drugs", "stay away from violence" and "respect their parents, teachers, themselves and life." On April 13, 2007 Barlow returned to music full time as the lead singer of Danish band Pyramaze. Barlow accepted the offer because he could still practice their profession in the police. In December 2007 Jon Schaffer announced on the official website of the band's return to Matthew Barlow's vocal band and sing in The Crucible of ManOn September 5, 2008 is released the album The Crucible of Man, the last part of the Something Wicked trilogy.On August 6, 2011 vocalist Matthew Barlow performed his last show with the band in Germany, and announced that his departure was confirmed, to have more time with family. In his place, was recently chosen vocalist Stu Block.
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