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 can't say I was upset... for one, a band changing members is hardly something that would cause me to be upset.
Still, I was already familiar with Owens from his work with Judas Priest, and knew he was a good vocalist. I wouldn't classify him as a Halford clone either... while he can do a great job replicating Halford when singing older Judas Priest songs, he didn't sound particularly Halford-like on the studio albums he did with Judas Priest or Iced Earth.But like you, I also was not particularly pleased when I heard that Barlow was leaving Iced Earth, as I had been an Iced Earth fan for years, and Barlow was probably one of my favorite metal vocalists. But hey, the guy wanted to do something else with his life, and I could respect that. Given that he was indeed leaving, then, I felt getting Owens was a great move on Schaffer's part. His vocal style was certainly different than Barlow's, but he's a great singer, and I didn't think trying to find a Barlow clone would have been the right move anyway.
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
I agree with the general idea of what you're saying, but maybe not with all the specific songs. I thought "Declaration Day" worked fairly well with Barlow... the only sketchy vocal part was the last 2 verses ("With virtue as our beacon", etc), which are performed in a higher key. The first 4 verses, and the choruses sounded great, IMO. With "Ten Thousand Strong", I didn't have any problem at all. On "High Water Mark", I thought the song was as powerful as ever, the only awkward moment being the high-pitched "It's all my fault" bit at the end, which frankly, sounds a bit awkward even with Owens.
I think there are a couple songs that would probably not have worked well, and they were perhaps wise to avoid... like, say, "The Reckoning" or "Red Baron / Blue Max". I would have liked to hear "Waterloo" though, especially considering that Barlow wrote the lyrics and vocal melody. Though I suppose the likelihood of them ever performing that song in North America is slim.
