Hats off to Ripper Owens...

[General Zod]

Keep in mind... I'm a complete Barlow fan boy and he is my favorite singer of all time (not including Tate ).

When it was announced that Tim Owens would replace Matt Barlow in Iced Earth, I was extremely upset. Having never heard Ripper, all I knew of him was that he was a Halford clone, and that he wasn't Matt. I assumed Iced Earth was done, as Barlow was irreplaceable. However, after a few spins of The Glorious Burden, it was clear that Tim is just as talented as Matt. They are two very different singers, whose strengths simply lie in different areas.

I had a chance to catch Tim with Iced Earth on three occasions. On each occasion, I was blown away. There's not another singer I've ever heard whose live performances are so completely faithful to their studio performance. Tim is an absolute machine.

So why the sudden post praising Ripper? I caught Iced Earth (again) last night in NYC. I've twice now had a chance to hear Barlow take a swing at "Declaration Day", "Ten Thousand Strong" and "High Water Mark". To say he's not even close, would be more than understatement. In fact, he's so far off, I'd prefer to see these songs pulled from the set list.

As I said, I consider myself a complete Barlow fan boy. This post is not at all intended to be a criticism of Barlow. Rather, it is in complete praise of Owens. Truth be told, I don't believe there's another singer on the planet that could perform the Gettysburg Trilogy and do it justice.

Ripper

Zod

 

[Mynock]

I agree, as much of a Barlow fanboy as I am too, he doesn't sound as good as Ripper on some of the Ripper songs. I think he's not really making them his, and he could maybe modify them a little bit to suit his skills better. I've always thought Ripper was a great replacement for Barlow in IE and was a great fit. As happy as I was to have Barlow back last december (*chuckle*), I was sad that Ripper was leaving and we wouldn't hear SW Part 2 with him singing on it.

 

[AngraRULES]

Make that three. Ripper is absolutely fantastic on his studio material with Iced Earth (and the live shows he did with the band as well).

I just hope that for the next tour, Jon Schaffer chooses the songs for Iced Earth a bit more wisely.

 

[Mooseknuckle]

+1

 

[booB]

Yup. I never understood all the Ripper bashing. It seems like people were pretty big Ripper fans until he joined Iced Earth, when it suddenly became fashionable to hate on him.

 

[King Lek]

Never had a chance to see Barlow with IE so was grateful to have that chance at PP...with that said...was somewhat underwhelmed (some of that also had to do , I'm sure, with me being really tired after the wait and I believe I read matt was a bit under the weather too), especially on the Ripper fronted IE songs.

Actually, was quite surprised that they even attempted Gettysburg as those vocals are so over the top and quite far removed from Barlow's basic style and comfort zones (imho)....kind of equal to Ripper doing Watching over Me....which is why, I still think, that both on vocals would have made this one really sick band.

 

[King Lek]

Yup. I never understood all the Ripper bashing. It seems like people were pretty big Ripper fans until he joined Iced Earth, when it suddenly became fashionable to hate on him.

Hell...I'm looking forward to his solo album.

 

[Metalmilitia2000]

I agree, as much of a Barlow fanboy as I am too, he doesn't sound as good as Ripper on some of the Ripper songs. I think he's not really making them his, and he could maybe modify them a little bit to suit his skills better. I've always thought Ripper was a great replacement for Barlow in IE and was a great fit. As happy as I was to have Barlow back last december (*chuckle*), I was sad that Ripper was leaving and we wouldn't hear SW Part 2 with him singing on it.

I see what you did there...

 

[Magius]

Yup. I never understood all the Ripper bashing. It seems like people were pretty big Ripper fans until he joined Iced Earth, when it suddenly became fashionable to hate on him.

QFT.

 

[ICEDEARTHFAN]

I was a Winter's Bane fan way back in the day,so when Tim took over vocals for Judas Priest I was very happy.Jugulator is an AWESOME album all the way through.
As for his Iced Earth performance,I echo what everybody has said on this post.He truly is a GREAT vocalist and Beyond Fear stays in my rotation in my stereo!!!!!!

 

[DrkLrdViper666]

Make that three. Ripper is absolutely fantastic on his studio material with Iced Earth (and the live shows he did with the band as well).

