Live Review: Iced Earth, Lord

With Earth, Wind & Fire playing across the road at the much larger Hordern Pavilion, you couldn't have had two more different sets of fans for two groups with the word 'Earth' in their name. The group rocking long hair and a vast array of Iron Maiden tour T-shirts started their night with the dulcet tones of local metal legends Lord. The boys were coming back for one of their first shows in over a year, but they sounded like they were at the tail end of a massive world tour. Tight, polished and lethal, Lord delivered a powerful set, ending with a raucous cover of Metallica's Creeping Death, a potent reminder that this band's roots lie far more in the rough'n'raw NWOBHM movement than in the frilly-shirted world of European Power metal.

This was Iced Earth's first trip to Australia in a career that has spanned decades. Some in the audience had obviously been waiting almost that long to see them and from the first strains of set opener, Dystopia, a sea of heads banged below raised horns. With their last LP being one of their stronger efforts in recent years, newer material like the aforementioned title track, V, Anthem and the ferocious Days Of Rage went down a treat. Still, it was the vintage material that really set the crowd off. Keeping the Tim “Ripper” Owens years to a minimum (the awesome Declaration Day was a welcome inclusion in the set), guitarist Jon Schaffer and crew delved deep into the Matt Barlow era for the predictable - Slave To The Dark, Angels Holocaust, Burning Times and The Hunter - as well as a few welcome surprises in the form of When The Night Falls and a cracking rendition of Damien. The fact that the band was a tightly oiled machine came as no surprise, but what did shock was the godliness of new vocalist Stu Block, who handled all eras of the band's existence with equal aplomb. From down and dirty growls right through to Halford-esque screams, Block put in a flawless display that was highlighted by his treatment of Iced Earth's 17-minute tour de force, Dante's Inferno. Now if we can work on his clichéd stage banter we'll have the perfect metal frontman.

Iced Earth have re-established themselves as one of the standard-bearers for traditional heavy metal in 2012. A great show from a band that refuses to lie down and die.