Iced Earth — Music and... Missteps
MusicPart #ObliviousMusic and part current events. I’d like to expand this into a greater conversation on art, ideology, and culture, but I’m not too sure that Moot is the place for that level of discussion at the moment. I’ve mentioned it in the past, but my favorite metal band is Iced Earth. Because their music tends to be very grandiose, while having a solidly classic metal sound at their core. The man behind all of it, the backbone and magician for the band’s entire identity, is Jon Schaffer. He’s a masterful storyteller within music and I love him for it, even with his other flaws... —-:-:-:-— First off, my introduction to the band was through what is still my favorite album: Horror Show (2001).
It takes a bunch of classic horror movie icons, such as Dracula and the Phantom of the Opera, and tells their heavy metal stories. Check out the full album here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nZzYlwjt3LJmUP71edghKwYRJoEWj2zxc
Melancholy (Holy Martyr) — 1998 • https://youtu.be/M2aCOAr4UjY •
Anthem — 2011 • https://youtu.be/5vz4yIgnFt0 •
But Jon Schaffer has also had very aggressive and controversial political views for many years. You might have noticed in the above video for Anthem some questionable iconography from history and pop culture. What that does sometimes is taint an artist’s work and legacy, such as...
From Metal Injection: https://metalinjection.net/news/fbi-announces-six-charges-against-iced-earths-jon-schaffer-accuse-him-of-using-bear-spray-on-capitol-cops/
Just OOF. I won’t get into the exact politics of it, because I’m in a very different place within the political spectrum, but yeah. Ooooooooof... With enough of Iced Earth’s music, their political leanings are often muddied through the stories they’ve told, whether fanciful or historical. Schaffer likes to focus on battle and resistance in many of his songs, so it’s not exactly difficult to extrapolate from there, but I do wonder how much of the culture in today’s world has affected that shift.
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