I just hope that for the next tour, Jon Schaffer chooses the songs for Iced Earth a bit more wisely.

No, make that four! lol I also saw the Mighty, Mighty Ripper live w/ IE & I've gotta say ripper did an Out-fuckin'-Standing job w/ "Dracula", "Vengeance Is Mine" & was just floored by his performace of "The Something Wicked Trilogy"!!!! And btw, when he did the Glorious Burden songs, man he was EVEN better than the cds!!!!! I shit you not!!! Ripper owned that stage when he was w/ IE!!!!!!! Being a vocalist myself, I've gotta give major props to Ripper!!!!! He simply kicked ass Live, Period!!!!!!
And I too am a major Barlow fanboy myself! Btw, if you haven't seen him live, do yourself a favor, if & when he tours w/ yngwie, RUN don't walk to see him!!!!

 

[DrkLrdViper666]

Oh & one more thing, the 2 Priest albums ripper did are excellent! Most especially Demolition!!!!

 

[edgeofthorns]

I actually didn't get into Iced Earth until Ripper came along, so I've enjoyed TGB for quite sometime. There's no question that Barlow owns the catalog previous to TGB, but Ripper owns TGB and Framing Armageddon in my opinion. With that said, I love both singers, but I hate the fact that Ripper is fronting Malmsteen right now. It would've been killer to hear both Ripper and Barlow trade off vocals on the final installment of the trilogy.

~Brian~

 

[ICEDEARTHFAN]

I actually didn't get into Iced Earth until Ripper came along, so I've enjoyed TGB for quite sometime. There's no question that Barlow owns the catalog previous to TGB, but Ripper owns TGB and Framing Armageddon in my opinion. With that said, I love both singers, but I hate the fact that Ripper is fronting Malmsteen right now. It would've been killer to hear both Ripper and Barlow trade off vocals on the final installment of the trilogy.

~Brian~

Absolutely true.I would love to hear a collaboration with both singers sort of like a Demons & Wizards type thing.

 

[Ascension]

Tim was great in Priest...he owned in IE...and now he rules with Yngwie. He soars on the new Malmsteen release. He has mad vocal skills that most can't touch. Tim needs to just go solo...RIPPER.

 

[Kaosaur]

Zod, Greg (shaq) and I were looking for you last night and did not find.

For shame...for shame.

 

[TENTH DREAMER DECEIVER]

Glad to see Ripper being spoken about in a positive light. As I stated in my Yngwie post about the Vegas show, I still cannot fathom why Schaffer fired the man. HUGE mistake as Barlow just does not fit well with Owens' tunes.

Anyway, still waiting on PF but got impatient and bought from iTunes. The mix is weird as it has this rough Marching Out tone/feel to it. Otherwise, I really enjoyed hearing Damnation Game in the car as the chorus was stuck in my head from the Vegas show.

I'd love for Owens to get a pre-show PPX gig opening up or headlining. Imagine an evening of Priest, Iced Earth and Yngwie classics

 

[rushzil2112]

I love Ripper and he sings stuff others just can't even begin to fathom, but I didn't like his version of Dracula, and that being one of my favs and being a Barlow fan, I was a little upset, but Ripper nailed everything else when I saw him, but I still have yet to see IE with Barlow, so I will save other judgements and comparisons for when I finally do, but they are both equally good in different lights and I can't wait to hear Ripper's solo cd he is working on. I also prefer Barlow more on the Pyramaze than the new IE disc.

 

[Kenso]

i think its safe to say fans would be much more satisfied if iced earth would make their set list entirely based off of pre glorious burden material.

i think barlow and ripper both own, but barlow jsut doesnt do the gettysburg stuff justice, and the two latest albums just werent up to snuff IMO. The best song out of both of the new cds "the clouding" wasnt even played.

with that said i still think the iced earth set kicked all sorts of ass, but it just could have been better with a better set list. what can you expect though they have a new cd out, great show.

 

[adaher]

Ripper is a great singer. I just hope that someday he starts his own band so that he can go from being an erstwhile hired gun who replaces other legends to a legend in his own right.