Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked - Part 1)

Iced Earth is my favorite band by far, so if this review seems somewhat biased then that's why. I have yet to be disappointed by this band, yes I even loved The Glorious Burden very much, and with another installment to their long catalogue Framing Armageddon continues the legacy. Yes I recognize that we will never get another Night of the Stormrider or even another Horror Show, but instead we have a new reformed Iced Earth spearheaded by the amazingly talented shrieker Tim Owens. Axeman and owner of Iced Earth, Jon Schaffer continues to do whatever he wants and fuck the trends and all that nonsense - he does what makes him happy and what he thinks is right for the music - and for that I truly respect him.

Framing Armageddon is definitly not a horrible album but also not a great album. It is probably their weakest offering to date not quite on par with the rest of their work. This is somewhat of a concept album I'm sure everyone knows the story of the Something Wicked storyline etc, so I won't go into huge detail but I have thoroughly enjoyed Something Wicked This Way Comes history and lyrics involved so a continuation is quite a pleasure.

The guitar tone that is set on this album is the same found on The Glorious Burden and with Master Schaffer handling all the guitar work other than solos, it's done with an expertise crafted and honed over many years of playing. It's quite a pleasure to hear all the fast and speedy riffs on here despite not being that abundant. Riffs found on songs like Something Wicked Part 1, Infiltrate and Assimilate, Setian Massacre, Ten Thousand Strong, and the title song is exactly what I like to hear nowadays from Master Schaffer. All the upbeat songs on here are the highlights, all excel with flying colors even some being some of the best work Master Schaffer has pulled off in many years. But also there are some lacking efforts, found in the midtempo rockers. While I enjoy those songs like A Charge To Keep with its driving main riff interlaced with Ripper's semi-melancholic howling combined with that even more sad chorus, it seems that the album has TOO many slower songs, something people complained about with Something Wicked This Way Comes.

While I personally think most of the time the songs are crafted with grace, some like When Stars Collide (Born Is He) seems to do well for the most part but stray off and start to get boring. The highlights, when they hit, hit with a big impact. The furious riffing and drumming that beholds itself in Infiltrate and Assimilate will surely have you headbanging and singing along like you should be with a catchy chorus like that. While on catchy choruses, Ten Thousand Strong wins the title of catchiest on this album. Everyone remembers it from the Overture of the Wicked EP and now we can relive it while fully put in the atmosphere of Framing Armageddon and it's a definite win. The title track is another song that roughs up your neck at breakneck speeds, especially the very ending when Ripper lives up to his reputation and fucking banshee yells your ears to bleeding point at the highest point he's done on this album. If you don't headbang to this, you don't deserve to have your neck, USE IT!

Other complaints I've found with on this album is with length, it doesn't use up most of the time with all full length songs. Many interlude type songs plague this album, mostly completly unnecessary, only one has an impact that I enjoyed; Something Wicked Part II. The whole Egyptian apocolyptic feel that it gives me sends shivers down my spine with those drums and acoustic strumming. It seems with Framing Armageddon, Master Schaffer tried to create an 'epic masterpiece' that doesn't really live up to that whole concept. It surely has it's epic moments that fill in the mood of the whole album but as a masterpiece, it falls short. But there is a depressive melancholic feel that is derived from listening to many songs, especially the interludes like The Awakening with it's female chanting, or Motivation of Man with the semi war chant type feel and Ripper once again gloomily wailing about events out of our hands and humanity's fight against evil.

To sum up, Framing Armageddon is a worthy album to my collection, it falls short of expectations most fans had, but while I think Iced Earth can do no wrong they certainly can do better. I find the highpoints to outweigh the lower points, with a higher amount of the actual songs being very entertaining with the lower moments such as the sometimes semi-tired riffs, lack of solos and annoying interludes to be more of nitpicking than real concerns. Framing Armageddon creates an almost visual atmosphere when listened to as a whole, the aura that is captured is almost chilling with an 'end of the world' type resullt feeling. I can see this getting a lot of flack but for the most part it isn't deserved it's a decent album in it's own right. Horns to Master Schaffer!