Plagues of Babylon

Plagues of Babylon is the eleventh studio album by American heavy metal band Iced Earth. Released in January 2014, the album is the group's first studio release with bassist Luke Appleton and the only with drummer Raphael Saini, who was a guest on the album.[1] According to rhythm guitarist and band leader Jon Schaffer, half of the album is focused on his "Something Wicked" concept, while the other half are stand alone songs.[1]

Plagues of Babylon
Studio album by
Iced Earth
ReleasedJanuary 6, 2014
RecordedJuly 15 – August 8, 2013
StudioPrincipal Studios, Senden, Germany
GenreHeavy metal, power metal
Length62:03
LabelCentury Media
ProducerJon Schaffer
Iced Earth chronology
Live in Ancient Kourion
(2013)		 Plagues of Babylon
(2014)		 Incorruptible
(2017)

Overview

The album was originally set to be released in October 2013, but was pushed back due to Iced Earth's tour commitments in the fall.[1] The band began recording in Germany on July 15, 2013 at Principal Studios.[1][2] On August 8, 2013, it was announced that the band had completed tracking the album.[3] On September 3, the band announced they had completed mixing and mastering Plagues of Babylon.[4] On September 25, the official track listing and album cover were released.[5]

On October 7, Iced Earth announced that would be releasing a limited edition vinyl EP entitled The Plagues.[6] The EP will contain three songs from Plagues of Babylon, and will be made available on Iced Earth's European tour with Volbeat.[6] On October 11, the lyric video for the album's title track was released.[7]

The December 2013 issue of Germany's Metal Hammer magazine featured the song "Peacemaker" on the attached CD[8] and the December 2013 issue of Germany's RockHard magazine featured the song "Among the Living Dead" on the attached CD.[9] A song titled "Spirit of the Times" was originally released by Schaffer's side project Sons of Liberty, and was re-recorded for this album's release. The song "Highwayman" is a cover originally written by Jimmy Webb.

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Metal-Temple.com[10]
Loudwire[11]
metal.de[12]
Metal-Hammer(5/7)[13]
Stormbringer[14]
Revolver Magazine[15]
Allmusic[16]
Metal Storm(7.4/10)[17]
About.com[18]
Blabbermouth.net(7.5/10)[19]
Powermetal.de[20]

Plagues of Babylon received mostly positive reviews overall from music critics. In January 2014, the album reached position No. 5 on the German Media Control Charts. This is the band's highest chart position in their entire career.[21][22] The band also reached No. 34 on the Ultratop Charts in Belgium.[23] Meanwhile, in the US, the album sold approximately 6,300 copies in its first week to debut at No. 49 on the Billboard 200.[24]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Plagues of Babylon"Jon Schaffer7:47
2."Democide"Schaffer, Stu Block5:22
3."The Culling"Schaffer, Troy Seele, Block4:26
4."Among the Living Dead"Schaffer, Seele, Block5:14
5."Resistance"Schaffer, Seele, Luke Appleton, Block4:59
6."The End?"Schaffer, Appleton, Block7:13
7."If I Could See You"Schaffer3:55
8."Cthulhu"Schaffer, Block6:04
9."Peacemaker"Schaffer, Block5:02
10."Parasite"Schaffer, Seele, Block3:30
11."Spirit of the Times" (Sons of Liberty cover)Schaffer5:05
12."Highwayman" (Jimmy Webb cover)Jimmy Webb3:12
13."Outro" (unlisted) 0:24
Total length:1:02:13

Personnel

Iced Earth

  • Stu Block – lead vocals, backing vocals
  • Jon Schaffer – rhythm & lead guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Highwayman"
  • Troy Seele – lead guitar
  • Luke Appleton – bass

Additional musicians

  • Raphael Saini – drums
  • Michael Poulsen – lead and backing vocals on "Highwayman"
  • Russell Allen – lead and backing vocals on "Highwayman"
  • Hansi Kürsch – lead vocals on "Among the Living Dead", backing vocals
  • Thomas Hackmann – backing vocals
  • Andrew Peters – backing vocals
  • Matt O'Rourke – backing vocals
  • Bonna Ross Bernal – backing vocals
  • Daniel Schmitz – marching drums
  • David Hambach – marching drums
  • Christopher Jobi – marching drums

Production and design

gollark: That's poorly defined.
gollark: Well, if you get immortal enough, you might be around then.
gollark: The entropy issue is, as far as I know, entirely intractable with current physics knowledge.
gollark: Hardly. By then humans will either be spread out enough to not care or dead.
gollark: It probably doesn't have enough usable... harnessable energy or something... to run forever, but there being none left is one of those problems which won't be a problem for incomprehensibly large amounts of time when humans will be very different anyway.

References
  1. "ICED EARTH To Enter Studio on Monday". Blabbermouth.net. 2013-07-13. Retrieved 2013-07-13.
  2. "ICED EARTH To Record New Album in Germany". Blabbermouth.net. 2013-05-27. Retrieved 2013-07-13.
  3. "ICED EARTH Completes Recording New Album". Blabbermouth.net. 2013-08-08. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  4. "ICED EARTH Completes Mixing And Mastering New Album". Blabbermouth.net. 2013-09-03. Retrieved 2013-09-26.
  5. "'Plagues of Babylon' Cover Artwork, Track Listing Revealed". Blabbermouth.net. 2013-09-25. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  6. "ICED EARTH To Release Limited-Edition 'The Plagues' Vinyl EP". Blabbermouth.net. 2013-10-09. Retrieved 2013-10-12.
  7. "ICED EARTH: Lyric Video For 'Plagues Of Babylon' Title Track". Blabbermouth.net. 2013-10-11. Retrieved 2013-10-12.
  8. "Dezember Heft 2013". Metal Hammer. 2013-12-01. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  9. "RH No. 319". RockHard. 2013-12-01. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  10. "Iced Earth – Plagues of Babylon". metal-temple.com.
  11. "Iced Earth, 'Plagues of Babylon' – Album Review". Loudwire.
  12. Michael Stalling. "Iced Earth". Metal.de.
  13. "Iced Earth :: Plagues of Babylon". Metal Hammer.
  14. Dragonslayer. "ICED EARTH – Plagues of Babylon – Review bei Stormbringer.at". stormbringer.at.
  15. "Review: Iced Earth — Plagues of Babylon". Revolver.
  16. Gregory Heaney. "Plagues of Babylon". AllMusic.
  17. "Iced Earth – Plagues of Babylon review – Metal Storm". metalstorm.net.
  18. "Iced Earth – Plagues of Babylon Review". About.com Entertainment.
  19. Horn, Jr., Ray Van. "CD Reviews – Plagues of Babylon Iced Earth – Blabbermouth.net". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 2014-03-21.
  20. "Iced Earth | Plagues of Babylon Review – Powermetal.de". Powermetal.de. 2014-01-03. Retrieved 2014-12-28.
  21. Fayyazi, Mohsen. "ICED EARTH: Highest Chart Entry Of Band's Entire Career: #5 On German Media Control Charts". metalshockfinland.com. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  22. "Iced Earth, Plagues of Babylon". German Media Control Charts. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  23. "Iced Earth – Plagues of Babylon". Ultratop.be. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  24. "ICED EARTH's 'Plagues of Babylon' Cracks U.S. Top 50". Retrieved 30 January 2014.
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