The Glorious Burden

A parody of this album cover was used on the Flattened Earth The Glorious LARP single, which had lyrics based around the fact that Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer was among the pro-Trump terrorist mob that stormed the US Capitol Building on January 6th, 2021, in a failed attempt to stop the certification of president-elect Joe Biden, leaving some dead, many injured, and countless traumatized.

In interviews at the time of release, responding to fans who were turned off by the lyrical content of this album, Schaffer said it was "their problem".

North American release date: January 13th, 2004
European release date: January 12th, 2004

Tracks 10 to 12 construct the suite "Gettysburg (1863)".

Unlike most Iced Earth albums, "The Glorious Burden" features no fantasy or mythology-based lyrics, and the songs are mostly based on military history. The album was written as a response to the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001, which are directly addressed in "When the Eagle Cries". Matt Barlow recorded the original lead vocal tracks, but when he left the band to become a police officer (inspired by the events of 9/11) the album release was delayed until his parts were replaced by Tim Owens. Barlow's original backing vocals can still be heard on the album.

Because of the album's extremely patriotic American themes, some tracks weren't added to versions released in certain countries. "The Star-Spangled Banner" was removed from the German release, and was replaced with "Green Face".

Recording information:

Recorded at Schaffer Sound aka "The Dungeon".
Drums recorded at Morrisound, Tampa, Florida, USA.
Mixed at Morrisound in late July, 2003.

Identifiers:

Barcode: 693723749723