Iced Earth
Iced Earth is an unpredictable beast. Often they offer up a superb album and follow it with a complete flop (see The Glorious Burden and Framing Armageddon). Unfortunately, this is again the case with Plagues Of Babylon. While the contrast isn't as sharp as Burden/Framing, this is nowhere near as impressive as 2011's Dystopia. The songs here aren't bad – the epic chug of Cthulhu for example is very satisfying – they're just nondescript. Vocalist Stu Block remains at his shrieking best but if you're looking for the soaring epics that marked Dystopia you won't find them here.
