*sigh*

[cabbitzilla]

Tonight, I managed to get my hands on the newest Iced Earth album. Now keep in mind, this is one of my favorite bands, and I've lusted after Mattew Barlow's voice since it first growled out of my speakers. So I've been /really/ looking forward to the new release, and it was with much joy and elation that I popped the disc into my machine. And I waited. The first track was an instrumental. And then the singing starts...

*blink* WtF?!

The voice is familiar, but it's NOT Matthew Barlow...

It sounds an awful lot like... Judas Priest, doing an Iced Earth cover...

So I go digging... and discover that Tim Owens is listed as the vocalist. *blinks* What the... well, at least I know why it sounds like JP. So what happened to the sultry sounding Barlow?

I dive back into my digging, and on the band's website (click the link in the first paragraph, silly), and discover... that Matthew left the band in the wake of the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks on the US. Left the band, in fact, to go to law school... and from there to the Department of Homeland Security. *blinks*

*scratches her head and sighs*

It's what he felt he should be doing with his life; I simply can't fault him for his motivations and choices. Tim Owens isn't a bad vocalist, either. The album's solid and quite good, and not a regret. But I, for one, miss very acutely the deep purr of Mathhew Barlow's voice...

Very acutely.

*sigh*

Comments

Dag!

[stacy1075.livejournal.com]

Talk about a career 180! From lead singer to the Dept of Homeland Security....you can't get more different than that! Sorry to hear your fave band is altered though, it can hurt bad when changes like that are made.

Re: Dag!

[elisabeth.livejournal.com]

I chatted for a bit with the lad that originally got me hooked on Iced Earth (he's gotten married and gone back to college since I last spoke to him! o.0), and feel a bit consoled.

I still miss Barlow's voice, though.