I Walk Among You

As the sacred flames burn bright, a red-headed figure slowly emerges with a signature suffix that screams of Iced Earth: Matt Barlow. Yes my children, everyone’s favorite vocalist has finally budded into John Schaffer’s ribs once again, forging “I Walk Among You” as result; however, their reunion can be quite rocky at times. Three tunes – including Barlow’s returning piece entitled “I Walk Alone” and two re-recordings – make up this single, and only one stab comes out alive, ironically being the first preview of the final record in Schaffer’s “Something Wicked” saga. Needless to say, nobody gives a shit about two songs receiving an unneeded makeover, and nobody will find them enjoyable either; fans only want to hear “I Walk Alone,” minus extra fluff. Too bad they didn’t get the memo.

Being the only thing actually worth of anyone’s time, “I Walk Alone” is simply a classic amongst Iced Earth’s varied catalog as it properly welcomes Barlow back to his native faction without skipping anything essential. Beginning with roaring distortion, this nifty rocker soon ejaculates prime riffing in the vein of “Framing Armageddon,” as seen by its minimal technicality, yet mass power on both emotional and philosophical levels, that is. Vocally, Barlow sounds just as good when he originally entered Iced Earth ages ago; those powerful bells still ring gleefully, while his demonic growls feast eternally, just like they should. To summarize, it has an emotional feel rebounding from “The Dark Saga” while tapping the effective instrumentation of “Framing Armageddon” at an impressive altitude. That’s what the doctor ordered!

Although prevailing at first, “I Walk Among You” begins to drastically decline after that tasty slab of beefy greatness from a dreadful experiment gone wrong: Barlow’s vocal performances on “The Clouding” and “Setian Massacre,” which previously appeared on 2007’s “Framing Armageddon.” With nothing changed musically, Barlow is stuck performing Tim Owens’ vocal lines at identical melodies and tones, leaving this spellbinding singer stranded on a helpless land he was not meant to ever see; there’s simply no changes, and that truthfully damaged his recent adaptations. Thing is, Ripper and Barlow are very different, and re-recording like so can only work when vocal textures are rewritten (like Ripper’s successful version of “Something Wicked This Way Comes”) to fit the appropriate vocalist, but Schaffer must have canned the idea for whatever reason. Then again, it’s only a single trying to divide your wallet and devour your cash. Set Abominae works in mysterious ways, I suppose.

Overall, I’m not very fond of “I Walk Among You,” as it really could’ve been on par with “Overture of The Wicked” when comparing singles or other re-recordings, yet just isn’t. However, Barlow’s rebirth track is the only purpose behind this release, so it’s not like those other tunes really matter that much anyway; they’re basically identical minus a singer transfer, thus making it pretty purposeless on many levels. I guess it’s worth time and money if you collect everything Iced Earth heaves forward, but this rabid fan can only recommend hearing “I Walk Alone” elsewhere and avoid those dreadful re-recordings.

This review was written for: www.leviatan-magazine.com