I shouldn't take any delight in saying such things, but I find it hilarious that Matt Barlow left Iced Earth (one of the times) to be a police officer, while Jon Schaffer is likely to spend a considerable amount of time in jail for brainwashing himself with his ultra-patriotism. It's safe to say opinions have shifted, and everyone who has been kicked out of Iced Earth at one point or another looks a whole lot better for not being able to get along with Mr Sedition. That doesn't make me like their music more than I did or didn't, but they come off better as people.
Matt Barlow hasn't done anything I've found interesting outside of Iced Earth, which includes the first two Angels Of Ares albums. It's traditional heavy metal, which isn't terribly interesting in and of itself, but the execution has left much to be desired. That hasn't changed with this third album.
The first thing I couldn't help but avoid is the actual sound of the record. The mix is odd, with the vocals so far back at times Barlow is barely audible. He is the selling point of the band, and yet for much of "I Am The Night", I can barely tell whether he's singing or not. Maybe that was a nod to reality, as when his voice is more present, it's also clear he isn't in his vintage form. His vocals are more gruff than ever, often sounding strained to the point I wonder if he was in pain when recording some of these songs. His tone never resonated with me the way it did so many other people, but he doesn't even sound like himself anymore.
The guitars don't sound good either. They are a bit muddy, or perhaps it's the entire production that is, so it sounds like we're listening to the music through a foggy haze. Then there's how some of the lead guitar, especially in "Our Last Sunrise", sounds out of tune with the rhythm track. All of this combined means the record sounds rather amateurish, if I'm being honest.
The big selling point for this record is the eleven minute closer, which sees Barlow sharing vocals with his former replacement, Ripper Owens. It's good to see the two of them have no bad blood after perhaps the oddest singer switch in history, when Schaffer replaced Ripper in between the two records of a conceptual pair. Now that they get to make their own epic statement, it's revealed they have nothing to say. So much echo was slapped on Ripper's voice, I couldn't even understand a word he was singing, but the bits I picked from Barlow's performance leads me to think it's a song about getting piss drunk and then acting like a monster. Lovely. I didn't know they were going to sing about the making of this album. I kid...... not really.
This is one of those albums where the commercial aspect of the music business comes to the forefront. This album is being released because Matt Barlow is enough of a name, and has enough fans still, that there's money to be made selling some copies. On an artistic level, this record probably shouldn't be released as it is. The songs aren't very good, the performances are worse, and the production is terrible. If these were the pre-production demos, I would think they need considerable work to be turned into a solid album. As the finished product, I'm shaking my head and wondering how this was considered good enough.
The bottom line is this; "Emperors And Fools" is a strong early contender to wind up one of the worst albums of the year. It fails on every level, and can't even rub its success in Jon Schaffer's face. I won't be cruel and say it's a competition between the two as to who embarrassed themselves more, but the fact that the joke came to mind at all says everything.
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