Night of the Stormrider

Iced Earth stands as one of the most wronged bands when it comes to commercial success. The blend of power and thrash metal was something that was tried before—think Blind Guardian on “Follow The Blind”—but it never really reached the peak it should have had, since power metal and thrash metal influences were more akin to two fighters duking it out over the trophy rather than combining their efforts—which is a shame, as they are for all intents and purposes, quite closely related. Iced Earth managed to do it laughably easy on the self-titled debut and then further improve it on this record. And here is where the true shame lies. If these two albums were released maybe two or three years earlier, when metal still had some commercial viability, Iced Earth could have taken a piece of the pie—something that unfortunately didn't happen. However, even if they were wronged commercially, those who discovered the band had quite a treat for themselves, as pretty much most of Iced Earth's discography is worth checking out—particularly their 90s material, where in the USA they were the only form of resistance to the short-lived wave of grunge, and later on against the late-90s wasteland of nu metal and alternative rock. One listen to “Night Of The Stormrider” and it is very easy to understand why. It’s Iced Earth’s first Mt. Everest-like peak as a band—for some, their highest peak—but fortunately, it would not be the only one.

The album is a concept album. Now, unlike W.A.S.P.’s “Crimson Idol” the album doesn’t use leitmotifs, nor does it have balladry going on it. However, it does have two acoustic interludes—namely “Before The Vision” and “Reaching The End”—which puts it closer to Blind Guardian’s third in a row masterpiece, “Nightfall In Middle Earth” but unlike that album, the operatic influences are not there, instead opting for vicious high screams and occasional wail delivered convincingly by John Greely, particularly on “Pure Evil” and “Desert Rain”. Neither is there an overwhelming presence of keyboards, bar for an occasional atmospheric touch, like on the chorus of “Travel In Stygian”. As for what the concept is, it’s about a man who—after witnessing way too much religious hypocrisy in his life—gives himself up to forces of darkness who deemed him their chosen one—and just like the God Hand in Berserk, their plans are definitely nothing good. And just like the guy everybody hates from said manga, the forces of darkness elevate him as a mighty being named Stormrider, who proceeds to destroy all life on Earth. Unlike the guy everybody hates from said manga, Stormrider gets no final reward of ascending—instead forces of darkness tell him he outlived his purpose, and damn him eternally to Hell, where after descending he realizes that maybe not all sins are forgivable.

Why did I spend all of this time explaining the story of the album, especially considering this is the album review—aka the review of music written? Well, simple. What is the tone of the story I just summarized? Is it light and cheery? Is it upbeat and comforting? Hell no! Is it dark, brooding and even moody at times? Oh you can bet it is—and this is where the dark and foreboding riffage from the iron hand of Jon Schaffer comes into play. An album—whether be it concept or not—lives or dies by its riffs and Schaffer here masterfully takes cues from Metallica’s thrash riffs from “Ride The Lightning” and infuses them with ungodly amount of triplets. And by lord, how his hand does not fall off is beyond me. Look no further than the album’s opener “Angels Holocaust” or “The Path I Choose” to see what I mean. But even if this is a primarily riff-orietned album, there’s been still more than a second thought given to lead melodies. While they are not as prominent as the monstrous and dark riffage, when they do appear, they give so much fresh air to what would have been a very oppressive album. “Pure Evil” would not be the Iced Earth classic that it is without that chill inducing opening lead melody. The other example of occasional but great lead would be “Mystical End” which is the closest this album gets to traditionally catchy—and this term is very much relative.

I mostly avoided talking about the elephant in the room. If you listened to this album in full, you’ll know Schaffer saved the best for last. If you didn’t, just know that “Travel In Stygian” is a song that alone makes this album worth having. It’s a dark thrash/power metal epic—but not evil sounding. It serves as the climax of the story, as Stormrider is damned and descends into Hell, in a boat floating down the river Styx—and again Schaffer perfectly captures the hot winds of hell with the dark and ominous riffage while Greely captures the fear, panic, desperation and resignation of the album’s main character as he realizes he was in the end just a pawn for greater powers. To further on Greely, while Barlow was—and still is—my favorite Iced Earth vocalist, along with Tim “Ripper” Owens, I don’t think either of these two could have captured the drama and feel of the album as well as Greely did. Sure, both of them are better on a technical level, but Greely is the one with viciousness in his voice and desperation in his wails, as you will hear on “Travel In Stygian”.

While drumming and the bass do take a bit of a backseat, the double kick pedal and fills are quite interesting once you listen to the album multiple times, especially when the tempos change. Cymbals, snare and other stuff are not too sharp nor too loud. Basically the drums are fine tuned to exactly where they need to be. Same can be said for the bass. While it serves as the bedrock and padding for the sound, it’s played to utmost competence so I have no complaints there either.

Now, I know you’re wondering if you should get this or not—the answer is undoubtedly a firm yes. It’s a classic in both power metal and thrash metal genres. And if you want to see how to properly combine two styles, look no further than “Night Of The Stormrider”.