Just wanted to chime in on the Crucible of Man since I was way late in getting it. I have to say that it is definitely a step up from Framing Armageddon. Better songs,less interludes,and Matt Barlow behind the mic certainly can't lead to anything less . Behold the Wicked Child and Divide Devour are the standout tracks.I'm really looking forward to what these guys will do next.

FESTIVALS OF THE WICKED (2011)

A double live DVD (+ CD) containing three separate performances from big summer festivals:

Metal Camp Slovenia 2008
Rock Hard Festival 2008
Wacken Open Air 2007

The first "real" official live concert video of the band - remember Jon Schaffer told us fans not to buy Alive in Athens video because it wasn't up to par with his standards. Judging by this release, Schaffer DOES have pretty high standards. When it comes to heavy metal concert DVD's, this one is a doozy.

Lineup:
Jon Schaffer – guitar, vocals
Matthew Barlow – lead vocals
Freddie Vidales – bass
Troy Seele – lead guitar
Brent Smedley – drums
Tim Owens - lead vocals (Wacken 2007)
Dennis Hayes- bass (Wacken 2007)

I've had the DVD for over a month and I've watched all the shows at least twice now, Metal Camp three times - and I still haven't really fully taken it all in. I think I'll continue to add comments later on, but I thought I should be adding this before Dystopia comes out.

I'm not going to bother with tracklists from all the shows, so I'll just put the CD track list, because that's what you'll be listening the most anyway (or not? Maybe I'm just lazy?):

Spoiler:
	1. Dark Saga 2. Vengeance Is Mine 3. Burning Times 4. Declaration Day 5. Prophecy 6. Birth of the Wicked 7. The Coming Curse 8. Ten Thousand Strong 9. Travel in Stygian 10. Dracula 11. A Question of Heaven 12. Iced Earth

The first two shows are a bit too similar, no surprise, considering they are from the same tour. But that shouldn't bother you, unless you watch them back to back. The recording itself is absolutely top notch, the band sounds tight and Matt Barlow impeccable. Heavy, angry sound but with separation between the instruments. The camera cuts are way too fast in my opinion, but I guess that's just how music videos are done these days.

The set list is stellar, not the three hour set we got with Alive in Athens, but a more compact, no nonsense, highlight after highlight jam-packed set. It didn't take me long to get blown away - the way the band starts the set with five explosive tracks (the same five in both Barlow-fronted shows) is enough to remove doubts about the quality of the recording. This opening montage includes some of my all-time favourite Iced Earth tracks like Violate and Vengeance Is Mine. The only track on the whole opening set that seems a little 'off' is Declaration Day, which hurts the tempo a little, but even that isn't enough to kill the momentum.

The rest of the set includes, among others, powerful versions of the greatest Iced Earth epics, Travel in Stygian and A Question of Heaven. But I still think the opening bit is the highlight. Violate is such a great track. Two Owens era tracks featured here - Declaration Day and Ten Thousand Strong. Both sound a bit off, but that could be just me being used to Owens' singing.

There's a small interview / documentary included, but it's politically correct BS for the most part: "Our drummer/bassist/lead guitarist is the greatest, most professional, funny guy ever and we get along so well", "we have the best fans in the world", "we all love doing what we do and each other and it's just so great and fun and fluff and puff and yada yada". They should get a real journalist to make Jon answer real hardball questions and explain the story of the band truthfully.

Anyway, too bad there are no Crucible of Man tracks, Divide Devour could have been amazing! But the Crucible album was released after the shows featured here.

Wacken 07 is great because here it almost seems like a bonus to get a whole Tim Owens fronted Iced Earth set in high quality. The set is amazing, again, and getting the whole Something Wicked Trilogy is a big treat. Sound is great again. The audience is a bit too quiet, but I'm sure that's just the way they recorded the show.

Everything about the set is enjoyable, but again, as with all music DVD's, the replay value is so and so. Do you really want to get epilepsy and watch lightning fast, intensely zoomed cuts of random band members while listening, or do you just want to enjoy the music on CD? For the whole "festival" experience, you have to play the DVD though, because the CD only has some of the tracks from each concert thrown together.

There's also music videos and a promo for Framing Armageddon (?). This is not an essential release for someone who already has Alive in Athens, but a lot of fun for an evening at home, preferably with cold beers. Festivals of the Wicked DVD has done a good job in helping me in my wait for Dystopia.