Matt Barlow's Vocal Performance

[edgeofthorns]

I honestly have no complaints whatsoever about the Iced Earth set. I came off the floor that night sweating and feeling like I'd been to a damn metal show! If he sounded that good with a sinus infection, then he is a metal god.

~Brian~

 

[lrss853]

Barlow sounded great, Iced Earth live in another league.

 

[Kenso]

if you honestly are going to try to find ground to complain about matts voice then you are straight up just crying, and probably not a fan to begin with.

 

[LadyMetal]

Barlow was hitting some crazy ass notes man!! He was bad-ass! And he looked great even without the hair...by the way..could you imagine driving in his town cranking up Iced Earth and having Officer Barlow pulling you over??? I had a visual of that and couldnt stop laughing!!! Fuckin killed me!!! \mm/
Iced Earth rules no matter what!!!

 

[nailz]

Looks like the "god" turns out to be not so godly after all.

Nah, Piet was fine.

 

[DigitalMan]

I've seen Matt with IE before and he is an incredible singer.

With that said, it was obvious that something was up with his voice at PP. I only saw the first 3 songs, but he was really struggling. When he hit those insanely high notes, it sounded OK. It was when he was singing in his normal singing voice that you could here something was up.

But hey, that stuff happens. I can't imagine even trying to sing with a cold like he must have had.

Guy

 

[booB]

There's nothing Ripper can do that he can't.

I most definitely would not go THAT far.

 

[Iced Dog]

Looks like the "god" turns out to be not so godly after all.

Uh oh, he's been demoted...now merely a divine avatar...shameful

 

[Val Allen Wood]

i wish i would have stayed

 

[MetalOperaChick]

People actually thought he did a crappy job? Wow. They must have been listening to something else entirely from the rest of us. He was kick ass. As usual

 

[Landisb]

The only songs he "struggles" on are most likely the normal tenor range that Owens would be comfortable singing in. For example, the verses of Declaration day, ten thousand strong, etc. Barlow is a Bass Baritone with a tremendous falsetto range. That's why he can belt out those high notes and in my opinion bring more depth into the screams than did Owens. However, singing for extended periods of time in the tenor range when you're a baritone isn't the easiest thing to do. I'd say the same thing for Owens when he would sing the lower grunt stuff that Barlow was also well known for. His voice sounded thinner in that range because he backed off of it as to not blow out his chords. That being said, I thought Barlow did a fantastic job and any doubts that I could have had in the past about him not being able to pull off the "ripper" Iced Earth songs died a deserved death at this show, sinus infection or not. Now if you want to talk about REALLY STRONG voices, what about Shaffer during the last song when his rig went out? I heard him dropping F bombs over band and everything As was said earlier, anybody complaining about Barlow's performance is most likely not a fan to begin with. And also I couldn't help but giggle when I thought of being pulled over in Vermont by a burly looking bald headed cop who, upon pulling me over would demand ... "LET ME SEE YOUR LICENSE-AH! AND YOUR REGISTRATION-AH! I SEE YOUR INSURANCE EXPIRED... LAST DECEMBERRRRRRR-AH!"

 

[Ascension]

Im glad I've grown a sense of humor since we last had this encounter about Barlow.

Good...me too.

Barlow is DA MAN.

Now that was hilarious!

 

[DrkLrdViper666]

Amen Patrick! Barlow Fucking RULES!!! And may I also add that his performance, even w/ a bad cold, was anything more than PHENOMENAL & INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! And he fucking owned that stage!!! MATT BARLOW IS IMHO One of The greatest Metal Vocalist!!!! PERIOD!!! notworthy

 

[PatrickHoyt]

Now that was hilarious!

oh phooey!

 

[Rider of Theli]

i wish i would have stayed

I wish you would have too.

Parties are a dime a dozen. :Smug:

 

[RiffDaemon]

Yeah, Barlow was shakey at first, but he got into it after a few songs. Their soundman didn't do him any damned favors, though. It sounded like he was buried in the mix instead of jumping completely out of it like most the other bands of the night. Ugh....

 

[Stevie WOnder]

Come on... We were 5 buddies on the floor and we all heard that Barlow wasn't singing right. He could hit the highs and he could gruff but his middle range or his "Paul Stanley" as I call it was shot. It got better after a few songs but it was tough.

It wouldn't have been so hard if it wasn't for the way too long wait that came before. Ah well...

Bash away!!!

Steve

 

[Destination Forever]

I could tell Barlow sounded kind of rough on the first song, but, after that, I thought he sounded pretty damn awesome! I was surprised to hear he had a sinus infection, but that explains the initial roughness.

 

[guardian26]

I thought Barlow was outstanding.

 

[TheLongshot]

The only songs he "struggles" on are most likely the normal tenor range that Owens would be comfortable singing in. For example, the verses of Declaration day, ten thousand strong, etc. Barlow is a Bass Baritone with a tremendous falsetto range. That's why he can belt out those high notes and in my opinion bring more depth into the screams than did Owens. However, singing for extended periods of time in the tenor range when you're a baritone isn't the easiest thing to do. I'd say the same thing for Owens when he would sing the lower grunt stuff that Barlow was also well known for. His voice sounded thinner in that range because he backed off of it as to not blow out his chords. That being said, I thought Barlow did a fantastic job and any doubts that I could have had in the past about him not being able to pull off the "ripper" Iced Earth songs died a deserved death at this show, sinus infection or not. Now if you want to talk about REALLY STRONG voices, what about Shaffer during the last song when his rig went out? I heard him dropping F bombs over band and everything As was said earlier, anybody complaining about Barlow's performance is most likely not a fan to begin with. And also I couldn't help but giggle when I thought of being pulled over in Vermont by a burly looking bald headed cop who, upon pulling me over would demand ... "LET ME SEE YOUR LICENSE-AH! AND YOUR REGISTRATION-AH! I SEE YOUR INSURANCE EXPIRED... LAST DECEMBERRRRRRR-AH!"

Yeah, those are the songs that I thought he struggled with and I thought it was because of those differences, tho I thought that would be odd for Declaration Day, since I thought those songs would have suited Barlow more because they were written more for his style.

That being said, he was pretty solid otherwise. I thought he was great with Gettysburg.

Jason