I have pretty idiosyncratic music taste, I guess. I used to listen to nothing but Hammerfall and Bolt Thrower, and before that, I was a bonafide Drum n Bass fiend. Like Ed Rush & Optical, Neurofunk stuff. Before that, it was all Gangsta Rap all the time, and before that, I guess, it was Soundgarden or dead. There have been a few constants throughout my listeners’ evolution (Nine Inch Nails and Metallica, for instance), but—I don’t know—it sems like I look up every year and find myself tunneled into some subgenre or another, never to re-emerge until the next time I look up and realize it’s Winter.

At least, that’s how it used to be…lately all I do is listen to Juno Dubstep and Phuture Frequency podcasts…over and over and over. It’s like a bad art gallery in my office; just loud enough to hear it and sort of enjoy it, but not so loud that it distracts me from whatever I’m doing or talking on the phone.

I should really look into finding out when ‘music’ became ‘background music’ for me. I guess it’s a problem.

ANYWAY. Iced Earth. They are a fantastic, um, All-Metal band from Florida. I say All-Metal because I was trying to figure out exactly WHAT they are…after about 5 minutes of that, I looked at their wiki page which said: “Iced Earth is an American heavy metal band from Tampa, Florida that combines influences from thrash metal, power metal, progressive metal, opera, speed metal and NWOBHM.”

Not very helpful. But then again, exactly accurate. Think Opeth meets Testament. But better than that.

BUT! What I’m most interested in right now is their absolutely bone-crushing 2004 release: The Glorious Burden. I am going to say something and I want you to listen: It’s not metal if it’s not about the Civil War. Sure, that’s probably only partly true, but what do you get when you take a metal band full of aging thrashers and set them to making a concept album about various stages of American History?

Pure Awesome. The second disc of the album—The Battle of Gettysburg (1863)—is too good for words, and simply must be experienced at high volume.

Here are parts 1, 2, and 3 of the Gettysburg trilogy. Listen, learn, and never forget.

- Hateball