Hey everyone,

Iced Earth just released a killer new album entitled "Plagues of Babylon". In fact this record has blown me away and is a big reason why I picked it as album of the month or January 2014.

What an album Iced Earth have put out. In fact it has been in my ipod for the past two weeks, loving Stu Bliock as the vocalist and the songs, although nothing really new for Iced Earth, fit well.

First off, I love Iced Earth. Jon Schaffer is not only one of my favorite musicians of all time but he is a great guy to be able to have on my show. Something Wicked this Way Comes is my favorite Iced Earth album along with Burnt Offerings. I have liked every album in their catalog over the years, some more than others. However I loved Dystopia and after that one came out I kept thinking to myself "I can't wait to see what this band is going to do next".

I will never forget when Matthew Barlow left the band for the second time. Everyone was acting as if it were the end of the world, some people were even saying they should get Ripper back into the band. Then the announcement that Stu Block was hired as the vocalist infuriated some fans. I would get emails from people flipping out about this.

Well then one day the band puts out a new version of "Dante's Inferno" with Stu singing........and my god it sounded amazing. In fact he sounded almost like a more evil version or Barlow but able to hit the high notes like Ripper. I was stoked and excited to hear this guy singing this. After that I couldn't wait for the new album. Dystopia didn't disappoint when it came out and was one of my favorite albums that year. I really anticipated this album when it was announced, as it seemed like it would be a monster of a record but when it did finally come out.......wow.....all I can say is that this record has so far blown me away. There isn't a bad song on it, and the song "Highwayman" is truely well done!

Iced Earth have gone back to what they do best, and although it's not much different sounding than many of their records, they did write some great songs on this one and this is for sure going to be one of my top releases of 2014!

Tony Webster 1/24/2014

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