Iced Earth: Metal From the Right Side
Published June 08, 2004
Iced Earth is a metal/progressive/power rock/label of your choosing band. They've been around since 1991 and recently put out a new album, Glorious Burden.
Burden has been described as a political album but, as songwriter John Schaffer says in the interview transcribed below, it is more of an historical album.
Schaffer is a rarity in the rock music business - he is unabashedly pro-America. He is also a history buff and that is evident on Burden, an album that, Schaffer says, was inspired in part by 9/11, but is about more than that: There's a lot of writing on this album of history that goes back to Attila The Hun against the Roman Empire all the way to Afghanistan and 9/11. It's not a political album."
Schaffer was interviewed by Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles, an online metal magazine. The interviewer was somewhat antagonstic towards Schaffer, but he stood his ground.
What follows here is excerpts from the interview, which you can read in its entirety here. Apparently there was some controversy about the original interview, which was edited when printed the first time - and editing job that put a bit of a spin on the interview. The Weekly Standard also had something to say about Schaffer.
Before I post the excerpts, I have to ask this question: Why is it so controversial to have a metal band write songs about war and for a metal musician to be so proudly pro-America, when there doesn't seem to be any controversy at all when hundreds of other bands are writing and producing anti-America crap every day?
Oh, it should be noted that the interviewer is Canadian.
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BW&BK: "This next question is controversial so I'm letting you know before we proceed. Some political analysts have articulated the view that what happened on September 11 was justified due to America's presence in the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia. Some political analysts view it as retaliation for what the US has done in the Middle East in the past. As a Canadian, I'm interested in hearing what you have to say about this view that's been put forth by analysts."
JS: "No, it wasn't justified. Not at all. And anybody who says so needs to have their fuckin' head examined."
- Iced Earth: Metal From the Right Side
- Published: June 08, 2004
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- Section: Music
- Writer: Michele Catalano
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Comments on this articleComments
Fascinating! thanks Michele, glad to see you back. From a journalistic position, there was antagonism on both sides here, but they also both tried to work it out. The interviewer had his Canadian, leftist biases, but the Iced dude was spoiling for a fight as well.
I don't know how I came across this thread, but Iced Earth is actually pretty good, I recommend "Tribute to the Gods" as well.
Jon Schaffer was dead on.
As a Floridian, we see many Canadians coming down here and enjoying the Florida weather & amenities Florida has to offer.
It's too bad many Canadians have gone lefty-fag on us. Canada was once a great nation & ally. It's now neither.
The article is over 2 years old, but several points are still sadly true; too many Americans are ignorant of the history of their country, and too many ignorant Americans still buy into Chomsly and others.
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This was a pretty good interview. I don't buy everything this cat was saying, but he does make some good points. I specifically thought he was being a little bit confrontational. I don't blame him for his response about the "Bush regime" thing, but I felt like he was on the offensive after that. I am not sure that was totally necessary. But, like I said, he did make some really great points. I will definitely check out this album as a result.
Thanks for digging this out Michele.