The Crucible of Man (Something Wicked - Part 2)

I was hesitant to even touch “The Crucible Of Man” because of the obnoxious hype surrounding it. Regardless of what side of the fence an Iced Earth fan might fall into (I’m more of an early era kind of guy), most of the attention that they received was due to the long run that Schaeffer and Barlow had together, particularly since “The Dark Saga”. The announcement of Barlow’s return was certain to leave an inaccurate impression of how the album would be in the critical field because of how polarizing his work with the band tends to be, but ironically, the generic middle ground medium assessment of the album that came out of fanatics and naysayers canceling each other out is the accurate picture that is painted insofar as the music is concerned.

This is an album that gets from point A to point B completely by going through the motions, riding off the coattails of Schaeffer’s signature riff set and Barlow’s melodramatic vocalizations. Even at its weakest, it works simply by virtue of the foundation that has already been laid on previous albums, both weak and strong, but it falls short whenever it comes into comparison with better works. It essentially comes off as a watered down rehash of its predecessor “Framing Armageddon” where the charm of a heavy mixture of instrumental ambient interludes, acoustic ditties and segues complemented a decent set of power/thrash songs that looked back more than forward. Most of the interludes/segues have been jettisoned, and along with it a fair amount of the power and focus that made several songs such as “Ten Thousand Strong” and “A Charge To Keep” great in spite of their simplicity.

Naturally there are some standout moments on here that showcase a brief gleam of a rekindled flame, but even these fall a bit short of the stripped down, predictable, almost “Black Album” oriented character of “The Dark Saga”. After a somewhat more operatic prelude that reminds of sections of the 3 part series that closed off “Something Wicked This Way Comes”, in comes one of only 2 truly fast and energetic songs in “Behold The Wicked Child”, which is solid for a really tamed and heavily pruned version of what dominated almost all of “Burnt Offerings”. Barlow’s vocals are the chief draw here, as the riff work doesn’t venture much beyond a safe box of post-NWOBHM repetitive simplicity. “Divide And Devour” rounds out the 2 significant ventures outside of mid-paced land, and is more driving, but still pretty repetitive. The chorus actually sounds like something that could have been put together by Blind Guardian, and Barlow even seems to be trying to invoke that gravely shout that Hansi regularly employs.

Unfortunately, the basic rule for this album is to keep it basic and keep it safe. It’s not too much of a stretch to assert that this album sounds rushed, since in addition to being pushed out a mere year after the first part of the series, it feels like it could have been written in a very short time using the previous album as a template. The featured single “I Walk Alone” is indicative of several slower, derivative metal anthems that are easy to recognize, but unfortunately not easy to distinguish amidst a crowded field of Iced Earth songs that aren’t ballads or don’t gallop like crazy. Even the signature ballad “A Gift Of A Curse”, apart from featuring Schaeffer doing lead vocals and doing a standout job at it, could be exchanged for a number of previous ballads, though it is less pop/rock sounding than “Watching Over Me” and isn’t as drawn out as “The Clouding”.

The final word in this stalled comeback attempt is halfhearted, almost in the mold of the last charge in a longstanding war of attrition. It’s not that Schaeffer or Barlow have lost their respective edges, but more that the magic of their musical collaboration is gone. Let’s face it, when a newcomer band like “Pyramaze” or a politically based side project comes out better than the principle attraction, it’s time to give it a rest and move on. I say this with no particularly passionate attachment to Iced Earth as it is or was, but more as an assessment of an album that could have, would have, and definitely should have been better than this. This is something that can be rescued from a bargain bin, but not something to lose sleep over being without.